Nathan Rabin's Bad Ideas

2 days ago | nathanrabin.substack.com | Nathan Rabin

In the entry on 2023’s Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, I wrote about how frightmaster Guillermo Del Toro singled out Pet Sematary as a terrifying masterpiece that he’d love to adapt. The novel had special meaning for its author as well. Of everything he’s written, Pet Sematary scares him the most.

5 days ago | nathanrabin.substack.com | Nathan Rabin

How do you sum up the life of a man like Harvey Rabin succinctly? You could write a book about my pa and his myriad eccentricities. I should know. I did write a book about my dad. I got a six-figure advance for it, and it was praised by The New York Times. Then things took a turn. My 2009 debut memoir, The Big Rewind, is about many things. It’s about the transcendent, life-affirming power of entertainment. It’s about mind-altering substances ingested and questionable romantic choices.

5 days ago | nathanrabin.substack.com | Nathan Rabin

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5 days ago | nathanrabin.substack.com | Nathan Rabin

Screenwriter Alex Garland and director Danny Boyle’s groundbreaking, zeitgeist-capturing 2002 hit 28 Days Later was dedicated to the bold proposition that zombies should be scary. In traditional form, zombies are figures of fun more than figures of fright. They die, which is strike number one. You lose a lot of mojo when you perish, and ALL of your life force when your life is extinguished. The soon-to-be undead are buried six feet under, which is strike number two.

1 week ago | nathanrabin.substack.com | Nathan Rabin

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