Cable Catch-Up: Vampyr (1932)

There are single scenes in Carl Theodor Dreyer’s essentially silent film that are scarier than CABIN FEVER, WRONG TURN, and the TEXAS CHAINSAW remake combined. Like a bit involving a one-legged soldier and his shadow. Or the sequence in which a man views the world through a window cut into his coffin as he’s ferried to the grave. A sense of ancient evil pervades the entire movie (even the sort-of boring bit in the middle). The story unfolds with a relentless dream logic reminiscent of David Lynch.

Book: A Gentleman’s Game, by Greg Rucka (2004)

Another book that won’t be released until the end of the month, and which I’ll cover at length in the next Mystery*File.

Rucka transports the characters from his QUEEN & COUNTRY series of graphic novels with spectacular results. It’s a modern espionage novel that doesn’t shy away from current events, but embraces the chaos and tries to make some sense of it. The action sequences are electrifying, the take on politics (especially in the Middle East) withering. The future of the genre is right here.