Horror and Something is Killing the Children

I've been meaning to do a bigger review after I read the comics and analyzed them but an overview review about "Something is Killing the Children" popped up and I wanted to write my thoughts about it. It's a work by James Tynion IV, who I remember because his name sounds like "Tyrion" from Game of Thrones. The comic stars Erica Slaughter who hunts down monsters that only children can see. Monsters like the ones in woods or that hide in closets. She is a troubled young woman who looks like she's emerging from her teen years or someone who had those years taken from her. The draw of the comic is the mystery, you don't know why parents can't see these monsters, you don't know who is behind Erica helping her to kill these monsters. You even question Erica as she talks to a stuffed octopus doll that she carries around. The fact is, the comic is smart enough to leave those kind of questions to your imagination, mostly. It's an interesting techinique I've yet to master because I often feel the need to explain everything to the reader or at least give large enough hints to what has happened. Maybe it's in my nature to want to explain everything, especially since I feel the need to have things explained. But I've been listening to Bill Johnson and he talks about obeying doesn't mean you need to understand. I think that's a good lesson to learn especially if you're like me and need to have it all spelled out for you. I recall watching a documentary on Kubrick's The Shining in which several academics and critics gave their thoughts on the legendary film. There's a lot of scenes that I've seen before that are given new life when you break down the film. For example, one critic has created a map of The Outlook Hotel and shows how it doesn't make sense. It's similar to how in a dream that the geometry and placement of the rooms don't make sense. Another tidbit is how Jack is in the waiting lobby of the hotel and has a lot of luggage but there was no way that the family was able to pack that much in a Beetle. In the same scene we see Jack reading an issue of Playgirl magazine which the critic claims alludes to Jack having molested his son Danny. How that connection is made, I still don't know but it makes you think. There's a final comparison where the critic said he played the movie backwards and forwards over each other to show how the film can be seen both ways. Again, I'm not sure about how this works but it seems that everyone wants to offer insight into a film that we know little about since the director is dead. Since he's not giving any answers, people seek them out for themselves. And keep in mind, these are the more milder scenes in the movie. What about the scene where blood flows out of the elevator door or where the two dead girls invite Danny to play forever? What about those scenes? I guess those have already been analyzed to death.

Back to the comic, I think there's a lesson there for me about Eldritch horror. The name Cthulhu has been said so much that it has lost it's power of fear. Cthulhu is mainstream now and I doubt, no, I wonder, if anyone can make a horror story about Cthulhu given his popularity. I think that's why Lovecraft uses different monsterous gods for each story. When you give the monster a name, you take away its power. Right now, I'm playing a game called "Look Outside" in which an UNNAMED Eldritch creature has caused the whole world to transform under its gaze. Why is this happening? No one knows and the game doesnt' seem keen on explaining it to me. I think that's part of the charm is the mystery. Although, I would feel smarter if I put the pieces together myself and figured out the developer's meaning behind the game. In a similar fashion, the Souls series of games give out breadcrumbs to the player and ask them to put the story together themselves. I think that's a novel way to make a game because of my need to "fix" the game's story. So what am I to do? I've already planned to have my characters as the decendants of these monster gods. Do I have to create my own gods? I've already done so in one case. A living city where each window is an eye that watches the citizens. Like a human unaware of the parasites living in their body. A human who would eradicate the parasites if they knew what lived under their skin. That's an Eldritch horror original right there. But I want to pay homage to Lovecraft and the behind the scenes that created the stories that inspired me. 

This may take some time. I don't want it to, I want to write other things too like Stephen King. But I have to remind myself that I'm not Stephen King, I'm John and John has a limit to how much he can write every day. That's okay, I'll get to KIY and RTF someday with a new step each time. Right now, that step is to rest and read for a little bit. I've noticed that I've become better at this thousand words a day warm up and I'm getting to the point that I can write afterwards. Maybe this blog is helping me a bit.