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Our second Tuesday of the challenge has arrived and with it comes more A to Z horror. Hope you like it.

Movie.

In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
Directed by John Carpenter.

Plot: With the disappearance of hack horror writer Sutter Cane, all Hell is breaking loose...literally! Author Cane, it seems, has a knack for description that really brings his evil creepy-crawlies to life. Insurance investigator John Trent is sent to investigate Cane's mysterious vanishing act and ends up in the sleepy little East Coast town of Hobb's End. The fact that this town exists as a figment of Cane's twisted imagination is only the beginning of Trent's problems....

Review: I saw this movie a long time ago and it fascinated me. It was the first time that a movie storyline reminded me so much of the bulk of Lovecraft's work. It is not based on any single story but the feeling of confusion and, to some degree, madness brought to my mind many of his great stories. It is not a horror in the sense that there are ghosts or demons; it is not a violent or gory movie; heck, it isn't even about a killer. It is simply the story of a writer and his books, and a matter of answering one key question: who created whom?

Book.

I am Legend by Richard Matheson.

Published by Gold Medal in 1954.

Blurb: Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth...but he is not alone. Every other man, woman, and child on Earth has become a vampire, and they are all hungry for Neville's blood. By day, he is the hunter, stalking the sleeping undead through the abandoned ruins of civilization. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for dawn. How long can one man survive in a world of vampires?

Review: Not so long ago I did an extensive review of this book, should you want more detail, you can click here. But let's go over the basics. Most of us remember the story from a Will Smith movie, right? I did enjoy the movie very much and that was what lead me to read Matheson's book. Then, of course, I found out that the book had nothing to do with the movie. And I mean nothing. First, it is not a zombie story. It is post-apocalyptic indeed, but Norman truly is the last man on earth and the story is more about that fact. How do you deal with loneliness, with being the odd one, how do you survive your own memories of the ones you lost. In Matheson's world, during the day Norman is king and a hunter, but by night he is the pray and an ant.