Wax Empties: 8/1-8/31/2022

 Wax Empties: 8/1-8/31/2022

YouTube.

https://youtu.be/fKhz51pKoyo

Where to find me.

www.nettesthoughts.blogspot.com

waxidentscandles.com

www.facebook.com/waxidents

Instagram @ Waxidents

waxaccidents@hotmail.com

Disclaimer/Disclose.

All wax I have purchased, or it has been sent to me in swaps that I do. I try and remember and disclose that information. I am never sent anything for free from the vendors

These are my opinions and mine only. This is not meant to influence your purchase just to share with you my experiences with vendors

I will never, won't ever and have never bashed another vendor. Sharing my experiences both good and bad is not bashing.

I do not believe in Ass wax. If the wax is going to throw it's going to throw. No wax should need more than 2 weeks from pour date to fully cure.

Yes, I am a vendor. I have been purchasing wax and candles for as long as I can remember. I do love to share my experiences. I enjoy wax and candles and will continue to make my own and purchase, but I will never review my own here

I have a tendency to yawn when I get talking. Not sure why I just do! I'm sorry in advance

Things that drive me crazy.

No vendor or scent name on labels. This is basically advertising and why wouldn't you do it? Plus, if I get or send to someone else and they or me want more, how do they know who to buy it from?

All over prices. I have been noticing vendors lately have 2 ounces of one shape for a certain price, then the same ounces of a different shape for a different price. This is a huge turn off for me

Restocks that only have certain quantities and the sell out right away. I have no tolerance for that and just won't order

Vendors who take a single scent and make it sound like a blend. I feel like this is duping your customers and shouldn't be done. People who do empty videos, who are also vendors, that review their own product.

Vendors who get involved in other people's drama.

I use the following warmers.

20-watt Happy Wax warmer in my office

20-watt glade warmer in my family room; Currently no warmer here

20-watt Happy Wax warmer in my kitchen

20-watt glade warmer in my son's room

20-watt Scentsy Stargazer warmer in my bedroom (Light Bulb)

25-watt Happy Wax warmer in my living room

15-watt Scentsy warmer in the laundry room bathroom

15-watt Scentsy warmer in the main bathroom

The opinions I put here are my opinions/experiences only. I fully urge each and every one of you to form your own opinions/experiences on vendors for yourself by placing an order and getting a DE-stash. Candles have many aspects to them and if I say I had a hard time burning one candle that doesn't mean the rest from the same vendor will be like that.

Candles.

Retail; Bath & Body Works

Scent; Love

Scent Description: Rose + Vanilla

Thoughts: I won this candle, and it smelled amazing!

Hit or Miss; Hit

Melting.

Vendor; Swanky

Web; www.swankycandlecompany.com

Facebook; www.facebook.com/groups/swankyscentgroup

Owner; Jeannie Jeffrey

Scent: Lemon Ice Box Strawberry Pound Cake Cream Cake Cream Cheese Frosting

Thoughts: There was so much going on, however the lemon was toned down by the other scents, the strawberry came out and the rest was just a frosting background

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: Iconic Hard Candy Rainbow Sherbet

Thoughts: This was a nice strong candy scent

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: Bakery Mystery #1

Thoughts: This had a really strong pretzel and bread scent, and they blended it so nicely together

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: Mystery Bakery #2

Thoughts: This one had a fire type scent in it, possibly marshmallow fireside

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: Cornbread Sugar, Corn Pudding, Cream Cake

Thoughts: The Cornbread and the corn pudding were dominant in this one, it wasn't my favorite but wasn't bad either

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: Candy Cane + Swizzle Sticks + Cream Cake + Marshmallow Noel

Thoughts: I didn't like this one, it was too minty for my taste

Hit or Miss; Both

Scent: Lavender Paris

Thoughts: This was light, BUT it filled the air with this sweetness, and it was so nice

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: Paris Lemon Pastry

Thoughts: I didn't get anything off this when it was warming, I was a bit disappointed

Hit or Miss, Miss

Vendor; Kushner Kreations

Web; kushnerkreations.weebly.com

Facebook; www.facebook.com/groups/KushnerKreations

Owner; April Kushner

Scent: Grape Cabernet

Thoughts: This was awesome! It was a great grape scent

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: Blessed

Thoughts: I know this scent and I just couldn't place it, it was nice

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: Pink Apple Punch

Thoughts: This was very light

Hit or Miss; Both

Scent: Blue Raspberry Cotton Candy

Thoughts: I love all scents like this, it's just so good. I loved this one

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: Because I said So

Thoughts: This was a nice lighter scent

Hit or Miss: Hit

Scent: Jungle Love

Thoughts: Wow was this fruity!

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: Out of the Washer

Thoughts: This has become my favorite scent ever! It's really amazing

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: Loved

Thoughts: This was a powder scent

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: Pistachio Fluff Cake

Thoughts: Yes, more please, I love pistachio scents, and this was a good one

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent; Pink Lemonade

Thoughts: My kids love this scent, it's one of their favorites, it's a very nice lemonade scent

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: Girls Day

Thoughts: I'm not sure what this scent was, but it was a light fruity

Hit or Miss; Hit

Vendor; The Melted Moose

Web; themeltedmoose.bigcartel.com

Facebook; www.facebook.com/groups/345322526208129

Owner; Jackie Ahrendt

Scent: Blueberry Vanilla Pudding Cake

Thoughts: This was a light blueberry scent

Hit or Miss; Both

Vendor; MK's Body Sweets and Scented Treats

Web; http://marykarolsbodysweets.storenvy.com/

Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/marykarolsbodysweets

Owner; Mary Karol

Scent: 1000 Years

Thoughts: This was a slight perfume, and it was very nice

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: Later, Darling

Scent Destination: Bite Me, Leather & Almond

Thoughts: This was not a scent I would have ordered; I was hoping the leather would just be a slight background scent, but it wasn't. This performed well but I didn't like it

Hit or Miss; Both

Vendor; The Glitterati Wax Company

Facebook; www.facebook.com/groups/GlitteratiCandleCo

Owner; Janine Jenzano

Scent: Mallow Fluff + Lavender + Holiday

Thoughts: IDK what Holiday is but this was nice, it wasn't overly strong

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: Banana Flambe + Vanilla Ice Cream + Donut Shop

Thoughts: Thankfully the banana wasn't dominant, this was nice but not one I'd buy again

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: White Cake + Violet + He Said, She Said

Thoughts: This was a nice one too, the violet really stood out

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: Black Raspberry + Raspberry Mousse + Waffle Cone

Thoughts: This wasn't as strong as I'd hoped, it was a little light

Hit or Miss; Both

Vendor; Broadway Wax

Web; www.broadwaywax.com/

Facebook; Broadway Wax | Facebook

Owner; Kristen Ness

Scent: Welcome to Broadway

Scent Description: Cupcakes at Tiffany's + Cherry Surprise + Almond Macaroon + Vanilla Ice Cream + Pistachio Pudding Cake

Thoughts: There was way too much going on with this scent. The cherry should have come out a little, but it just didn't

Hit or Miss, Miss

Vendor; Waxincredibles

Web; https://waxincredibles.com/

Facebook; www.facebook.com/groups/859386184234624

Owner; Nadine Theis

Scent: Bamboo Sugarcane

Thoughts: This was a single oil, and it was strong and very nice!

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: Wildberry Dreams

Scent Description: Wildberries, butter jam cookies and sweet cotton candy

Thoughts: This was really nice! The scents blended very nicely together

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: Blueberry Muffin Cake

Scent Description: Blueberries + White Cake + Fluffy Marshmallow

Thoughts: This is really nice, it has a very nice blueberry cake scent

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: Bum Bum Cream Type

Thoughts: This was a single oil and it was medium

Hit or Miss; Hit

Vendor; L3 Waxy Wonders

Web; https://www.l3waxywonders.com/

Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/groups/L3WaxyWonders/

Owner; Jennifer Westing

Scent: Pink Berry + Tonka Bean + Snuggle

Thoughts: I really liked this one, it was so nice and smelled amazing

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: Blackberry Guava Carolina Beach Daisies

Thoughts: This smelled amazing! The floral Berry scent was awesome!

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: Green Apple Sugar Cinnamon Sugar Buttermilk Pie

Thoughts: This was Apple Cinnamon Sugar scent; it was nice but very sugary

Hit or Miss; Both

Scent: Today is October 3^rd Buttermilk Pie

Thoughts: This was so good! I love Today is October 3^rd which has Palo Santo in it, then add the creamy and it was amazing

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: Black Ranger

Scent Description: Blackberry Jam Butter Cookies and Marshmallow Pound Cake

Thoughts: Ugh, I need more of this! I love BBJBC and the rest mixed it was so good

Hit or Miss; Hit

Scent: Lemon Cream Pie Buttermilk Pie

Thoughts: This wasn't as strong lemon as I thought and I'm happy about that, this was really nice

Hit or Miss; Hit

Vendor; Britt'a Treasures

Web; www.etsy.com/shop/BrittasTreasures

Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/groups/566926610379342/

Owner; Britta Smith

Scent: The Mind Reader

Scent Description: Palo Santo + Black Amber & Lavender + Vanilla Bean Marshmallow

Thoughts: This should have been a pretty strong scent and it just wasn't, it was pretty light

Hit or Miss; Both

Vendor; Lilac City Melts

Web; Lilac City Melts

Facebook; www.facebook.com/groups/lilaccitymelts

Owner; Juleina Bowes

Scent: In a Nut Shell

Scent Description: Pistachio Ice Cream + Fortune Cookies + Vanilla + Toffee

Thoughts: This was mostly creamy pistachio which was fine as it's such a great scent

Hit or Miss; Hit

Vendor; Handwerks

Web; www.handwerkswax.com

Facebook; www.facebook.com/groups/handwerkswax/

Owner; Sam Woodruff

Scent: Mistress of Events

Scent Description; Moonlight Violets + Oud + Citrus & Warm Woods

Thoughts: This was nice, it was a very musky floral

Hit or Miss; Hit

Vendor; Tonshi Mountain Studios

Web; http://tonshimountain.com/

Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/groups/TonshiWax

Owner; Angela Quick & Suzanne Nelson

Scent: Uranium Glass

Scent Description: Lemon Grass, Green Apple & Fizzy Pop

Thoughts: This was nicer than I expected if I'm honest, I don't care for the scents seperate but all together it was great!

Hit or Miss; Hit

Vendor; The Startlit Corner

Previously Known As: Blended With Love

Web; thestarlitecorner.com

Facebook; www.facebook.com/groups/398505893862873/

Owner; Ashley Conner

Scent: Pink Fluorite

Scent Description: Moon Flower Nectar, Driftwood, Sea Salt and Crystal Amber

Thoughts: This had a faint scent of driftwood and sea salt but that was it. I tried this in several different warmers and just got nothing

Hit or Miss, Miss

Vendor; Sniff My Tarts

Web; http://www.sniffmytarts.com/

Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/groups/sniffmytarts/

Owner; Donna Haslam

Scent: Bed Time Bath Type

Thoughts: This had no scent to me; I was hoping it would be a bit lighter, but it just wasn't

Hit or Miss, Miss

Vendor; Sassy Wax Melts

Web; sassywaxmelts.com

Facebook; www.facebook.com/groups/1486366528141889

Owner; Cheryl Bailey

Scent: Smash Hit

Scent Description: Fresh Picked Strawberries + Lemon Curd + Cotton Candy

Thoughts: This smelled really nice, it was well blended

Hit or Miss; Hit

Bath & Body

Vendor; Twisted Allure

Web; www.twistedallure.com

Facebook; www.facebook.com/groups/142952006159284

Owner; Lisa Mathers

What; Whipped Soap

Scent: Vanilla Waffle Cone

Thoughts: I found this hidden in my bathroom, brand new. It was still good and smelled good. Whipped Soap isn't my favorite, I prefer a sugar scrub, but this is really nice

Hit or Miss; Hit

Vendor: L'Bri

What: Daily Cleansing Liquid Hand Soap

Thoughts: I won this soap from a basket raffle, not my favorite, it was sticky and left your hands filling a bit sticky yet clean

Hit or Miss; Both

Movie: The Captive (2014) Caution: Spoiler Alert

 The Captive

Came out; 2014

Time; 1 hours 52 minutes

Watched: Netflix

Rating; R for language and some violence

IMDB Rating; 5.9/10

Caution; Spoiler Alert

Staring.

Ryan Reynolds as Matthew Lane

Scott Speedman as Jeffrey Cornwall

Rosario Dawson as Nicole Dunlop

Mireille Enos as Tina Lane

Kevin Durand as Mika

Alexia Fast as Cass Lane

Story Line.

Teenager Cassandra is locked up against her will unable to contact her family to let them know she's still alive. Flashback to eight years ago when 9-year-old Cass was abducted from her father's truck and he goes straight to the authorities who immediately peg him as the prime suspect. Eight years later, her father, Matthew, is still being investigated by the police who are also trying to crack the bigger problem of crimes against children, Matthew's marriage has deteriorated and leads in the case are hard to come by. So much time but so little has changed and it's going to be up to Matthew and Cassandra herself to repair the estranged family

Thoughts.

The previews show all the good parts to this movie

It goes back and forth from the past to the present and is super confusing. It's slow and not climatic at all.

CAUTION; Major Spoiler Alert

(NOTE: The story is told in a non-linear fashion. Many scenes in the movie are flashbacks, which are likewise not in chronological order.)

The camera pans along snow-covered landscape and into the home of Mika (Kevin Durand), who stands near his window while Japanese Kabuki opera plays on a wall-mounted TV screen. As Mika walks downstairs, we can see his home is an expensive luxury house in a secluded area, but with a lot of state-of-the-art security and technology. He looks into the monitor of a desktop computer, which appears to show the view of several security cameras. He slides aside a wall panel to reveal a hidden door locked by a numerical code. Mika enters the code on a keypad and opens the door, revealing a room where a teenage girl (Alexia Fast) sits, playing a piano and singing. She looks up at Mika apprehensively, and he says he'll think about a request she's made of him: "Maybe; just this once."

A woman named Tina (Mireille Enos) enters a diner, sitting at a table opposite an unseen woman. Tina didn't show at a planned meeting, which the unseen woman asks if it's because of "her 13th birthday." Tina is living alone in a house and hating it. She misses two people in her life: Matthew and Cassandra, and she misses living.

A bearded man watches a younger man skate at a rink. The skater notices the bearded man, and they both nod in greeting.

The bearded man is Matthew (Ryan Reynolds), and he drives down a road, picking up a hitchhiker named Paige. As Matthew continues driving, Paige turns her head and notices a photo of a boy and girl posing together in skating outfits, hanging from his dashboard. The boy in the photo looks a lot like a younger version of the young man Matthew recognized at the skating rink.

Matthew drives Paige to her house in town, and watches as she closes the door behind her. Just then he gets a phone call from Tina, asking if he's coming to a meeting with another woman, who's asked to meet both of them. Matthew cites the heavy snowfall as to why he can't make it. Tina tells him he always has excuses. Tina mentions she's noticed a brush like the one her mother gave Cassandra, "in one of the rooms;" Tina works as a chambermaid in a hotel. As she sits, puzzling over the brush, Mika is seen watching her on his computer monitor.

Mika is at work talking with his boss, Vince Grey, a real estate developer. Mika watches Grey give a sales pitch to a man standing near a wall display advertising a new development, and listens with interest as he finds the man is a police detective, Jeff Cornwall (Scott Speedman). Cornwall asks Grey about his wife, who was the last person seen with another detective named Nicole Dunlop (Rosario Dawson), who has gone missing. Grey says he'll ask his wife to return Cornwall's calls and speak to him on the matter. He also gives Cornwall two placards advertising a charity ball that recently took place; the placards have a large inset photo of Dunlop in dress uniform. She was keynote speaker at the charity ball.

Dunlop is shown to be the woman speaking to Tina at the diner. Dunlop asks if there's any hope of Tina getting back together with Matthew. Tina says he calls and they talk, a lot, but he never comes to see her in person. Tina believes Matthew is guilty of doing something bad, and she wants him to feel that way.

We see Dunlop interviewing Cornwall for a position in her unit with the Niagara Falls PD. Dunlop's unit deals with stopping child predators and pedophiles. She shows him a video seized from an online child porn site to judge his reaction, telling him their job is never to look away from victimized children. Dunlop introduces Cornwall to the rest of the unit.

Matthew and Tina are watching Cassandra and the boy from the photo, Albert, skate together. Cassandra asks Albert to 'pinky promise' he'll never skate with anyone else. While Tina goes to work, Matthew drives Cassandra to a roadside restaurant, and she lies down across the back seat while he places a dinner order to go for the both of them. The camera pans in on the door, and then Matthew is seen returning to his vehicle-- and his daughter is missing. Matthew's voice becomes more frantic as he runs all about the area, calling her name.

The teenage girl is shown to be Cassandra at her current age; she's Mika's captive, and has been since she disappeared; now eight years ago. Mika is offering her a chance for a few moments' conversation with her father. Cassandra notes Mika doesn't like the idea, and reminds him that he's never told her his name, and she has no idea where the house containing her prison, is. Cassandra has not attempted to escape or contact her parents (she is also able to watch Tina at work in the hotel, on her own computer) because Mika has threatened to kill both Matthew and Tina. Cassandra wonders if it wouldn't be easier for Mika to kill her, now that she's reached young adulthood and Mika is interested in young kids. Mika tells her only that she's still very valuable to him, 'doing exactly what she's doing.'

Dunlop and Cornwall are interviewing Matt three hours after Cassandra's disappearance. He's disgusted and astounded at how closely they pay attention to his first saying her still-current age (nine years) and then shortly after, her soon-to-be-age (ten years) and whether the name of the diner's hostess was Linda or Lesley.

Tina is cleaning a bathtub while at work, and sees a skating trophy in the room; one looking a lot like one that Cassandra and Albert won together as kids. As Tina stares tearfully at the trophy, Cassandra speaks into a microphone about when she won it. Mika, listening in, commends her on the performance, but asks her to repeat it 'with less self-pity.'

Tina is brought to the station. She becomes hysterical as Matthew tries to talk to her about Cassandra's disappearance. She hits him several times, and doesn't resist as he grabs on to her and holds her. Dunlop takes Tina into a room to speak to her alone. As Dunlop speaks to Tina, Cornwall baits Matthew about an assault charge tied to a barroom brawl over Tina when Matthew was 18 years old and Cassandra was a baby. Because of this, he quit school, started working, and now, nine years after that, his landscaping business is about to fail and he's on the verge of bankruptcy. Cornwall also questions why Cassandra would be resting in the back of the cab when Matthew was buying her favorite dessert pie for her with dinner. Cornwall finally drops a rude and crude bomb about the possibility of Matthew "loaning" Cassandra to a demented pedophile for a few days in return for a lot of money. Outraged, Matthew tries to hit Cornwall, but the detective shoves him to the ground. As Matt leaves, Dunlop admonishes Cornwall over his behavior.

We see Dunlop meeting Tina in the diner again; Dunlop telling Tina that she doesn't excuse the way Cornwall acted toward Matthew, but trying to explain it from Cornwall's point of view. Tina still hates it, defending Matthew's love of Cassandra. She leaves the diner, very upset.

Mika again watches Tina at work. As she changes bed sheets, she finds a ring box on the bed, which contains a baby tooth. Tina breaks down and cries as she suspects it's one of Cassandra's baby teeth. Meanwhile, Cassandra makes a recording about it. As she speaks into the microphone, she finds a way to slip something into the narrative; part of a word play between she and her father the day she disappeared. She smiles to herself.

Tina meets with Dunlop in her office. Dunlop asks Tina about her relationship with Matthew. Tina says she can hardly look at him without seeing their daughter and saying terrible things; he didn't show up for this meeting because he was sure Tina would scream at him in anger; something Tina admits she would probably have done. It's clear by this point that Matthew is still suspected of at least negligence in Cassandra's disappearance, and even Tina holds him responsible; thus their estrangement and separation.

Dunlop takes Tina to a back room where Cornwall sits at a computer. Dunlop and Cornwall tell Tina about some of the work Cornwall does, posing as a pedophile to study footage of internet chat networks where child molesters trade in images and live video feeds of children being abused, in hopes of tracking down the perpetrators. Cornwall believes he may have seen some images of Cassandra among the feeds. The pictures look very recent, showing what Cassandra is believed to look like in the present, which Tina understands, with great relief and delight, means her daughter is most likely still alive.

Tina studies the images and says that she believes the photos look like Cassandra. She calls Matthew and tells him about it. She says that Dunlop and Cornwall told her that in the images, Cassandra appears to be speaking to another girl, younger than Cassandra would be in the present. Tina puzzles over something else Dunlop and Cornwall told her: that Cassandra is like a welcoming face on a gateway... to a ring. Tina's voice goes quiet as she figures out what they meant: Cassandra is being used to lure other, younger children to the attentions of Mika and other child molesters. This enrages Tina and she again cuts into Matthew with her belief that he is responsible for 'losing' their daughter.

Cassandra is reading aloud a poem, which Mika tells her is from an opera composed by Mozart. Cassandra asks how it's supposed to help bring in other kids, and he says it isn't; it's part of 'story time.' Disturbed, Cassandra turns to her piano and tries to comfort herself by playing and singing.

Tina, at work, finds another memento of Cassandra in one of the rooms under her charge: a play teacup and saucer. It's clear by now that both Mika and Cassandra are able to watch her regularly on their computer monitors via some kind of camera feed, and that Mika has been leaving these items to torment her.

Dunlop's team are photo shopping an image of her during her adolescence, to optimize her attractiveness. They catch the attention of Willy (Ian Matthews), a pedophile to whom Cornwall has been talking via internet chat, posing as a girl. Willy bites at the bait; he asks "Nikki" if they can meet.

Dunlop sits at a coffee shop, her hair and the hood of a bubble-gum pink sweatshirt obscuring her face. Willy walks in and initiates contact. As soon as Dunlop looks up at him, he can see she's much older than the photos indicated, and he tries to make a break for it, but Dunlop's men are waiting and they swiftly arrest him.

Dunlop and her team come to a good deal of acclaim and prestige for their work in the Niagara area, and she's interviewed by the local TV press. Dunlop and Cornwall are seen watching this on the TV news station, and it's seen they've entered a romantic relationship.

Mika also sees the news report, and goes to see Willy in prison. He insists that only the first ring has been cracked, and the 'hub' he operates is safe. He tells Willy to deny all accusations and refuse any deals offered him. Willy insists he will only do this if Dunlop is punished for setting him up. Mika says this is unfeasible, but Willy insinuates that he will turn rat if his demand is not met. He wants her buried, but alive, and made to tell all her stories.

Cornwall is also doing another sting operation: his young niece, Jennifer, is web-chatting with Cassandra. As soon as Cassandra tells Jennifer that she's willing to meet with the girl and show her how to write a note for the tooth fairy, Cornwall's head snaps up and he believes he's ready to hit pay dirt. But suddenly Dunlop arrives, earlier than expected, and even when Cornwall tells her that his brother (Jennifer's father) knows of Cornwall's plan and has given permission, Dunlop gets very upset. Mika sees Dunlop come into view of Jennifer's webcam, recognizes her, and immediately terminates the chat connection. However, a green LED remains lit, showing that Mika can still see and hear everything happening in the room via Jennifer's webcam. He watches and listens as Dunlop tears into Cornwall over the sting, and using a young girl as bait, potentially endangering her. Mika also learns that Dunlop's unit knows what Cassandra is being used for. Most important, he overhears Dunlop telling Cornwall she no longer wants him to accompany her to an event happening that night; she's going alone.

Cassandra also overhears the whole argument between Dunlop and Cornwall, and she starts to cry.

Dunlop arrives via taxicab at the charity ball honoring her. She's wearing a pink evening dress and looks beautiful. She's met by Diane Grey, wife of Mika's boss. Dunlop has been given a seat at Mrs. Grey's table. Mika comes over to say hello to Mrs. Grey, and he plays along as she introduces him to Dunlop. Mika now has a perfect cover as a known acquaintance of Mrs. Grey.

A mysterious woman with long dark hair enters the ball. She takes a powder out of her purse and puts it in her drink as she listens to Mrs. Grey introducing Dunlop as keynote speaker of the charity ball. The only empty seats are Dunlop's (she's on stage) and another at the same table. As Dunlop is speaking, the mysterious woman sits at Dunlop's seat and puts her drink down. Mrs. Grey whispers to the woman that the seat is taken, so the woman moves to the other empty seat... discreetly taking Dunlop's drink instead of the one she just put down right beside it.

Dunlop's speech earns a standing ovation and a high number of pledges. Seated again at Grey's table with Grey, Mrs. Grey, Mika and the mysterious woman, she talks about the technology she and her unit work with; something Mika takes the opportunity to ask her about. In the meanwhile, Dunlop has finished her drink and Grey has poured her a second. The powder starts taking effect.

The mysterious woman helps Dunlop downstairs and out of the center, and offers her a ride. She helps Dunlop into a limousine and sits beside her in the back. There, she pulls off a long dark wig, revealing short, blonde hair underneath. The woman is Mika's accomplice, Vicky (Christine Horne). Dunlop realizes she's been drugged and is in serious trouble, but can do nothing as Vicky cradles Dunlop over her lap and watches her slowly black out.

Matthew is delivering a shipment of evergreen saplings to a work site, only to find the foreman has sent everyone home due to the snowstorm. He tells Matthew that there's a roadside motel a very short distance down the highway where he can spend the night; if he brings a receipt back to the camp the next day, the foreman will reimburse him the cost.

But when Matthew checks out the next morning, he finds the trailer has been stolen, and one of the trees lies on the ground near his truck. When he happens to look in the direction that the top of this tree is pointing, he sees a number of the trees stood up in the snow along the road, forming a trail. He gets in his truck and follows it. As he reaches the end of the trail, where a barricade has been placed, he fails to notice a camera in the top of a nearby tree.

Matthew follows the last couple of trees on foot to a clearing where a young woman stands near the trailer. It's Cassandra. Matthew is overcome with relief and joy as he hugs his daughter. Cassandra tells him cryptically that the people who took her arranged for this meeting because she's precious to them, but she only shakes her head silently when he tries to press her to say who these people are. Matthew doesn't understand when Cassandra begins repeating bits of the conversation they had in the truck just before her disappearance, saying a promise was made, and asking if it was kept-- a cryptic reference to whether Albert kept his promise never to skate with anyone else. Finally Cassandra says the visit is over, and she has to go, and Matthew has to forget her. He refuses, grabbing her in a tight hug and insisting he's taking her home. Mika, coming out of hiding behind the trailer, aims a rifle and fires a tranquilizer dart into Matthew, knocking him out. Cassandra doesn't resist as Mika helps her to her feet and leads her away.

Mrs. Grey meets with Cornwall to discuss Dunlop's disappearance. The only lead is the mysterious woman who showed up at the ball. Mrs. Grey mentions she took the only empty seat at the ball-- the seat that Cornwall was supposed to occupy until Dunlop decided not to bring him. Cornwall lets this slip, and Mrs. Grey asks if the mysterious woman knew this. She thought nothing suspicious about the mystery woman offering Dunlop a ride, because Dunlop needed one and was traveling alone.

Driving down the road, Matthew figures out why Cassandra was repeating snippets of their conversation from the day she vanished; she was making references to Albert. He understands Cassandra wants him to pay attention to Albert; hence why he watches Albert practicing at the skating rink.

Dunlop awakens to find herself locked inside an empty van with heavy wire grates preventing her from escaping via any of the windows or doors; a van meant to remind her of one she had talked about having to sleep inside on her 14th birthday when she had been homeless and alone. Mika falsetto-sings the notes of an opera that Dunlop can hear through strategically placed speakers. Although Dunlop cannot see it from her vantage point, the van imprisoning her is in a garage or large storage room.

On duty at work again, Tina find yet another memento of Cassandra's childhood; a series of pinwheels attached to the railing of the balcony for one of the hotel rooms. Tina breaks down and starts to come apart.

Mika torments Dunlop further by pressing her to start talking more about her stories, including how she had to sleep in the abandoned van when she was 14. He warns that if she doesn't talk, he might stop returning, and leave her to die of thirst and starvation.

Tina has called Niagara police. She's with the hotel manager in the room where she found the pinwheels, and Dunlop is studying the room. An air vent catches her attention, and she pries off the cover to reveal a hidden camera.

Dunlop's men have found an elaborate series of hidden cameras in all the rooms in the hotel where Tina works, and are discussing why they were put there. They theorize that Tina may have been watched for a long time, even though the mementos of Cassandra have only started showing up relatively recently. They theorize that people involved in the child-abuse network pay to watch the footage of a missing girl's mother gradually freaking out.

Matthew arrives home where Tina waits with Dunlop and Cornwall. When they tell him about what's been going on at Tina's job, Matthew only becomes angry, thinking they suspect him. He challenges Dunlop to arrest him if she thinks he's involved in any criminal activity. As Matthew leaves, he finds Cornwall taking pictures of the inside of Matthew's truck, which is still decorated with many items related to Cassandra's childhood; including the picture of her and Albert, and the blanket Cassandra had lay on when she was taken. Cornwall asks why the truck resembles a shrine. Matthew's only response is a punch that knocks Cornwall to the ground, before Matthew gets in his truck and storms off.

In her room, Cassandra is telling Mika she needs to feel new experiences, now that she can't watch her mother anymore. She reminds Mika of a particular story she told him about when she won the trophy and showed it to her mother, how Mika said it was the most moving story she told him. Cassandra suggests making it better. Interested, Mika asks her how.

Vicky goes to the skating rink where Albert still practices, and poses as a journalist writing an article about missing children and the people involved in their lives before they disappeared. She tries to ask Albert about his time skating with Cassandra, and whether he kept the trophy they won. Albert is hostile to this questioning and refuses to speak to Vicky. As Vicky leaves, Matthew, seeing Albert demand that Vicky leave him alone, goes to him and asks why Vicky was bothering him.

Matthew begins tailing Vicky and sees her van pulled up beside a small roadside diner. He calls Dunlop's office and tells Cornwall about the van, and that he's going to secrete his cell phone in it. He gives Cornwall the phone's number, which will allow others in Dunlop's team to track it via GPS. Although Cornwall is still cynical toward Matthew, he and the team find they believe him enough to start a track on his phone. Matthew slips his phone into the large spare tire mounted on the trunk of Vicky's van.

Matthew begins acting in a disruptive and hostile manner to the diner manager in order to make him call the police. Finding a poster of Cassandra, he takes it and sits at the table where Vicky and Mika are talking. He is careful not to voice his suspicions about them, but shows them the poster and identifies himself as Cassandra's father, and that he is displeased with police having dragged their feet on the investigation for so many years. Vicky acts compassionate toward Matthew as she and Mika try to accommodate him. The diner manager tells Matthew that the police are on their way. Matthew leaves, and Vicky suddenly notices that in the distraction, he lifted her cell phone.

Mika and Vicky pursue Matthew, ramming his van and shooting at him, but he makes it back to the diner where a police van has pulled up, forcing Vicky and Mika to leave. Dunlop's team tracks the van and discovers where Mika lives.

Dunlop's team storms Mika's home. Mika had been leading Cassandra out of her room. They hear the police, and Cassandra tries to scream. Covering her mouth, Mika forces her back into her room, but is unable to lock it before Dunlop's team arrives. Vicky shoots Cornwall, but his vest protects him; he's wounded but not badly. Vicky is gunned down and killed. Mika begins walking toward the officers with a hostile look. When he refuses to halt on command, they shoot him. An officer demands to know where Dunlop is. Mika only says that she's in a van where she had her 14th birthday, before he dies.

Cassandra is rescued, and has a tearful reunion with her parents at the police station. Tina even hugs Matthew with one arm as she embraces Cassandra in the other.

Cassandra and Tina visit Cornwall as he recovers in the hospital, and he talks about Dunlop's meetings with Tina, how Dunlop benefited from them as well as Tina.

Matthew clears all the mementos of Cassandra's childhood, out of his van.

Police find their way into Mika's garage and find the van in which Dunlop is held prisoner but she has already died from the cold.

Cassandra steps onto the ice in the skating rink and starts to skate, and she smiles.

Movie: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) Caution: Spoiler Alert

 Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Came out; 2019

Time; 1 hours 48 minutes

Watched: Netflix

Rating; PG-13 for terror/violence, disturbing images, thematic elements, language including racial epithets, and brief sexual references

IMDB Rating; 6.2/10

Caution; Spoiler Alert

Staring.

Zoe Margaret Colletti as Stella Nicholls

Michael Garza as Ramon Morales

Gabriel Rush as Auggie Hilderbrandt

Austin Abrams as Tommy Milner

Dean Norris as Roy Nicholls

Gil Bellows as Chief Turner

Austin Zajur as Chuck Steinbery

Natalie Ganzorn as Ruth Steinberg

Kathleen Pollard as Sarah Bellows

Story Line.

It's 1968 in America. Change is blowing in the wind...but seemingly far removed from the unrest in the cities is the small town of Mill Valley where for generations, the shadow of the Bellows family has loomed large. It is in their mansion on the edge of town that Sarah, a young girl with horrible secrets, turned her tortured life into a series of scary stories, written in a book that has transcended time-stories that have a way of becoming all too real for a group of teenagers who discover Sarah's terrifying tomb

Thoughts.

I wanted to watch this when it came out, I loved these books as a kid and my kids used to love them, it seemed to catch my eye

It was ok, it was more of a teenager movie, but I actually enjoyed the twist they put in to how the stories were written

CAUTION; Major Spoiler Alert

Set in 1968, it is Halloween in the town of Mill Valley. A young man named Ramon (Michael Garza) drives into town. Nearby, horror fan Stella Nicholls (Zoe Coletti) is called by her friends Chuck Steinberg (Austin Zajur) and Auggie Hilderbrandt (Gabriel Rush) to play a prank on school bully Tommy Milner (Austin Abrams). The jock and his buddies are throwing beer bottles at a neighborhood scarecrow called Harold (Mark Steger). Tommy also takes a swing at Harold with his bat.

Chuck fishes poop out of the toilet and meets with his friends to throw it, plus eggs and toilet paper, at Tommy's car while he is out with Chuck's sister Ruthie (Natalie Ganzhorn) and his buddies. Tommy ends up driving his car back into a fence. He and his friends chase after the kids, who run to a drive-in theater and hide in Ramon's car. The bullies find them and threaten them into getting out, including Ramon. However, they are driven out of there by security, but not before Tommy makes a snide comment to Stella about her mom walking out on her and her father. After the jerks leave, Stella takes a breath outside before inviting Ramon to join her and the guys into checking out a haunted house.

The four go to the home of Sarah Bellows, a figure in an old legend about a disturbed woman who allegedly poisoned numerous children in the neighborhood. The kids enter after Ramon picks the locks on the door. Auggie and Chuck mess around to scare each other, but Chuck ends up hiding in a closet where he sees the old room turn refurbished, and what appears to be an old woman with a dog sitting by the bed. Auggie opens the door to scare Chuck, and everything looks old again. Meanwhile, Stella and Ramon find Sarah's old book of scary stories. They are then trapped down there by Tommy and his goons. Ruth tells Tommy to let them out, but he locks her in there too. After trying to break out, an unseen force lets them free. They go outside to find that Ramon's car was vandalized by Tommy, with "wetback" written on it. Ramon must take it to the shop, and since he was living in his car, he has nowhere to go. Stella invites him to come over and stay in the basement.

Tommy drives home drunk and is ordered by his mother to deliver eggs to the neighbors. On his way, he comes across Harold and taunts him again. At the same time, Stella reads from Sarah's book and sees the story "Harold" appearing. As she reads it, she notices that it mentions Tommy. He ends up walking in a circle and sees that Harold is no longer on his pike. Tommy soon realizes he is being followed by Harold. He trips across a rake and uses it to try and stop Harold, but the scarecrow takes it from him and impales Tommy with it. As Tommy tries running away, his body starts to fill up with straw.

In the morning, Ramon brings his car to the shop, but he is pressed by Chief Turner (Gil Bellows) over his appearance in town. When he sees what Tommy wrote, Turner questions him over the supposed fight he got into with him. Ramon mentions his last name being Rodriguez, and Turner implies he will investigate him.

Tommy is noted as being missing by Stella's father Roy (Dean Norris). She goes to investigate with Ramon, and they find what appears to be Harold wearing Tommy's clothes. Stella figures that this is Tommy and that the story she read came to life. She decides to take the book back to the Bellows house to prevent it from continuing.

When Stella returns home with Ramon, he finds Sarah's book back on Stella's bookshelf. A new story then begins to appear, "The Big Toe". This one features Auggie's name, and it involves him eating a stew containing an appendage, and a disembodied voice calling out "WHO TOOK MY TOE?" Stella calls Auggie to warn him, but he ends up eating the stew, and the Big Toe woman (Javier Botet) starts stalking him. Auggie runs to hide in his room under his bed, but as he thinks he is safe, Big Toe pulls him under the bed and reveals her hideous face before making him disappear. Stella and Ramon show up too late and see the claw marks under Auggie's bed to have their fears confirmed.

Stella tells Chuck and Ruth that Auggie is gone and that it's because of the book. Chuck suggests they take it to the police, but Ramon doesn't want to get involved with them since they might think he had something to do with both Auggie and Tommy disappearing, as there is now a search party going out for the latter. The trio try to burn the book, but it doesn't work.

The friends go to the Mill Valley Gazette to dig up any old information on Sarah. They find articles about a woman named Lulu Baptiste, who worked for the Bellows family but was fired after Sarah hung herself, and it was believed that Lulu was teaching Sarah black magic. The book then starts to write another story, "The Red Spot". This one is about Ruthie, who got bitten by a spider while trapped in the Bellows house. She is set to go on stage for a performance of "Bye Bye Birdie", but the spider bite on her cheek starts to get worse. She goes to the bathroom to check on it, and hears a voice calling her name. A spider leg then pokes out of Ruth's cheek, before a whole swarm of spiders start crawling out and biting her. Stella, Chuck, and Ramon run to the school in time to catch Ruth and throw water on her to repel the spiders. She is covered in bites and crying to get the spiders off. She is later taken to the hospital.

The friends track down the now elderly and blind Lulu (Lorraine Toussaint) to ask what happened with her and Sarah, hoping to find a way to undo what has been going on. She says there was no magic involved, but the presence of the book overwhelms Lulu.

The trio then heads to a hospital that they think has records of the Bellows family. Chuck mentions having a dream about seeing a pale woman in a red room, telling him, "This is an evil place. Run while you still can." The kids sneak in and head to find whatever documents they can. Stella and Ramon come across a room with old recordings from Sarah as she received electroshock treatment from her brother Ephraim. They hear the voice of Sarah (Kathleen Pollard), who, as it turns out, was innocent and never poisoned the children, but it was her family's fault for tainting the water supply, and they tortured her and framed her to cover up their secrets. She then appears to be reciting the new story being written, "The Dream." Orderlies find Chuck as he snuck in, and the alarm goes off, making everything go red. He then sees the Pale Lady (also Mark Steger), who appears grotesquely overweight and has a horrifying grin etched on her face. No matter where Chuck runs, the Pale Lady keeps coming closer and closer until he cannot escape and she absorbs Chuck. Stella and Ramon find out too late that he is gone, and they are kicked out of the hospital.

Stella calls her father from the precinct. She fears that she is going to die because of the book, and she tells him not to think that she is running away. Roy tells her to not think that it was ever her fault that her mother left. Turner then interrogates Stella and Ramon about the disappearances of their friends. They try to explain that it's because of the book, but it is too far-fetched for Turner to believe. He also brings up that Ramon's real last name is Morales and that he dodged the draft. The two are placed in adjacent cells, and Ramon explains that his brother was drafted to Vietnam and was killed out there, so he got away after learning he was to be drafted. Soon, the next story is being written, and a monster called the Jangly Man (Troy James) emerges. He breaks Turner's neck and tosses his body toward Stella's cell. She gets the keys, but the Jangly Man attempts to get Ramon since his name was in the book, and he knows of the Jangly man from an old story his father told him. Stella frees them both from the cell, and they realize they must run to the Bellows house to put an end to this. Jangly Man chases after them as they take Turner's car, but Ramon manages to lose him by crashing the car and pinning Jangly Man to a train.

Stella and Ramon run to the Bellows house, where they get separated as Jangly Man goes for Ramon. Stella is pulled into another room by the ghosts of the Bellows family. She comes face-to-face with Sarah's ghost, who is getting ready to trap Stella in her own story. However, Stella hears Ramon's voice telling her to tell Sarah the truth. Stella stands up to the ghost and says that she knows that her family killed the children and framed her, but she is becoming as big of a monster as they were by haunting and taking her friends. Stella promises Sarah that she will tell the truth about her. Sarah gives Stella a quill and tells her to write Sarah's story in her own blood. Stella writes the truth, and Sarah's ghost wails before crossing over. The Jangly Man goes down as the terror appears to stop. Stella and Ramon run to embrace each other.

Later on, Ramon willingly goes to be drafted in Vietnam. He says farewell to Stella, who gives him a letter and promises to write to him. He reads it on the bus, and it's a letter from her asking him to come home soon.

Stella writes a story in the school paper about the truth over the Bellows family history. While not many people are listening, she is determined to let the real story be known. She then goes with Roy, and the recovered Ruth, as they plan to use Sarah's book to find a way to bring back Auggie and Chuck.

Movie: Dune (2021) Spoiler Alert

 Dune

Came out; 2021

Time; 2 hours 35 minutes

Watched: HBO Max

Rating; PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, some disturbing images and suggestive material

IMDB Rating; 8/10

Caution; Spoiler Alert

Staring.

Timothee Chalamet as Paul Atreides

Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica Atreides

Zendaya as Chani

Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides

Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho

Stellan Skarsgard as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen

Stephen McKinley Henderson as Thufir Hawat

Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck

Javier Bardem as Stilgar

Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Dr. Liet Kynes

Chang Chen as Dr. Wellington Yueh

Dave Bautista as Glossu Rabban Harkonnen

Story Line.

A mythic and emotionally charged hero's journey, "Dune" tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet's exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence-a commodity capable of unlocking humanity's greatest potential-only those who can conquer their fear will survive

Thoughts.

My daughter wanted to watch this, so we did. I had a hard time keeping track of what the hell was going on.

The movie was long, and I got the just of the storyline but so much could have been removed to still make it a good movie!

Zendaya is only shown in flashes until the end so it's odd that she is on the list of main characters.

The scenery was amazing, and the look of the planet was awesome, but this just wasn't a movie I would watch again

CAUTION; Major Spoiler Alert

The story opens with a woman telling a portion of her people's history on the desert planet, Arrakis. The woman, Chani, is a Fremen. She explains that since before she was born the planet has been ruled by the cruel Harkonnens who have grown enormously rich harvesting the psychogenic substance "melange" also known as the spice. The Fremen have been trying to expel the Harkonnens, but to no avail. Recently, however, the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV has ordered the Harkonnens to leave Arrakis. Chani wonders who the new rulers will be.

On the planet Caladan, Paul Atreides eats breakfast with his mother, Lady Jessica, Duke Leto's concubine. A member of the quasi-religious order of the Bene Gesserit, Jessica has been trying to teach her son the special powers of her order. She tests Paul by having him try to compel her to pass him a glass of water. Paul is only partially successful. Paul learns about the planet Arrakis and its people. It is the only source of the psychoactive spice, which extends life and perception. Spice is necessary for interstellar travel since it makes possible the expanded consciousness of the navigators who plot faster than light jumps, "folding" space time to travel instantly from one planet to another.

Leto Atreides, along with soldier Gurney Halleck and mentat Thufir Hawat, receive an imperial envoy who formalizes the awarding of Arrakis to House Atreides. The emperor fears Leto's growing political power and popularity in the Landsraad, a conclave of noble houses. Leto recognizes that his appointment to oversee Arrakis is a trap of some kind, but cannot refuse an imperial offer. Paul asks his friend, the elite soldier Duncan Idaho to take him along when Duncan goes to Arrakis weeks ahead of time to scout things out. Duncan refuses. Paul confides that he's been having dreams about Arrakis and the Fremen, including one where Duncan falls in battle. Duncan dismisses this as merely a dream, telling Paul that "Everything important happens when we're awake".

Paul discusses his wish to travel to Arrakis early with his father, but Leto refuses, saying that he needs Paul by his side. He explains the political situation: the emperor has set up a conflict between House Atreides and House Harkonnen, a war which will weaken them both, to the benefit of the Emperor. Leto instead intends to strike an alliance with the Fremen in order to harness their "desert power" to his own and outwit the Emperor. Paul expresses his doubts about his ability to succeed his father as a leader. Leto confides his own doubts when he was young and insists that Paul will find his way to leadership, just as he did.

Gurney has a sparring session with Paul, insisting that the young ducal heir must be more wary about the danger posed by the Harkonnens and more ruthless in battle. Paul begins to have dreams of Chani. Jessica's Bene Gesserit superior, Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam arrives on Caladan to test Paul. Before the meeting he is inspected by Suk doctor Wellington Yueh, who warns Paul that the Bene Gesserit have their own agenda. Mohiam puts Paul through the test of the Gom Jabbar, using a poisoned needle and a pain-inflicting box to judge his character. After the test, Mohiam asks Paul about his dreams and whether they sometimes come true. Afterward, Mohiam berates Jessica for producing a son for Duke Leto, rather than the daughters she had been ordered to produce.

She accuses Jessica of thinking that her son might be the Kwisatz Haderach, the fulfillment of a Bene Gesserit messianic prophecy. Jessica confirms this belief and Mohiam warns her that Paul's abilities are not fully developed and that he might die in the coming trials. When Mohiam leaves, Paul confronts his mother about what Mohiam meant. Jessica explains that the Bene Gesserit have spent hundreds of years engaged in a selective breeding program to produce an unparalleled mind who can see both the past and the future.

The Atreides arrive on Arrakis. When they disembark their ship, locals begin chanting a phrase Paul cannot recognize. Paul asks his mother and she explains that it's a local prophecy of the Lisan-al-Gaib, the "voice from outer world", a prophesied messiah on Arrakis. Jessica says that they think Paul might be this figure, but Paul dismisses it as mere superstition spread by the Bene Gesserit. Jessica hires a Fremen servant, Shadout Mapes. Mapes sees Jessica and Paul as a fulfillment of the Lisan-al-Gaib and gives Jessica a dagger made from the tooth of Shai-halud, the immense sandworms which make the desert of Arrakis so dangerous. That night, while he studies a holographic image of the muad'Dib desert mouse, Paul survives an assassination attempt by a hunter seeker drone when Mapes enters the room, distracting it.

Leto surveys his new domain and discovers that the Harkonnens have sabotaged much of the needed infrastructure. They decide to take the issue to the imperial arbiter of the transition, an ecologist named Liet Kynes, who has resided on Arrakis for years. Duncan Idaho returns from several weeks living with the Fremen. He reports to the Duke that the Fremen are unparalleled fighters who live in communities known as "sietchs" in caverns beneath the desert. Duncan confirms Thufir Hawat's belief that there are many more Fremen than previously believed. The leader of one of these sietchs, Stilgar, has come to meet with Leto. Stilgar demands that the outworlders not travel beyond the city except to mine spice. Leto refuses but insists that the sietchs will remain inviolate and that Fremen will not be hunted while the Atreides rule. Paul invites Stilgar to stay, but he leaves. Duncan introduces the Atreides to some Fremen technology, including the moisture saving stillsuits and thumpers which are used to attract sandworms.

Leto's party meets with Liet Kynes to investigate the spice mining operations. She inspects their stillsuits and finds that Paul has intuitively fitted his stillsuit in the Fremen manner. In the native language she says "He shall know your ways as if born to them". The party flies out to observe a spice mining operation. The mining vehicle -- a "sandcrawler" -- has attracted a worm, which is drawn by the rhythmic vibrations of the crawler as it collects the spice. When a flying carry-all fails to remove the mining vehicle, Duke Leto lands his small squad of ornithopters nearby to rescue the miners. When Paul gets out to guide the miners inside, he is hit with a massive dose of spice and has a series of visions including one of himself with Chani. He is nearly sucked down into the sand with the crawler when Gurney grabs him and hauls him aboard his father's ornithopter. The two watch as the worm's enormous, toothed maw opens and swallows the sandcrawler whole. Later, Paul is examined by Dr Yueh who informs Paul and his mother that the spice is psychoactive but shouldn't harm Paul.

Duke Leto awakes at night with the sense that something is wrong. He calls security but gets no answer. He finds Mapes stabbed to death and is shot with a paralytic dart that burrows its way through his body shield and into his back, paralyzing him. Yueh reveals himself as a traitor. He has lowered the shields and cut off Atreides communications. Gurney is awakened and leads the counter attack as the Harkonnen forces, aided by the imperial Sardukar troops, begin their assault. The Atreides troops, caught unprepared and outnumbered by Harkonnen troops and the Sardukar, find themselves quickly overwhelmed. Duncan kills several Sardukar, takes an ornithopter and tries to rescue Paul and Jessica but finds them already gone.

Baron Vladimir Harkonnen has promised the Bene Gesserit that he will not harm Paul or Jessica so he sends some of his men to take them and leave them in the desert to die of exposure. Paul, not fully secure in his Bene Gesserit abilities, is still able to use the Voice to order one of the men to remove his mother's gag. Jessica immediately orders one of the men to kill his comrade. When she's fully freed, she kills two of them personally. Their ornithopter crashes and Paul and Jessica see the devastation of Arrakeen from a distance.

Yueh reveals to Leto that the Harkonnens secured his compliance because they have his wife held captive. He replaces one of Duke Leto's teeth with a poison capsule which he hopes the Duke will use to kill the Baron. Yueh meets with Baron Harkonnen and demands that the Baron honor his end of the deal. The Baron promises that Yueh will be reunited with his wife and then slits his throat. The Baron then gloats over a paralyzed Leto, who bites down on his fake tooth and expels the poison, killing everyone in the room except for the Baron who is gravely injured. Medical technicians nurse the Baron back to health.

Riding out a storm in a survival tent, Paul continues to have visions from his spice exposure. They are first of Chani. However, they quickly change to visions of bloody conflict and religious zealots, operating beneath and Atreides flag and under Duke Leto's name, spreading across the galaxy "like and unquenchable fire". Paul is horrified by what he sees and blames his mother and the Bene Gesserit but is eventually comforted by his mother.

Paul and Jessica are rescued by Duncan Idaho, who managed to escape the slaughter. Duncan brings them to Kynes, who has set up in an abandoned terraforming station occupied by Fremen. The Sardukar track them there and attack, with the Fremen killing many of them. Duncan sacrifices himself in a last stand to allow Paul, Jessica, and Kynes, to escape. Paul and Jessica flee in an ornithopter. Kynes sets up a thumper, intending to call a sandworm and ride it away, but she is mortally wounded by the Sardukar. Before they can deliver the killing blow, a sandworm arrives and Kynes attracts it to her by pounding a patch of drumsand.

While piloting the ornithopter through a powerful sand storm, Paul has a vision of a Fremen man giving him advice, telling him that survival in the desert is a process and that he must move with the flow of the environment. Paul retracts the 'thopter's wings and allows them to be carried deeper into the desert by the vortex of the storm. They survive the sandstorm but with the ornithopter damaged they must set out on foot through the desert. As they do, they are observed by Fremen.

Jessica and Paul make their way toward where they believe the Fremen sietch is. Their movements attract a sandworm and they make a run for some nearby rocks. The sandworm pauses, seemingly looking at Paul for few seconds before a thumper draws it away. A group of Fremen capture them. Stilgar is with them and recognizes Paul, saying that they can't touch him. Another Fremen, Jamis, dismisses Stilgar's belief and wants to kill Paul and Jessica and loot their bodies. Paul recognizes Jamis as the man from his visions.

Jessica asks for help returning to Caladan, saying that they will be well rewarded, but Stilgar dismisses any reward they'd give as pointless. Stilgar offers to allow Paul, who is still young, to join their sietch, but says that Jessica, who he deems too old to learn to fight, must be left behind. Jessica and Paul use their Bene Gesserit training to disarm most of the Fremen and hold Stilgar at knife point. Stilgar, realizing that Jessica is a Bene Gesserit, relents and decides to take both of them to the sietch. Jamis objects, and challenges Jessica to a duel.

Paul agrees to stand as Jessica's champion. Chani, who is part of the party, takes pity on Paul, who she believes will die at Jamis hand, and gives him her crysknife, a dagger made from the tooth of the sandworm, a moment from one of Paul's visions. In the duel, Paul outclasses Jamis, repeatedly holding a knife to his throat and demanding that he yield. Stilgar informs him that Fremen duels are to the death, and Jessica says that Paul has never killed anyone before. Reluctantly, Paul kills Jamis. Satisfied, the Fremen take Paul and Jessica back to their sietch.

Paul and Jessica see a Fremen impossibly riding a live worm. As they begin their journey into the desert, Chani tells Paul that "this is only the beginning".