Darkman by Randall Boyll

 

(pb; 1990: movie tie-in novel, based on a screenplay by Sam Raimi, Chuck Pfarrer, Ivan Raimi, Daniel Goldin and Joshua Goldin.)

From the back cover

“Once he had a normal life, a beautiful girlfriend, and a brilliant medical career─creating synthetic skin for accident victims. Then he was a victim himself, brutally attacked by sadistic criminals─his face and body burned beyond recognition.

“Now he walks the night, searching for the woman he loves. A man who looks like a monster, he hopes to salvage his scorched flesh. . .and take revenge on those who destroyed his life.”

 

Review

Darkman─like its counterpart film─is a fun, pulpy, comic book-y action flick with over-the-top, quirky characters and big, explosive, gory action as well as more than a few quotable lines. If you’re looking for a fast-paced, entertaining, sometime darkly funny, sometimes sad action-flick book, this is one worth reading, close enough to its cinematic version to reflect it whilst adding plenty of character-deepening and character-linked wrinkles to the R-rated superheroic storyline. Followed by four book-only offshoot novels, the first of which is Darkman: The Hangman.

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The film version was released stateside on August 24, 1990. Sam Raimi directed it, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Chuck Pfarrer, Ivan Raimi, Daniel Goldin and Joshua Goldin.

Liam Neeson played Peyton Westlake/Darkman. Frances McDormand played Julie Hastings. Nelson Mashita played Yakitito Yanagito.

Jessie Lawrence Ferguson played Eddie Black. Colin Friels played Louis Strack, Jr. Larry Drake played Robert G. Durant.

Rafael H. Robledo played Rudy Guzman. Dan Hicks, billed as Danny Hicks, played Skip Altwater. Ted Raimi, billed as Theodore Raimi, played Rick Desmond. Dan Bell played Smiley (a.k.a. Sam Rogers). Nicholas Worth played Pauly.

Aaron Lustig played Martin Katz. John Landis played “Physician.” An uncredited Jenny Agutter played “Burn Doctor.” Joel Coen played “Oldsmobile Driver.” Ethan Coen played “Oldsmobile Passenger.” Bruce Campbell played “Final Shemp.”

The Shining by Stephen King

(pb; 1977: prequel to Doctor Sleep)


From the back cover:

"This tale of a troubled man hired to care for a remote mountain resort over the winter, his loyal wife, and their uniquely gifted son slowly but steadily unfolds as secrets from the Overlook Hotel's past are revealed, and the hotel itself attempts to claim the very souls of the Torrance family. . ."


Review:

Gripping, vivid and emotionally raw-throbbing from the get-go, this is one of my all-time favorite horror reads - and one of King's best novels.

The Shining is worth owning - and re-reading every few years, this last bit something I say about few novels.

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This novel has resulted in two films.

The first film, a theatrical flick, was released stateside on May 23, 1980.

Jack Nicholson played Jack Torrance.  Shelley Duvall played Wendy Torrance.  Danny Lloyd played Danny Torrance.  Scatman Crothers played Dick Hallorann. 

Barry Nelson played Stuart Ullman.  Philip Stone played Delbert Grady.  Joe Turkel played "Lloyd the Bartender".  Lisa and Louise Burns played "Grady's Daughters".  Vivian Kubrick, daughter of the film's director, played an uncredited "Smoking Guest on Ballroom Couch".

Stanley Kubrick directed the film, from a screenplay by Diane Johnson.

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The second film, a television miniseries, aired in three parts, on April 27th and 28th, and May 1st, in 1997.

Steven Weber played John Torrance.  Rebecca De Mornay played Wendy Torrance.  Courtland Mead played Daniel Anthony Torrance.  Will Horneff played Tony.  Melvin Van Peebles played Richard Halloran.

Cynthia Garris played "217 Woman".  Shawnee Smith played a "Waitress".  Sam Raimi played "Gas Station Howie".  Christina Faust played "Screaming Female Ghost".  Richard Christian Matheson played "1st Hitman".  David J. Schow played "1st Ghost in Playhouse".  Preston Sturges Jr. played "2nd Ghost in Playhouse".

Mick Garris directed the miniseries, from a teleplay by source novel author Stephen King.

Dark Hollow, by Brian Keene

(pb; 2008)

From the back cover:

"Something very strange is happening in LeHorn's Hollow. Eerie, piping music is heard late at night, and mysterious fires have been spotted deep in the woods. Women are vanishing without a trace overnight, leaving behind husbands and families. When up-and-coming novelist Adam Senft stumbles upon an unearthly scene, it plunges him and the entire town into an ancient nightmare. Folks say the woods in LeHorn's Hollow are haunted, but what waits there is far worse than any ghost. It has been summoned. . . and now it demands to be satisfied."

Review:

Kooky, outstanding horror offering, this. Told from the chatty, first-person perspective of "midlist mystery" writer Adam Senft, the novel begins in an amiable, there's-odd-things-going-on-near-the-suburbs fashion. It's not long before the odd events turn serious, grimly so -- disappearances, outbreaks of priapism among the residents of LeHorn's Hollow, and murder.

The last hundred pages, peppered with quotable, intentionally laugh-out-loud dialogue, is spooky and riveting, with over-the-top kookiness highlighting the violent, briefly-sexual, action. (At one point, Adam utters a Charles Bronson-esque action-flick line, while everything around Adam has gone bacchanal-bonkers.)

This is a distinctive, reader-absorbing work, one that fans of horror, especially those who love Sam Raimi 's Evil Dead films, ought to snap up and enjoy.

One of the funnest horror novels I've read in a long while.

Check it out!