Experimental Film

Outstanding creep novel of a higher type. We still have cosmic forces trying to worm their way into our universe via... Well, that would be telling. Leave it to say that hapless (by her own estimation) film critic Lois Cairns's life takes a turn for the even worse when she becomes obsessed with documenting the life of a little known pioneer of cinema (not just Canada here, we're talking world); a thing she feels may make her career again. Everyone seems bent on derailing her project or stealing her work. It's no help that at the same time she's trying to do the best she can with her autistic son. As she digs deeper into her "grant" it starts to feel like there is more to celluloid than meets the eye, or maybe not.

The minutiae of Canadian film history was lost on me although I would probably be keenly interested if I was from the Great White North myself. One thing I know Canada has some fine horror writers and Files is one of them based on this novel and the stories I've show more read.

Having read some pretty weak "Lovecraftian" fare recently by the likes of [a:Pete Rawlik|4912242|Pete Rawlik|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] it's a breath of charnel air that somebody can still write a novel about cosmic horrors without name checking Innsmouth or mentioning a tentacle. show less

Think The Ring The Curse (another Japanese horror flick icydk) Begotten (a crazy German... experimental film) The Blair Witch Project.

One of the best horror novels I've ever had the pleasure of reading. A great mix of film history/technology and Slavic folklore. So glad I went ahead and bought this with Files' other book "We Will All Go Down Together" because this is slow-burn horror at its finest.

*shiver*

A slow burn of a supernatural mystery that takes place in the world of film as art (and not standard storytelling), the actual storytelling can be profoundly deep at times. I feel like this piece is meant for a niche audience, and yes, I just happen to fall into that category.

The protagonist is an art film historian, a student and teacher of the movement, and me, having graduated from a state school with a film degree—under the mentoring of the likes of Ken Jacobs and Ralph Hocking, felt comfortable in the environment that author Gemma Files has created.

Within that regard, this is an interesting story. You have a mother, torn between her passion for art and her special needs child Clark. Lois, the mom, finds an important discovery in the world of underground film and film history in general, when she stumbles upon a woman who was present at the start of it all, Iris Whitcomb. But because of her mysterious disappearance, after the disappearance of her own son at a young age, show more Whitcomb's potential mark on the history of filmmaking has been lost. That is until Lois connects some significant dots and garners a grant to suss out the entire story, and to prove it.

Lois becomes obsessed with the project, leaving the rest of the family —her mom and her overly patient husband Simon, to do the lion's share of caring for Clark. The trick here is empathizing with Lois in her quest to find the story for the sake of film history and women in film history, and I’m not sure Files pulls it off entirely. It’s important to note that the character Lois feels guilty about Clark in some ways, never feeling like Clark quite connects with her as a mom and always feeling like he is the way he is because of her own potentially neurodivergent inadequacies.

Clark, by the way is wonderfully portrayed in my opinion. And the culmination of the secondary story and of what Lois learns and accepts—because of Clark—is worth the time to tackle this otherwise slow paced read. The horror and supernatural elements have more of a haunting gothic quality rather than outright gore, so if you’re looking for a slow unraveling of creepy ambiance, this read might be for you. But solving the mystery of Iris Whitcomb's disappearance, and its connection to an ancient folktale of a goddess who needs to be seen and worshipped is the main story, and it takes time to link it to Lois's struggle with her responsibilities as a parent to Clark. show less

I would have given this four stars, but halfway through some thoroughly unnecessary and misleading foreshadowing started kicking in and implying various fates that never seemed to come true. It interfered with my enjoyment of the book a little. Still, the premise is interesting, and the fact that the author mixes the real with the constructed in terms of art and history and art history is right up my alley.

A strange wonderfully inside out upside down horror tale. Middle aged mother protagonist beloved by husband, female old god of noontime, sun not slime. And flickering movies!

I had read really good things about this book and I usually love books about movies, so I started “Experimental Films” with high expectations. Once I got into the book, I found the premise of the story quite promising and it kept me quite hooked during the first third of the book, but from that point on I started to feel that the story was getting bogged down with the main character’s personal and familiar problems (too many tiresome and repetitive arguments with her mother, for instance) instead of focusing in the supernatural and spooky side of the plot. I started to feel disengaged from the story and during the last 100 pages I even had to struggle to finish it.
So, what started as a four stars book ended for me as a two stars book, hence my three stars, just a mathematical average.

I liked a lot about the book (Lois was great, the Canadian Film stuff was excellent, and I'm a sucker for creepy folk legends) but I couldn't muster up much interest in the actual plot. I just didn't click. It's nicely written but feels a little densely packed at times and that's great when the subject is something I was interested in but otherwise it just felt dry. This one might not have been for me but I'm excited to check our some of Files' other work.

Strange book. I liked the writing and the point of view character, but this book never really grabbed me. The opening incident of the woman disappearing from the moving train intrigued me. A lot of the esoteric details about Canadian film lost me. The Lady Midday vengeful pagan work goddess didn't do much for me at all.

En mi caso, falla como novela de terror cuando encuentro mucho más interesantes las escenas de vida cotidiana con Simon y Clark (especialmente éste último) o las conversaciones con la madre. El principio es un poco 'Historia del cine canadiense' que aunque resulta ameno de leer, no es lo que esperaba encontrar tampoco en una novela de 'terror'. No está mal, pero no la recomendaría.

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

Are you familiar with obscure experimental Canadian film? Yeah, me neither.

I really hate to say this, but the story just couldn't keep my interest. At first their is a lot about Canadian film, which probably is interesting if a) you know something about it and b) it doesn't turn out to be completely fictional. The second part is a ghost story, based on an old European myth, which was more interesting but I felt it was still lacking something.

The writing is confusing, on purpose, at times, but I probably wouldn't have minded if I were more invested in the story. It's really a shame. I chose this book, even though it seemed quite out of my comfort zone, because Chi in the past has surprised me with some really good books. However, this particular one didn't work for me, although I'm quite sure there will be fans.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!