When I was a kid I remember staying up late to watch old episodes of The Twilight Zone and freaking my freak out while not really knowing what was getting my heebies jeebied. The premises of a lot of the shows were simple, sort of creepy, but nothing too scary when you really thought about them in the light of day. But I was watching them by myself, late at night, listening to the wind outside, and then before I knew it HIYABBA there is a DEMON on the WING of the PLANE and I SHALL NEVER SLEEP AGAIN.

This is the same sort of feeling I got reading Annihilation, the first Southern Reach Trilogy book, by Jeff VanderMeer. Sitting here now, I can tell you what happens, and it seems kind of creepy, but not nearly as creepy as when I was reading it last night; it seemed sinister to the point of neck hairs standing up. The story is about four women who have been sent into “Area X” by the government. Area X is an environmentally wacked out piece of deserted land, for reasons that are not made clear from the beginning. The four women, a biologist, an anthropologist, a psychologist, and a surveyor, are to go in and figure out what is up. There have been previous expeditions that were sent in and failed due to people dying, or turning on each other for unknown reasons and killing each other up, and the like. In other words, what happens in Area X stayed in Area X, much like Vegas.

Four explorers, weirdo conditions, many unknowns, and bucketloads of spooky kooky business.

Let’s celebrate the spooky with a song from everyone’s favorite Darlene-Connor-esque songstress.

Lorde’s cover of Don’t Tell ‘Em