Gut Feelings: Listen to Them!

So, you know when you're watching a scary movie, and you're like, "Oh, Hell no, I wouldn't be going there..." or "OMG, you idiot, don't go up the stairs/down in the basement!"....

Or, you know the classic slasher films in which a group of teenagers seclude themselves from the outside world to party and fornicate in peace, but along the way they run across creepy situation after creepy situation and you're like "HELLO! You were warned by the town crazy not to go into the woods because you'd be DOOMED and yet you still went into the woods."




It's kinda funny because you can predict what will happen before it even happens.. Who will die first.. Who will be left standing... How the murders will begin...

I watched this movie the other day ~ The Cabin in the Woods... Not the greatest horror film, but definitely not the worst and without a doubt one of the more unique I've seen. You have a group of characters that are typically five different stereotypes. Basically, what it boils down to is that they choose their own demise. Rather than listening to their gut instincts, they ignore that chill raising the hairs on the back of their necks, and they continue with their ridiculous decision-making. "Let's read old Latin out of a creepy journal that talks about raising the dead." "Oh, why don't you and I talk a walk through the woods in the middle of a foggy night for some 'privacy'." "Let's split up!"... Just fail, after fail, after fail.


I'm not complaining by any means. I find movies and books with these types of story lines to be wildly entertaining. It's the one and only time I can truly laugh at witnessing someone else's demise and not feel the least bit guilty.


So why am I rambling about this? Well, I'm reading Ten by Gretchen McNeil, and it consists, so far, of the same elements. Kids lie to their parents and go for a hopefully wild weekend out on a secluded island ~ without cell phone reception *insert dramatic - DUN DUN DUN*


Meg and Minnie, best friends, ride a ferry over to the island, and while unloading themselves onto dry land, Meg gets this weird feeling as - yup, you guessed it - the guy helping her asks if she's sure she'll be okay on the island. DING DING DING. There's the first clue.


Now, I'm no prude, and I certainly believe in having a good time, but I think I would have been all set with the knowledge that absolutely no one was going to know where we were in case something happened. Some call that paranoid, I call it being prepared.

The second clue, which comes almost immediately after the first, is the gut feeling Meg gets that there is something wrong with them being out there completely isolated. But her psycho friend Minnie, who's oblivious to everything and everyone that doesn't have to do with her specifically, blows Meg off as being silly and antisocial and tells her that she better try and have a good time.


Third clue: the house they are to stay in is secluded on the secluded island. Yes, you read that right. The only way to get to it is to cross a bridge that isn't really much of a bridge as the waves crashing over it could knock you off into the dark pit of water. Did I fail to mention there was also a storm blowing in? That means the waves are about twenty times bigger and a helluva lot more dangerous. Good luck getting over to the house and even better luck crossing to come back to the main island.


Fourth clue: DVD cases have no DVD's except for one that says "Don't watch this." Of course, they watch it, and what do they find.... This...

You might think I'm spoiling the book for you, but trust me, I've left out quite a few of other obvious clues that these kids refused to acknowledge. The video definitely would have tipped me off that something wasn't right, but nope... They chalk it up to some kind of practical joke and scamper off to bed...


Now I'll stop there...

So how many more bad decisions await as I turn the page? hmmmmm... *knowing smirk*


Maybe I'm being too harsh because I know that this is a horror novel. I know people are going to die. The characters are ignorant of the terrifying world the author's thrown them into... So, am I being to judgmental in thinking that they should have guessed or even had at least a suspicion that something was way, way off...?


Maybe so. But it just seems so obvious to me.

So my question is: Do you think you would notice something was terribly wrong? And if so, would you blow off your gut feeling or would you listen to it??


Remember: Your life could be at stake...


Happy Reading Everyone :)


~ Keely ~