Lately Stephen King has had a resurrection (pun intended) of sorts, with movie remakes of his classic horror novels like Pet Sematary and It, but I was interested to see the sequel to The Shining, Dr. Sleep. Did I mention this sequel was released almost 20 years after the original Stanley Kubrick Shining movie? I think they wanted to take their time and get it just right, and I have to say this Shining Pinup wasn't disappointed!

Before you attack me, I did read the book Dr. Sleep before watching the movie and even if the movie didn't include everything, it did hit the mark for all the important events of the book!

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

There's really three separate stories that mesh together at the end. Here's the movie in a nutshell.

Story ONE
The movie picks up with Danny Torrance ~ the little boy from The Shining ~  and his flashbacks of seeing the ghost of the dead lady in the bathtub from the Overlook Hotel in his house and how Dick Hallorann ~ his friend from the Overlook Hotel ~ taught him to trap the ghosts in boxes he created in his mind. This is a key plot point.

The actors that play Danny, Wendy (his mom), Jack (his dad), and Halloran resemble the original actors. They aren't exact, and I know this bothers some people, but you get the jist of who they are.

You get the jist. This is from Dr. Sleep, not The Shining.

Danny as an adult is an alcoholic like his father. I like that they addressed this. In The Shining movie you are given clues that Jack was an alcoholic, but it's never specific that that's what's causing his temper. Danny drinks to stop the hallucinations, but unlike his father is really trying his best to stop. He packs up what little he has after a wild night out and heads further east to New Hampshire to start over. He befriends a man named Billy that helps him find a place to stay and is also a recovering alcoholic.

Danny gets a job as an orderly in a hospice facility. In the facility there's a cat named Azzie that can sense when a patient is going to die and Danny works with the cat to visit the dying patient and help ease them to the other side with his "shining" gift. Danny becomes known as Dr. Sleep. (I wish I could find a picture of the cat. It's white and fluffy in the movie.)

Story TWO
There's a little girl named Abra that also has the shining that lives near Danny. She's more powerful and can sense him. She communicates with him through a chalkboard on his wall for years. Neither of them meet in real life until one of the visions shows her a boy with a similar gift being kidnapped and killed by a gang that steals his "steam" or essence by brutally killing him. They "eat screams and drink pain". While Abra sees the vision, the head of the gang ~ Rose the Hat ~ sees her! Abra researches and finds out the boy is indeed missing and she has the clues to find out where he was buried. She tells Danny about it. He tells her to walk away.

Danny and his chalkboard.

Story THREE
If you haven't read the book, this part can get a little vague. There's a group of wanderers called the True Knot that also have gifts. They search out others like them to either eat their "steam" or convert them into immortal beings like they are. Rose the Hat sees Abra in her vision and wants to find her to take her steam.

Rose taking steam.

The closure for me was at the very end when Danny and Abra do fight the gang and lure Rose to the Overlook Hotel. The ghosts that haunt the Overlook ~ that Danny saw as a child ~ are similar creatures to the True Knot and feed off live people to take their essence. The hotel itself is a character in this movie and in the grand finale Danny opens the boxes in his mind and lets those ghosts kill Rose, but in the end he ends up dying too.

That being said, it doesn't end on a sad note! It's hinted that their are others out there with the shining, and now the spirit of Danny visits Abra. He becomes her Halloran. So with others out there it's hinted that there could be a sequel but I think they should just box the story up for now, like the ghosts in Danny's mind.

There are lots of nods to the original movie especially in the overhead outdoor shots, the music, and simply revisiting the Overlook. We see the door that Jack axed through, the "REDRUM" door, the ballroom and bar, the bloody elevators, the wintry hedge maze, and even inside room 237. It was satisfying to watch. I give it 4.5 doses of medicine out of 5.

The Overlook is a character all on it's own.

Here's the trailer...

p.s. My Shining photoshoot was included in the most recent issue of Rocket Magazine. The Autumn October 2019 Vol. 2! I got a two page spread!!!

My friend Shannon ~ the talented seamstress and tailor ~ owns Krampus Cuties hair ties. (Cats Like Us sells a lot of them and you can see exclusive designs here). She chooses really fun prints including cats and horror! I've collected several and what's nice is that they are reversible and adjustable. (I mentioned her in a past blog.)

I'm wearing the "You've got to be kitten" me hair tie 

in this picture, but on the solid side.

Here's my small collection... so far.

When she started making The Shining rug print hair ties I knew I needed a dress. (You might know I'm a fan from this blog post.) The pattern of the rug lends itself to a 1960s design. I just so happen to have a collection of vintage sewing patterns. I always thought I would learn to sew. My mom tried to teach me, I took sewing classes, and yet I have zero percent sewing skills. I asked Shannon ~ if I gave her the pattern ~ if she could make me a dress out of The Shining print? She said, "Yes!". (I made the buttons. At least I'm good for something. lol.)

The Shining print rug is the last one pictured above.

For reference, here's what it looks like in the movie...

Here's the fabric and my dress pattern.

So now I have this amazing reproduction 1960s dress and matching hair tie made of The Shining print rug. What's the best way to show it off? A photo shoot of course! I asked Destiny my friend and neighbor from Sweet Heart Pin Up if she could help me. If you ever want a full pinup experience she is the person to see! She made me feel like a queen on a throne while she applied my makeup. It was so relaxing. I just told her I wanted it to be heavy 1960s makeup and boy did she deliver! Eyelashes here, eyelashes there, eyelashes everywhere!

We watched the movie for inspiration beforehand and Destiny was able to pull props from other sets to fit the theme of The Shining. She has lots of sets in the basement of her studio already set up for pinup shoots. She put a room together just for me! I have to say I was impressed. I'm so lucky to have such talented friends.

Here are some quick behind the scene shots she took with attention to detail.

Key ring is from the Overlook Creeper Crate.

Now for the Photo Shoot...

Here's Ginger and I.

 Here's Vicktor and I.

Kitty paw prints.

Twin Kitties.

Mirror Kitty.

I wanted to keep it kitschy with a 1960s Shining theme and she made my vision a reality. I'm so happy I could make the photo shoot my own. I highly recommend booking with Sweet Heart Pin Up if you are near Buffalo, NY. Destiny is empowering, and fun and real. She made me feel like a million bucks. I'm flattered she said I have the skin of a twenty something. (Little does she know I have the skin of a twenty something in a box on my dresser...muhahaha.....just kidding....or am I?)

Thanks for reading!

~Julie Ann

Credits
Photos: Sweet Heart Pin Up
Makeup: Sweet Heart Pin Up
Hair provided by: Sheila "She-Devil" Hellinski
Dress: Krampus Cuties/ Kramp Kouture
Accessories: Cats Like Us
Cats added by: Miranda Knight Creative

There is so much hype surrounding Us after Jordan Peele's first movie Get Out that I had to see it. When I originally reviewed Get Out, the story line had a lot to unpack. I only scraped the surface so I wouldn't give anything away. In Us there's a ton of hints along the way leading you to the finale. Again this isn't "horror" in the traditional sense, but more the horror that comes along with human nature. I'm going to try to break down the clues a little better in this blog. I'm sure there's more, but this was my takeaway.

***SPOILER ALERT***

In the very beginning of the movie there's an enigmatic reference to all the abandoned underground subways, tunnels, and mines. Clue 1.

We then see the protagonist Adelaide as a little girl watching a commercial for Hands Across America in 1986. This is a real thing that happened for those that don't know. It was supposed to show unity and awareness of the hunger crisis and homelessness taking over America. What it did was brought together people, including celebrities, that donated to the cause. They ended up contributing less than half of what was collected to those living in poverty. BUT my eye went straight to the VHS tapes on the left of the TV. There's three and the one that stood out was C.H.U.D., because you can actually read the title. It's an 80s cult classic AND C.H.U.D. stands for Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers. Clue 2.

Much of the story is told in flashbacks. Young Adelaide and her parents are at Santa Cruz boardwalk by the beach and they mention a movie that is being filmed there. (It's The Lost Boys , YES! Wonderful shoutout.) After her irresponsible dad wins her a Thriller T shirt at a game, she wanders off into a hall of mirrors. The power goes out and you see her inside alone being confronted with a girl that looks just like her, that's NOT a reflection.

There's religious overtones referencing Jeremiah 11:11 or "Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not harken to them."

Flash forward to her being a mom in the Wilson family with two kids and a husband. Her husband suggests going to the Santa Cruz beach where they can meet their friends ~ The Tylers ~ for a vacation. She doesn't want to go because of what happened there. This part is filmed great because we go inside her head where she stops listening. She's disconnected from her family. They do end up going and on the way her daughter mentions the government controlling people. No one responds to the comment, they ignore it. (It's like living with my family.) Clue 3.

The Wilsons meet their well-off friends on the beach. Kitty, the mom had plastic surgery, the dad brags about his boat. The have a giant beach house.

Adelaide is incredibly observant taking in all the people on the beach surrounding her, again we get to see what she sees. She's alone in a beach full of people. There's coincidences like a frisbee landing right on the spot of a polka dot blanket, it's red, white, and blue with stars representing America?, her friends twin daughters saying the same thing at the same time, 11:11 is the score on TV and on the clock, odd nuances that are building the story. At one point her friend, Kitty asks if she's ok, and she responds with "Sometimes I find it hard to talk". Clue 4.

Once back at their modest beach house The Wilsons get ready for bed and the home invasion begins. There's a doppelganger family that breaks in, all wearing one tan finger less glove, a red jumpsuit, and each carrying sharp gold scissors. (The one glove is another reference to Michael Jackson, possibly the red outfit from the Thriller video too.) The matriarch of the family "Red" speaks to them in a scary distorted voice, explaining that the Tethered live underground as part of a failed government experiment. She's the only one that speaks. Clue 5. The Tethered look like them and reenact the same things they do above, but unlike the top dwellers their only food is raw rabbit, and they are given sharp things to play with instead of toys. (I'm guessing the scissors.) She even states that her son was "born into fire" and she had to cut him out of her belly herself. This establishes the underground family as abandoned and feral. They came above to be "untethered".

The Wilsons fight off the Tethered family, not without a bunch of symbolism to being connected like scissors, i.e. two pieces of the same part, handcuffs, her son's werewolf mask that he wears almost the whole movie gives a sense of duality, even the life preserver attached to the boat.

They escape to The Tylers house and find out they are not the only family being targeted by the Tethered. The Tylers have been killed while Good Vibrations from The Beach Boys plays in the background. Lots of irony in this movie. It reminded me of how Singing in the Rain is used in A Clockwork Orange. When you see the dead twins sprawled on the floor, it's the exact shot from The Shining with the Grady twins on the floor and blood splatter on the walls. It just proves, more money might buy you more choice in boats and houses, but it can't save you and Peele has been influenced by Stanley Kubrick.

(Scene from The Shining)

They kill the Tylers doubles. Adelaide takes on one of the girls and smashes her, not before her son sees the savage rage in her eyes. The Wilsons are trying to figure out what is going on, flick on the TV and find out everyone is getting killed by their look alike counterpart. It's going on all over the country. Once the above dwellers are dead the Tethered join hands much like the Hands Across America commercial. Clue 6. In their red jumpsuits it's a strong visual. Now we know the Tethered has the upper hand because they had a plan all along. It's a massacre along the sunny beach and boardwalk. Another sharp disturbing contrast.

Red takes Adelaide's son and Adelaide goes after her, down to the beach and in the mirrored house, down the rabbit hole, ala Alice in Wonderland. The underground is cavernous just like the mirror house, but somehow she knows exactly where she's going. Clue 7.

Red and Adelaide fight to the death. Red explains that they learned how to "copy the body not the souls of people" and that "our time is now". She has created a mob mentality among the Tethered that's very scary. I'm not going to tell you what happens, but all four members of the Wilson family survive and the bunnies are let loose. (Yay! Poor bunnies.)

I really enjoyed this movie. The Wilson's are likable and realistic. There's social commentary about poverty and how what you are born into does effect your life to an extent. The top dwellers take things for granted compared to the Tethered, and the Tylers have a lot compared to the Wilsons. Everyone stop comparing yourself, we truly are our own worst enemy!

It makes you think. I do have a couple of questions regarding the movie. Are the Tethered breaking free from the underground and controlling the coincidences above? Does Adelaide's son know what happened all those years ago? Who fed the bunnies underground and cleaned up their poop?

Now my real question is Get Out in the same world as Us? Was the father from Get Out part of the government that was experimenting on people? Curious it all takes place underground. Thank you Jordan Peele for original ideas and making me ask questions! I give this movie five giant golden sharp scissors out of five.

Here's the trailer...

In The Love Witch, the main thing to take note is that the makeup, costuming and music are excellent and the way it was filmed is reminiscent of the 1960s/ 1970s Technicolor movies. The color palette is vibrant and trippy, and it's a good thing the makeup is flawless because there's lots of closeups. The clothing even looks vintage! You can tell that films of the past had a big influence in this movie. I was seduced by how pretty the visuals are...the storyline and acting on the other hand, was just ok. It touches on feminism and witches, but makes witches out to be sleazy murderers.

Eye candy...

***SPOILERS***

I did some reading up on The Love Witch and most reviews call it a "black comedy". Sure it's campy, but it isn't that funny. The protagonist, Elaine Parks is a divorced widow that refuses to let her verbally abusive ex-husband go. It's implied that she caused his death. So distraught by his death, she meets up with a witch coven and becomes a "reborn witch". She is empowered with her skills and new religion even though the High Priest in charge is a sleazy scumbag. (A total reference to the patriarchal exploitation found in 1960s and 1970s horror movie representations of cults.)

Elaine's so desperate to find the ultimate fantasy. She wants a knight in shining armour to be "in love with her as much as she is in love with him" that she is perfecting a love potion to seduce and trap men. Unfortunately her potions make any of the men that drink them, get clingy and emotional ~ her ultimate turn off. Their love for her is so strong it kills them. She gets what she thinks she wants. Not only that, but she leaves her DNA all over a crime scene with rotting food. Then she finds the man of her dreams and when he doesn't fall for her spells and rituals it's flat out vengeance.

The problem with this is so many women in real life actually think that finding love will complete their lives, she's a stereotype. Just the like main character's hair is an over- the-top wig, using a spell to force love is fake. It's social commentary on women that are looking for love, so it's not that funny. It also has dialogue about women's power through sexuality, reminding the viewer that this movie is a commentary with lots of schlock. Elaine isn't looking for love, but power and revenge.

I wish the main character was more about recovering from her abuse in a healthy way. There's a voice over at one point towards the middle of the movie where she remembers the conversations of her ex-husband and father. They were verbally abusive and treated her awful and now she's using men for her own gain.

At one point she says, "When I die, I'd like to come back as a cat." So there's that.

I give this 3.5 pentacles out of 5.

Here's the trailer...

I should add that my Ginger loved it and watched the whole thing. The styling is right up her alley...cat.

I'm a sucker for makeup packaging. I've blogged about this problem before:

~Feline Fancy Palette from SugarPill

~Elvira Palette from Lunatick Cosmetics

I saw that Wet & Wild was coming out with a limited edition Goth-O-Graphic Spring Collection and I had to have it ~ there's skulls. I've been using Wet & Wild for years and I rediscovered them when I forgot to pack a red lipstick on a road trip. Their Stoplight Red has saved me on more than one occasion. It's part of the MegaLast Lipstick line and it's no joke, it stays on all day! Bonus they are a Cruelty Free Brand. I feel like their products have improved so much over the years and I can't wait to see what else they come out with.

I marked my calendar and bought the Goth-O-Graphic Collection online the day it came out. It's sold out now, but you can buy the pieces separately online and some friends have found them in their local drug stores. Check out this box design!!!

Included is:

 MegaGlo Loose Highlighting Powder, the hidden skull inside is so cute.

Hell-o Darkness Highlighting Stick, Purple Ashes & White Raven Highlighting Powder. You can hardly see them on me, and I used a primer. That's what I get for being translucent colored. They show up better in the makeup-of-the-day picture near the end of the blog.

MegaLast CatSuit Lipstick: Death to Unicorns, Gunmetal Heart, Pastel Grunge, & Wicked Pink. They are a liquid lipstick with a curved wand that I love. (It's called "CatSuit" tehe.)

Metallic Liquid Gel Liner: Skull Prayer, Pink Coffin, Black Butterfly. This eye liner has a tiny brush that I hate. I have better luck with felt tip pen eye liners, but I like these colors, so I'll try them out. I need to practice more.

Liquid CatSuit Liquid Eye Shadow: Pure Intension, Mystic Dreamer, Goth Tears, & Nyctophilia. I will admit the liquid eye shadow feels weird at first, but once it dries, it gives a great shimmer. These are my fav part of the box. (More "CatSuit"!)

I went to a tiki party the other day and decided to be glam and experiment with my new makeup! 

Here's what I used, most of it is from the Goth-O-Graphic Set. 

The Mega Cushion Foundation from Wet & Wild is just what I've been looking for, it goes on light, works well for layering, has SPF 15, and stays put, the H2O Proof Black Eye Liner is from Wet & Wild too, I used it to even out the black glue/ liner when I wear fake lashes. The mascara is Physicians Formula Ultra Black from their Cat Eye Collection, and I layered the liquid shadow over MAC Deep Truth eye shadow.

Here's what it looked like inside...

I was shining like a diamond! I call this look "galaxy eyes". Lashes are Ardell 105 and I used black Duo glue. Eyebrows are a random brown eye shadow I had.

Here's what it looked like in natural lighting, no filters. It's hard to capture the highlighter because I'm so pale, but it does show up I swear.

And they say old wrinkly gals shouldn't wear highlighter! Damn those people and wear what makes you happy!