Horror

Nobuhiro Yamato (George Takei) in A Sparrow in a Swallow's Nest (Image courtesy AMC Studios / Amazon. All rights reserved)

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“A Sparrow in a Swallow’s Nest” is the first episode of the second season of the TV show “The Terror”, which was named “The Terror: Infamy”. It’s broadcast in the USA on AMC Studios and in other nations on Amazon Prime Video.

A woman’s suicide shakes the Japanese-American community of Terminal Island, California, where she lived. Events that other inhabitants of the community interpret as omens make the situation even worse. In 1941 living in the USA and being of Japanese ancestry is becoming increasingly difficult and someone thinks that an evil entity is working against them.

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Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on August 13, 1899, in Leytonstone, Essex, England. The typical elements of Alfred Hitchcock’s work, from the creation of suspense to black humor, including his obsession with blondes and many other themes and mechanisms, have been the subject of in-depth analysis to understand the work process of a director who had a remarkable influence also beyond genre cinema.

Rutger Hauer in 2018

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The news arrived that actor Rutger Hauer (photo ©DWDD) passed away on July 19. The news only reports that the death occurred at his home in Beetsterzwaag, Netherlands, after a brief illness and was made public immediately after his funeral, which was private. He’s survived by his wife Ineke and his daughter Aysha, born from a previous marriage.

Pet Sematary by Stephen King

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The novel “Pet Sematary” by Stephen King was published for the first time in 1983.

Louis Creed is a doctor who has just found a good job at the University of Maine and moves to a house near the town of Ludlow with his wife Rachel, their two children Ellie and Gage and the cat Winston Churchill nicknamed Church. An elderly couple, Jud and Norma Crandall, live near them and look like friendly neighbors. In many ways it’s an ideal situation even if the house is close to a road traveled by trucks but initially there are other problems.

The beginning of Louis’s job on the University campus is troubled when he tries to rescue Victor Pascow, a student victim of an accident with such serious injuries that Louis can only see him die in front of his eyes as he says words that apparently make no sense. His love life is also disturbed when Rachel gets very angry after Jud brought their family to a pet cemetery near the house because she fears that Ellie may ask uncomfortable questions. The whole family will soon be forced to confront death.

Arthur Conan Doyle in 1914 (Photo Walter Benington)

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Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born on May 22, 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland. “A Study in Scarlet”, the first Sherlock Holmes novel, was published in 1887 and was a great success. 56 short stories and three more novels about the famous detective were published in the following years: “The Sign of Four” (1890), “The Hound of the Baskervilles” (1902) and “The Valley of Fear” (1915). At a certain point the author made Holmes die in the short story “The Final Problem”, which introduces his archenemy Moriarty, but the readers’ reaction convinced him to find a way to change the detective’s destiny.

The novel “The Lost World” (1912) became a classic among modern science fiction precursors. Arthur Conan Doyle re-used the character of Professor Challenger for some other novels and short stories that today can be considered science fiction.

On July 7, 1930, Arthur Conan Doyle suffered a heart attack at his country home in Windlesham. At the time of his death, the character of Sherlock Holmes had already become the protagonist of some movies and a number of short films, quickly becoming an icon far beyond literature. He’s a crucial character in the detective story / mystery genre but the author is also remembered for other important works in various genres, also often adapted in cinema and television productions.