Not Too Deep, Only Sin Deep — Tales from the Crypt (1989–1996)

Only Sin Deep (S1:E4) was the first ever episode from Tales from the Crypt (1989–1996) that I remember been exposed to. I was a child when I watched it and it made a mark in my psyche, I don’t know if it was for the worse or for the better, nevertheless, here I am today, ready to vomit into the internet void the reasons why I hold Sylvia Vane’s story dear to my heart.

GRIT – Sylvia Vane was a 21-year old prostitute who had great looks, a badass attitude, a sharp tongue, and most importantly, a goal. Sylvia knew what she wanted and was willing to do everything in her power to get it, even if that meant to get rid of a pimp to reclaim her freedom out of the business.

THE DIRTY WORK – In her defense, all Sylvia really wanted was to teach the pimp a lesson by robbing him so she could have enough money to get out of the streets, however, she ended up pulling the trigger, leaving behind her not only an illegal past but also an even more illegal crime. Sylvia was a murderer now and she needed to cash in her bounty.

THE DIRTY TRADE – When Sylvia took to the pawn shop the stolen jewelry she could not sell it as it was apparently too ‘hot’ as told by the establishment owner, however, if she really needed the money, he said there was another option… $10,000.00 in exchange for a mold of her face, excuse me, her beauty, a mold of her beauty. Sylvia took the offer with the knowledge that she had four months to redeem her beauty if she wanted it back.

OBJECTIVE – With a purse full of cash, a polished makeover, a new expensive wardrobe, and an even more expensive frame of mind, Sylvia infiltrated effortlessly a party of the man she had put her eye on back in her ‘working’ days. Remember that sharp tongue of hers? Well, she used it like a weapon, a sexual weapon, against her target, Ronnie Price, and it worked wonders. She made it. She was in.

NAIVETY – It was four full months of bliss and happiness and Sylvia was truly living her dreams, dreams that got shaken by a weird occurrence on her face; was it acne, skin cancer, a genetic illness, voodoo? Whatever the reason, it was making this young and vibrant-looking woman to suddenly—and rapidly—start losing her perfect magnetic glow.

REDEMPTION – Sylvia was many things but stupid was not one of them. She demanded the pawn shop owner to give her back her beauty, even when the deadline was past due. If her beloved lover, Ronnie Price, had taught her anything was that everyone had one, a price, that is. Sylvia went back to their luxury apartment and grabbed all the jewels that Ronnie had gifted her so she could pay off her debt when, horror of all horrors, Ronnie arrives home and since all he sees is a strange woman stealing from him, he threatens to call the cops and—bam!—gets shot by the girl of his dreams.

CONSEQUENCES – This was the end of the road for Sylvia. Yes, she had enough valuables to buy back her beauty, but would she want to risk being back to her normal self and get recognized by the police as Ronnie’s killer? As the pimp’s killer? Being faced by two bad options was the last thing she wanted, but freedom still meant more to her than anything so she chose to walk alone, on the street, with not a single dime to her name, defeated, but this time with her beauty not on her face, but on her arms.

To me, Sylvia Vane’s story represents hope for a better future, hope in the knowledge that if you want something and put your mind and energy into it, you can get it. Maybe not forever. But at some point.

In Love and Fear,

-Marath

P.S. Wanna date and have twenty-seven minutes to spare? Here honey, enjoy:

© 2016-2021

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: Why You Do Me This Way?

WHY!? Why you do me this way, Behind Closed Doors? What did I do to deserve such aggravation? 10 out of 10 triggered.

Hahaha, in all seriousness, I loved (L-O-V-E-D) this book so much and I am so happy to be here to tell you all about it. So, girlfriend, go make yourself comfortable and get ready to be gaslit (gaslighted?) second-handedly thanks to B. A. Paris and her exquisite, yet malevolent, main character—whom I did not (did not!) grow to adore—Mr. Jack Angel.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Few are the fiction authors whose writing style is so captivating I cannot put down their books and each paragraph, each chapter, feeds a sort of hunger that can only be satiated by more words, more prose. In the case of this thriller and suspense masterpiece, B. A. Paris kept nourishing me non-stop by way of psychological fiction, even if each bite hurt and made me feel sick, I could not stop asking for more, no, demanding for more as it was simply too delicious.

From the very start we were made aware that Grace Angel, Jack’s wife, was hiding something sinister and none of her acquaintances had a clue of it (well, Esther kind of did) and it was heartbreaking learning little by little how despicable Jack, the perfect husband and perfect lawyer, really was. Behind Closed Doors was Grace’s story told by her while jumping from The Past to The Present in each chapter and, in a brilliantly told way, she gave us morsels of information in one chapter to only jump to the next to lead us to believe that whatever we thought happened might had happened (the narrative played with time), to then—bam!—confirm in the next one, and in gut-wrenching graphic detail, that indeed it did. The best way I can describe this literary back and forth dance would be to compare it to sex; the rhythm from one chapter only got amplified on the next to only explode in the following one.

Now, having said that, did I like to learn that Jack allegedly killed his mom when he was a teenager and worshiped his violent dad to only blame him for his crime? No, I did not. Did I like to learn that Jack gave Grace a dog to only starve it to death? No, I didn’t! Did I enjoy learning of Jack’s plan to use Grace to get to Millie, Grace’s younger sister with Down syndrome, so he could torture her? NO! OF COURSE NOT! But did I appreciate how he did all those things? Mmmh, I mean, I was not mad about it…

Please, hear me out, don’t judge me too hard, okay? I feel like you can tell where I am coming from, given that we are both horror fans with a soft spot for troubled, good looking, bad boys… what was that? How do I know he was good looking? Oh, damn, I actually don’t know but all I can say is that the whole time I was picturing him like this:

[I can thank The Invisible Man (2020) for the male image cue due the movie’s subject on domestic abuse… *eye roll*]

So, as I was saying, Jack was problematic but in a non-repulsive kind of way and, truth be told, on the chapter where Grace escapes from her room and tries to hide downstairs in the pitch-black sitting area while doing her best not to make a sound so Jack wouldn’t find her, he, all of the sudden, breathes on her right cheek and says “Boo!”—AAAH!—I lost it here. I loved that my brain was being extra generous with me in that specific moment and let me enjoy that scene to the maximum by ‘feeling’ Jack’s breath on my own right cheek and by ‘hearing’ that Boo on my right ear and by giving me goose bumps so hard that I had to put the book down and stand up to shake it off. (Yes, I looked like a crazy person when this happened but I mean who cares.)

I am not going to talk about the ending but I will say this, I wish Grace had been there with Jack when “it” happened so that we could have heard all the gory juicy details, alas, just by knowing that “it” happened and that Esther had Grace’s back (God bless her female instinct) and that she and Millie were now free and safe, girl, that was all we could have really asked for.

If I didn’t make myself clear, this book was such a hard hitter that at times it made me feel gross and triggered and offended and, at other times (most of the times?), the total opposite (don’t judge me). I would highly recommend Behind Closed Doors if you are in the mood for mind games and some good old fashioned gaslighting all while being entertained by a handsome psychopath. #sorryNOTsorry

In Love and Fear,

-Marath

© 2016-2021

It Is Done… It’s Done – HUSH (2016)

Hush (2016) is a streaming-only movie—wonder if it is ever going to get released via physical format so I can add it to my horror dvd collection—for which I will sit down and watch from beginning to end; for me, there is no casual viewing of Hush, nor simply playing it in the background while I do something else. No. If I make the grave mistake of hitting play, then my day is put on hold for one hour and twenty-two minutes. I have lost many hours of my life thanks to Hush, but hey, what can I say? That is a good problem to have.

“Easy. Easy. Hey, hey, hey! Hey, come on. It is done. It is done… It’s done.” –The Man

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

Hush tells the story of Maddie, a horror writer struggling with choosing a good ending for her second book. Maddie is deaf and mute and lives alone with her cat in the middle of the woods and, as expected, is independent and even prepared to tackle on her own the occasional kitchen emergency (she is a terrible cook). Maddie is friendly to her neighbors, as well as to her old buddies from the city, who often check in on her via FaceTime or in person to make sure she is okay (there is an ex, don’t ask).

One night, out of the blue, a total stranger decides to have a killing spree and ends up showing up at Maddie’s home. She cannot hear her neighbor yelling bloody murder or even notice the man knocking on the glass door with a knife – she is in the zone, writing, living her life, inside her own home, all alone, in danger as of this very exact moment.

When I tell you that the man was a cold-blooded bastard, you better believe me. Actually, do you know what? His attitude reminded me a little bit to real-life Canadian-American serial killer “Happy Face Killer,” but since that is a different story for a different time, let’s just say that this murderer, albeit fictional, also had the characteristic crazy stare and inflated ego with the disturbing matter-of-fact statements, always violent and delivered in a calm voice.

“I can come in anytime I want. And I can get you, anytime I want. But I'm not going to. Not until it's time. When you wish you're dead... that's when I'll come inside.” –The Man

So Maddie quickly realizes she is on her own and cannot contact anyone for help as the man not only cut the power, thus rendering her laptop useless due to the lack of Wi-Fi, but also stole her cellphone. (Gone are the days of the ever so reliable landline phone.) She tries to hide inside her extremely dark glass wall house, then she tries to escape, but ends up getting injured in the process. Maddie saw her options in her writer’s mind—she can ‘listen’ to a female voice giving her multiple scenarios—but since she realizes she is already too weak, unable to run, slowly bleeding out, and losing her vision, she pretty much accepts her dire situation and decides her best choice is to try to kill the man, but not without first writing a goodbye note to her parents.

Oh brother, the final fight was great and it made me glad seeing how Maddie kept going until the end, even when using her last ounce of strength… her every move was calculated, like a beautifully performed gut-retching swan song… she knew she could die by fighting back, but also knew, with absolute certainty, she would if she didn’t. 

And she did it. She killed the man. She survived. She got her cellphone back and with trembling bloodied fingers dialed 911.

As if the ending was not flawless enough, on the very last scene when Maddie was waiting outside for the police to arrive we can see her with her eyes closed, smiling ever so slightly, as if she was not only relieved and happy for making it alive, but also for now knowing the perfect ending for her book; it is done… it’s done.

In Love and Fear,

-Marath

© 2016-2021