As we roll into August, the dark and horror gamer part of myself starts to peek out from the shadows. Peering out to see if it’s her time to parade around the blog and other social media outlets to speak about dark fairytales, creepy characters, terrifying novels, and nightmare fuel games. Welcome to the side of Gray’s Otome and Visual Novel Corner that focuses on both VN and Cozy Nook aspects of Gray’s Otome & VN Corner.

Where suspense, thrillers, and horror games take over. While some otome games meet the creepy aspect of the horror criteria, it’s rare… depending on what game you’ve gotten into your hands. Before we proceeded, I’d like to say thanks to Kelly from Another Book in the Wall Blog for making these Halloween themed prompts!

Now…

Reader beware, these visual novels aren’t for those who want romance flair, these are for those who dare to face their darkest nightmares.  

If you aren’t a horror fan please check out my other blogs! Otherwise, if you like terror and creepy stuff…

CARRY ON~!

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‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ TOPIC ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

-ˏˋ♥̩͙♥̩̩̥͙♥̩̥̩ ⑅Horror Tropes ⑅ ♥̩̥̩♥̩̩̥͙♥̩͙ˊˎ

-ˏˋ♥̩͙♥̩̩̥͙♥̩̥̩ ⑅ You’ve Grown ⑅ ♥̩̥̩♥̩̩̥͙♥̩͙ˊˎ

-ˏˋ♥̩͙♥̩̩̥͙♥̩̥̩ ⑅ Tired Of ⑅ ♥̩̥̩♥̩̩̥͙♥̩͙ˊˎ

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This is going to be less scary and more sarcastic as I’m not against many horror tropes as long as the movie is well made and the story is engaging enough to keep me interested to keep watching until the end. Growing up watching horror movies with my mom and monster flicks with my grandma, I wasn’t averse to seeing repeated scenarios in both blockbuster films and straight to VHS/DVD films.

Whether it was from ‘Gremlins‘ to ‘Leprechaun‘ there was always some type of similar formula being performed in these types of movies. Not excluding the famed slasher flicks from the early 80s to early 90s with stories that were either loosely based on true events or close to the urban legends. When you think about it, there’s a lot of overused tropes and monsters, but I feel that if the direction of the trope is used in a very creative stance. All the more better to have, but… we do see the occasional times where a movie or TV series adapts a trope and makes it … unexciting or just plain boring. In this blog, I’m actually going to be talking more about my peeves versus tropes, so sit back and turn on the film projector. It’s time to scream–but in a more frustrating way than scary one. 

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.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡　BOOK TO MOVIE ADAPTATIONS　ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+

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I really dislike a lot of book to movie adaptations, and this stuff has been going on for years. Sometimes… It’s better to leave things as they are rather than try to recreate the masterpiece into a movie. The reason for this is because there have been times I have been let down by film adaptations of novels I really liked. While I understand that creating films is an art form of its own league, I feel that this only works when the perception of creating a well-done product is made, versus someone just using a well-known title to make money because of its name.

Take the example, The Resident Evil movie adaptations, the game series already had a huge following, and thus when a movie adaptation was presented; of course, a lot of us jumped with glee (or at least a good portion of us jumped with happiness). The movie relied heavily on jump scares, and intensely gore shredding moments to move the story along. Not only that, but there was also the added character of Alice, who was extremely OP.

A lot of the series transformed into something completely strange with main characters we’ve come to know and love being supporting characters to ‘Alice‘ in their own game-to-movie adaptations. I’ve seen enough adaptations that tried to be either ‘closely’ or ‘loosely’ related to the original series of their book or game counterparts. However, it’s a hit or miss, and I take movie recreations with a grain of salt when I see the previews now.

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.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡　FILM REMAKES　ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+

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I have problems with plenty of remakes of horror movies and seeing this happen consistently annoys the crap outta me. It’s more than likely because I’m attached to the original version, and concept of the film. The idea that when a movie remake with the new ‘hottest’ actors portraying iconic characters comes into play, makes it seem more as a Hollywood get-rich scheme rather than someone trying to actively pursue in re-imaging a classic film for the modern audience. A lot of times, the movies leave a bad taste in my mouth or leave me cringing at how ‘the new’ perspective is amazing.

While I should say that perhaps the director and producer did mean well, and they were doing their best to recreate the original into a new visionary piece. I feel that at times they lose the direction, and end up at the chophouse with Jason and Leatherface over Bloody Mary’s spiked with vodka. Sprinkling sex, gore, and smooth over important scenes with pretty faces and blood sparkles.

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.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡　LOVERS/FRIENDS BEING SACRIFICED　ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+

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Oh wow… I found a trope! I feel that there’s plenty of horror movies that use this as a defining trope to make or break the main character(s) of the story. Whether it’s to make them progressively grow into a hero or a villain, sometimes I feel the trope is overdone and it gets annoying to. As I’m always there sitting at the theater going, “well their relationship isn’t going to last long now, one of them is either gonna die or sacrifice themselves–or they both die together and then the child is now going to exact revenge.”

I do agree that in certain movies, the trope does work when it really does help a character realize the action they must make in order to survive, or save the world from unspeakable horrors. Otherwise, it’s a horror movie, book, podcast, I don’t expect happy endings in them. Creating characters to be lovers or friends, that have no substantial growth overall in the plot, due to the fact that they are just going to be killed off because ‘we-need-to-add-so-much-death-and-terror’ fails to win me over.

I feel the story would have more impact if we are allowed to believe the character will remain by the side of the hero/heroine until the very end, then the story would have a lasting impact especially if we understand the plot point of their necessary need to be killed off. However, if there really isn’t a meaning to killing them off other than for the publicity of sporadic death because it’s a horror film? Leave them out and focus on the main plot, please…

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.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡　OVERUSE OF THE JUMP SCARE　ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+

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Jump scares are good, and I do love them when they are well placed in a movie and you can’t figure when the next scare is going to happen. However, when a video game or movie uses the jump scare tactic too often, obviously, I’m going to be more aware of the film-makers plans. I’ll be more annoyed with the fact I’m being jump scared in the most obvious scenes where one will overtly happen.

I think Cindy actually captures my expression quite perfectly when I see something obviously is about to happen. I could say the same that games can overdo it too, like ‘Home, Sweet Home” the Thai horror game that came out a few years back. While it did pack a good few scares, in the beginning, the story began to drag and the jump scares got more predictable as the story progressed to the point that I was getting bored.

It’s saddening when this occurs as I truly want to be terrified by a game or get full-body chills. Jump scares should be placed in areas that I feel we as the audience are less likely to believe would happen to have the incident happen to us. The other concept that can be used is having an AI coordinate a more horrific action, where we never know when it’ll happen, as it doesn’t matter what actions we take because the system is hunting us in the game. In movies… I feel it’s more that the tactics should be in areas we wouldn’t believe it to happen.

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.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡　DEATH BY SEX　ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+

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Normally, I’d say, “well that’s one hell of a way to go out.” However, when sex and showing tits, penis, someone’s orifice half the time before the killer or psycho is about to get you… I’m already rolling my eyes and sighing gravely, as I don’t feel scenes like those are necessary to make a movie great. Take the example, ‘Bad Moon’ a movie that was adapted from a book… While I never read the book, the movie was good except for the fact about this:

This lovely lady was having sex with one of the main characters and then, BAM, the monster grabs her from the tent and tears her a new one. Regardless, if this was in the book as well, I still don’t feel the scene is necessary just to attract an audience especially if the script and production team are passionate about making a good old scary movie. While it has been posed to me that sexual intercourse is a state of vulnerability and thus it’s used as a way to have characters drop their guard before a killing spree.

Another good werewolf movie but having a similar opening premise as Bad Moon is the beloved Dog Soldiers. At the beginning of the movie, we meet an unlucky couple who goes out into the backwoods of the UK and when they are about to get down and dirty. Lo and behold, the woman is dragged out of the tent, and blood sprays over the male partner who is left bewildered. I was left confused at the opening until it cut to the military operation right after but still… I didn’t feel the scene was something needed to gather the audience.

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.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡　RECOMMENDATIONS　ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+

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ﾟ+*:ꔫ:*﹤[GRAY’S SELECTION]﹥*:ꔫ:*+ﾟ

[BOOK TO FILM ADAPTATION]

The best book to movie adaptation has been the Hannibal Lecter books, capturing almost the exact allure and psychotic behavior of Hannibal himself. The movie delivers with Anthony Hopkins as the esteemed murderer, with Jodie Foster as acting Agent Moore in Silence of the Lambs. The fear factor, suspense, and the absolute psychological terror that ensured for me was every last bit of what I wanted to see portrayed in the movie. I gotta thank my mom for allowing me to see the movie, hahaha, as it truly did terrify me and also make it one of my favorite movies to watch.

ﾟ+*:ꔫ:*﹤[GRAY’S SELECTION]﹥*:ꔫ:*+ﾟ

[HORROR FILM REMAKE]

I remember watching the original version created by Howard Hawke with my grandmother, as she didn’t think the movie would scare me. So when my mom happened to be watching a horror movie marathon one day, this movie came up, and I had nightmares for hot minute LMAO. This was a really well-done remake of the original, the visuals and the creative minds who put work into the movie’s effects did well at creating one hell of a scary-ass alien besides Alien’s Xenomorph.

ﾟ+*:ꔫ:*﹤[GRAY’S SELECTION]﹥*:ꔫ:*+ﾟ

[JUMP SCARE MOVIE]

This movie still terrifies me, ahaha! The jump scares in this damn film never ceases to amaze me and how mortified I was watching the whole thing. This disturbing part is the twist at the ending that I didn’t even see coming, even if the ghost got what they wanted–the bone-chilling events that occurred in the film still makes me shiver with fear. Shutter takes something of an innocent aspect of what could be anyone’s passion in real life to a whole new level. You’ll never look at taking pictures the same way again after watching this film. 

ﾟ+*:ꔫ:*﹤[GRAY’S SELECTION]﹥*:ꔫ:*+ﾟ

[JUMP SCARE GAME]

When this game came onto the horror game scene, I remember going wild for it and buying it the day it released. The excitement that filled me went above and beyond, but the horror that lay within the confines of the disk would soon unravel one of the greatest jump scare games of all time. Why? You can’t predict the movements of the AI controlling the Xenomorph, which means there Xenomorph isn’t static, it truly hunts you.

Triggering the creature is easy but also trying to be stealthy is not so easy either. A love of the Alien franchise, this game ties in the events that happened after the first movie where we follow Ripley’s daughter, Amanda, in hopes of finding the truth about her mother’s disappearance all those years ago.

ﾟ+*:ꔫ:*﹤[GRAY’S SELECTION]﹥*:ꔫ:*+ﾟ

[EROTIC HORROR GAME ]

One of the few games that I do recommend with erotic elements and sex not being the main hoopla of being thrown everywhere in the story is Kara No Shoujo. You play as a private detective whose fate is intertwined with a strange young girl who asks him to find her true self. The sex scenes are fairly tame but aren’t thrown in haphazardly to fill in plot holes or to gloss over areas that weren’t well prepared in the production of the game. Kara No Shoujo’s story is rich and immersive, but like all horror stories… the ending isn’t always going to be the one you wish for.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾GRAY’S CORNER☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

Whether these can be identified as pet peeves or tropes, is for you to decide, but these are my opinions on what I feel is exaggerated in media alike. I do agree with certain remakes, and I give credit where I believe it’s due. However, in some games and multimedia out there, the credit is spent elsewhere–Like me either returning it or spending more on unnecessary items to assuage my grieving about the item in general LMAO. Whatever the case may be, tropes are always going to be overused and sometimes underrated in film, games, and books alike. We can only hope that the creative mind uses it as an advantage rather than a means to toss whatever hooplah into a plot to fill in weak areas of the story.

As always, thanks for stopping by in my corner of the blogosphere, and see you on the gaming side~!