The Best Thriller Book of 2018 Officially Becomes a Netflix Movie Today

I read a ton of books in 2018 and one of the best of them was AJ Finn’s The Woman in the Window. It became the 14th bestselling book published that year with about 40% of critics giving it rave reviews. The book was quickly optioned for movie rights. Weirdly, in the years since, the wheels have kinda fallen off for The Woman in the Window. The movie was pulled from test screenings and the release delayed so that it could be re-edited. Then, the pandemic hit and the release was delayed again, with the movie eventually being sold to Netflix. AJ Finn was revealed to be Dan Mallory, an unpopular former book publishing agent who lied about his education, his health issues, and his family’s health issues to his coworkers.The plot of The Woman in the Window has also been criticized for being too close to the 1995 movie Copycat and the French thriller Les Diaboliques.

In the immortal words of another unpopular artist, “I don’t care what none of y’all say, I still love her.”

It’s not that I’ve already seen the movie and it’s so good I’m willing to excuse a cancelled artist over it. It’s just that there’s only so many ways you can write a murder mystery so if one sounds close to another, that’s just more iterations of murder mysteries for a thirsty horror fan like me to consume. The author lying about having a suicidal brother to his old coworkers sucks, but I’m not going to not enjoy a Netflix murder mystery because of it. There’s too few Netflix murder mysteries for me to do that.

Here’s what I’m watching this weekend:

The Woman in the Window. Streaming on Netflix. An agoraphobic woman named Anna Fox (Amy Adams) is confined to her New York City townhouse by her disease. She seeks therapy online, gets her groceries delivered, and generally is happy to keep to herself. Anna spends most of her time drinking red wine, watching old movies, playing online chess, and socializing in agoraphobia chat rooms (same). She also loves spying on her neighbors. That is, until a new family moves in across the street and Anna thinks she witnesses a murder.

Oxygen. Streaming on Netflix. A woman wakes up in a small cryogenic box with no idea who she is or how she got there. The only thing she does know is that she only has enough oxygen to live for another 43 minutes.

Sons of Sam. Streaming on Netflix. A different kind of story about David Berkowitz, the man who terrorized New York City in the summer of 1976 as the Son of Sam or .44 Caliber Killer. In this 4 part doc, journalist Maury Terry argues that there could have been multiple “sons” of Sam killers.

In Theaters

I’m adding a special “in theaters” section because the CDC just announced that if you’re fully vaccinated you no longer need to wear a mask indoors. Don’t be like The Woman in the Window! Leave the house this weekend!!! Going to the movies is one of the things I missed most. Even though I usually prefer an empty afternoon matinee to a crowded weekend theater, I truly do not care how many people breathe on me or touch me this weekend, I’m just happy to leave the house and breathe freely.

Spiral. In theaters. The 9th Saw movie is out. Chris Rock stars as a police detective who investigates a series of murders that look suspiciously similar to the work of the now deceased Jigsaw. The studio has already released the movie’s opening scene:

Creepy Link Library

• I’m definitely looking forward to seeing the next Conjuring movie in theaters next month. Here’s an article I wrote looking into the real life “Devil Made Me Do It” case that will be featured in the film.
• The New Yorker thinks the Dyatlov Pass mystery has been solved.
• The horrifying story of a boy who murdered 13-year-old Tristyn Bailey and then posted a photo of himself in the back of a squad car flashing a peace sign and asking “Hey guys inbody seen Tristyn lately?”
• Have you heard of the outside people?
• Some scary stories to catch up on.

Happy streaming and stay spooky!!!