A young woman (Clare Kramer) enters a strange bar in the desert along route 66 seeking shelter from a sudden bad storm. The place is run by a very odd family with terrible secrets and soon she finds herself alone and terrorized by them. But she has a secret of her own and things are not as they seem.

Ok...it starts out a bit slow and shaky as I expected but once Mama enters the picture (played by Betty Buckley) the craziness starts. Mama is a bit mental and drinking really brings out her bad side. One son (Brad Renfro) is retarded from a childhood accident, (Jahnathan Schaech) is demented but hides it well until he lets it out, and the daughter (Lori Huering) seems to be the only "normal" member of the family. There are cliches in the movie and the plot twists are easy to see. The only thing that saves this movie is the acting. Betty Buckley is incredible. Renfro and Schaech are very good in their roles and Huering seems to get better as the movie progresses. Kramer is about the only one who seems to need acting lessons. This isn't a high $$ film and the dialogue is rough at times but the actors help to pull it off. Not a movie for buying but one to rent when there's nothing else worth watching.

P.S. For some reason I keep getting a feeling of dejavu with this post. Feels like I've posted this movie before or something with a similar name? Odd.

For some reason, unknown even to me, I find this show hilarious. I've been getting some good chuckles from the Stuffed and Mounted DVD. Any other fans of this wacky Canadian comedy?

From Dave Hinchberger of Overlook Connection Press:

(THE LAST RAKOSH IS) going to be November - late. I've put off contacting you because I've been waiting on the printer to get back to me. They are having an issue with an endpaper for the book - ie their supplier may be out of stock, and it looks like I'm going to have to work with something else. So obviously that blows the Halloween release outta the water. As we get closer to a ship date from the printer, I will let you know...the limited is down to the last 200 copies, so I don't expect this to last long.

If interested, you have two ways to pre-order this:

b) Directly from the publisher:
http://www.overlookconnection.com/lastrako.htm

b) If you’d like me to inscribe it to you or to whomever it’s intended, order from Shocklines:
http://store.yahoo.com/shocklines/larabyfpawib.html

NB: Shocklines does not charge your credit card until the books are shipped.

Howdy doo,

I was thinking about Jack’s overall character/personality, in light of what are for me a few noteworthy moments in the books.

Here are three of Jack’s four principal modes (at least the ones that I can think of):

- Jack as brother and son. Jack’s had his ups and downs with family members. It’s not as close and friendly a family as one would like, but it’s not too unusual. And Jack is fortunate enough to be able to resolve things with his father and sister to a greater extent than many people ever do.

- Jack as perfect boyfriend/husband/father. Apart from the conflicts arising from his, er, unusual life choices, he’s basically a woman’s (and child’s) dream come true: Steady-tempered, fair, fun, comfortable with intimacy, etc. (I know he has issues with giving up the repair work, but they don’t seem terribly agonizing -- the “how do I do it?” seems to bother him more than the “can I do it?”)

- Jack as cold, hard killer. Those brown eyes harden and it’s time for someone to die…

Those are the first three. The fourth principal mode, though, is what got me thinking about this in the first place. It is:

- Jack as juvenile.

Here are three scenes from the books that have really stuck out for me:

In Hosts, when Jack is with the reporter and witnesses a mugger fleeing a crime scene on a bicycle, he causes the mugger to crash his bike, and Jack proceeds to let loose with a very weird rant.

In Legacies, Jack prevents thieves from stealing Julio's car by means of that bizarre trick with the fake eyeball. I know that that scene is among some readers' favorite RJ moments, but it struck me as the kind of cringe-inducing, "neato!" fantasy a skinny 13-year old would have for dealing with the school bullies. I realize there are not many ways for one trained fighter to take down three men whose level of training is unknown, and that Jack’s trick in this scene might qualify as brilliant and embodying everything we love about him, etc. -- but there’s still… something about it that strikes me as characterological rather than tactical.

In The Haunted Air, after dispatching the big thug via a fork to the brain, Jack says something to his client along the lines of "Thought I was just a cute character, huh?!" This seems, frankly, somewhat insecure -- the client hadn’t heretofore behaved in a way suggesting he didn't respect Jack or think he was a serious dude. And even if he had, it’s noteworthy that Jack would cared enough to set someone’s view of him straight in this way.

Possibly another example of this is when he baits the three-card monte dealers in [?], and nearly gets killed by them. I’m not sure about that one, so I’m not including it.


Now, to get the obvious out of the way, all of the above are a testimony to FPW’s artistry: He’s given us a complicated, three-dimensional character who ultimately cannot be “understood” any more than any real person can be understood.

Nonetheless, I find in interesting to (try to) ponder that final category, "Jack as juvenile." It makes me realize that, in fiction as in life, it can be easy to want to pin down who a person “really” is. In the case of RJ, my inclination is to think that “Jack as cold/hard killer” is somehow more the real Jack than “Jack as juvenile.” (In the same way, say, that “Jack as cold hard killer” is more real than the flamboyant homosexual character he pretends to be in Crisscross -- and there the distinction is indeed accurate).

But he’s not, is he?

I find that fascinating, not only because it makes Jack more interesting, complex, etc., but also because it shows him to be more fractured, precarious, and tentative -- both to us (as a fictional character) and to himself (as an identity).

What I trace this too, or at least would like to trace it to, since it’s so poignant, is his mother’s death -- though it would of course also have to do with his innate temperament. He’s a guy who, filled with rage and pain, forcibly quitted adolescence, and is still somewhat uintegrated and unstable. The fact that there is something suicidal at the core of what he does is another aspect of this.


I think this is all terrific stuff. Perhaps the one thing that strikes me as being a bit weak is the “Jack as perfect boyfriend/husband/father” mode. It seems exceedingly unrealistic that a person like Jack would not have pretty serious problems to overcome in a committed relationship. I realize that what we have here in not an average guy -- we have a person so unusual as to be unique in all history -- so one could certainly argue that Jack simply has a staggering ability to compartmentalize and that he is able to focus all his love/stability/maturity/hope etc. on his relationship with Gia and the squirt (not to mention using his relationship with them to create the happy family he never had) -- and I guess that's fine. A bit of a stretch (to me), but not enough to constitute a major weakness.

-Oss

I've only recently been introduced to F Paul Wilson by a colleague and friend at work. I can't remember the last time I've been so captivated by an author or a character.
Although my tastes are more towards Sci-Fi and Fantasy, particularly the darker variety, I'd never found the Horror genre exactly appealing.
We were discussing book to film adaptations and this was when my friend mentioned he was eagerly awaiting a film about 'Repairman Jack' but was worried about another debacle like 'The Keep', as he is a fan of FPW and RJ in particular.
I was intrigued. Who is this character? What are the books like? He loaned me Conspiracies, All The Rage and Hosts. I was hooked and since August there ensued a 'feeding frenzy'. I scoured eBay and Amazon's used books and managed to get all of the Adversary Cycle and more of the RJ series.
I'm now waiting for The Haunted Air to be delivered. I should have it by the end of the week and I can hardly bear it. Just to keep me from climbing the walls I'm reading 'The Foundation'.

I have to say the great all timers of his, Uncle Buck, Great Outdoors... ext ext. I have to say after rewatching Trains, Planes, and Automobiles it's one of my favorites of all time. Seeing Steve Martin, and Kandy working together, there's a great chemistry there. That being said, I think Kandy has been in some 30+ major films, what is your favorite??

PS if you like Steve Martin see Novocaine for a good laugh.

MMM... well not the best of movies I have seen. Movie has Tom Welling, Superman fans know him from show Smallville. Also Maggie Grace is in this movie too, if you watch Lost she plays Shannon in the show. Needless to say, I was drawn due to these actors, and the need for a good scare.

I have not seen the original Fog, so I really can't compare it, but the movie was very hard to follow. Not only this, but it just wasn't very scary at all. As it stacks up there is a lot better movies out to see than this one.

Just wanted to let everyone know (assuming you already don't) Paul will be doing a live chat over at Red Light District. More information can be found there, but the chat starts at 9 p.m. EST.

We just got home from seeing Doom. That was awesome! We really liked it. It didn't follow the video game (not a Spoiler as none of those video game movies really follow the game anyway). If you want action, go see this. I did think it dragged just a bit at the beginning but after that. . .

If you saw "Man on Fire", you'll soon realize this is Tony Scott's film. Stylish visual, flamboyant gunshots scenes, violence, big blasts.....I LIKE IT!

Keira Knightley's Domino Harvey was good. I couldn't believe she's same person in "The Pirates of the Caribbeans". Mickey Rourke, Christopher Walken, and special appearances, Tom Waits. They were cool!

If you like "True Romance", stand up, and bring your money, go to theater! I assure this is not waste of your time and money.

"My name is Domino Harvey. I am A Bounty Hunter." *Whistle*, this is cool!