Last Train to Deadsville: A Cal McDonald Mystery, by Steve Niles & Kelley Jones

(pb; 2004, 2005: graphic novel, which "collects the four-issue series Last Train to Deadsville - A Cal McDonald Mystery, published by Dark Horse Comics." Introduction by Tom Jane)

From the back cover:

"When a demonically possessed teen redneck shows up on his doorstep, detective of the weird Cal McDonald hardly bats an eye. After all, in recent history he's battled a brain-sucking misanthrope, sent a perverted corpse-mangler up the river, and squashed a monster conspiracy to take over the world - all with the help of only his living dead sidekick [Mo'lock!] and an unhealthy appetite for intoxicants.

"Cal knows that the mulleted mook on his porch isn't anything to worry about. But the sex-crazed succubus the poor, horny kid summoned in a love spell gone wrong - she's a problem. Especially now that she's turned the entire male population of the kid's hometown into a throng of murderous monsters who are willing to do whatever the she-beast desires. As if that wasn't enough to deal with for a day, an even greater evil rears its head when Cal's girlfriend starts hinting at commitment. Demonic possession? That Cal can handle. . . but a demanding girlfriend? Cal's definitely over his head this time."

Review:

Niles' humorous, flip-scripting homage to horror and noir is just as exemplary and engrossing, if not more so, than its predecessor, Criminal Macabre: A Cal McDonald Mystery.

The reason for this improvement lies not only with Niles, but also with his change of artists: this time it's Kelley Jones, whose classic-with-new-influences work I prefer to Ben Templesmiths' too-murky/sketchy style, who brings Niles' shadowy, sometimes icky visions to vivid life. Also, I'm an admirer of any writer/artist who avoids a 'sophomoric slump' in their work - Niles has not only done that with Train, but his expansion on his characters' personalities opens up fertile avenues for future Cal McDonald stories.

Wonderfully EC/Creepy-esque and chuckle-worthy read from Niles and Jones; and, again, worth owning.

Followed by a at least five other Cal McDonald graphic novels, as well as three Cal McDonald novels, all penned by Steve Niles.

Darker Corners, by Richard Cody

(pb; 2010: horror anthology)

From the back cover:

"In these pages you will meet vampires, murderers, children and others who know where the shadows go.

"This expanded edition of Darker Corners pulls six new tales of dark wonder into the light.

"Read at your own risk. Some things are better left unseen."


OVERALL REVIEW:

This fourteen-story anthology is formed by impressive, taut tales that incorporates clever twists and elements into familiar horror-genre scenarios, with wonderfully nuanced results.

All the microfiction-ish stories in this anthology work. This is a worthwhile purchase.


STANDOUT STORIES:

1.) "A Night at the Games": A stage performer puts on a life-changing show. Short, sharp, effective statement about what constitutes entertainment and humanity.


2.) "Tales of Mercy": The denizens of a small town react differently to a strange "oily rain" that falls from the sky and the equally strange creature that appears in their midst. Odd, spooky, interesting.


3.) "The Language of the Dead": Fun EC/Creepy magazine-evocative piece about a mystical tome, zombies and revenge.


4.) "Newlywed": Marital unease takes on a whole new meaning in this H.P. Lovecraftian story about a culinary accident and its unfortunate, horrifying result. Good, tight write that effortlessly recalls and updates the dread-tones of Lovecraft's work.


5.) "Down By the River, in the Pale Moonlight": Melancholic, clever, effective tale about a birthday reunion that indicates an even more disturbing future.


6.) "Darkness Falls - The River": A post-global apocalypse couple struggle to survive in the wilderness. Excellent, hopeful work.


7.) "Darkness Falls - City Life": Involving, sad story about the further social effects of the forty day-forty night apocalypse that was touched upon in "Darkness Falls - The River".


8. and 9.) "The Interview" & "Idle Hands": The reputedly Satanic history of a youthful rock star, Johnny Moon, is recounted and illustrated from different angles in these character-connected, shuddery and laugh-out-loud bizarre tales.


10.) "The Morning After": A dream-murder turns more surreal when the murderer's regrettable actions and truths are visited upon him. Sly, admirable piece.


OTHER STORIES: "The Homely Child"; "Since the First Day of Our Acquaintance"; "Mary's Place"; "The Black Jelly"

Darker Corners, as well as Richard's two poem anthologies, The Jewel in the Moment and This Is Not My Heart, can be purchased at Lulu.com.

The Black Train by Edward Lee

(pb; 2009)

From the back cover:

"Welcome to the Gast House.

"A historic bed and breakfast. . . or a monument to evil and obscenity? Justin Collier didn't know the house's lurid, shocking history when he arrived for a relaxing stay. He knew nothing about the train tracks that run behind the house, or that they once led to a place worse then hell. But he's learning. . .

"At night he can hear the mansion whisper. He hears little girls giggling where they are no little girls. And if he listens closely he can hear the haunting whistle of the train and the cries of the things chained in its prison cars. Each room of the house holds another appalling secret, but the great secret of all rides the Black Train."

Review:

When Justin Collier comes to Gast, Tennessee, a town with an especially violent and sick past, he has no idea what he's in for. He checks into a landmark, immediately creepy hotel (Branch Landing Inn, haunted by its previous owner, Harwood Gast, a Civil War-era plantation owner with a penchant for depravity, cruelty and slaughter, and his slightly less depraved family - a rapacious nymphomaniac wife and her two like-minded teenage daughters.

Lee's works joyously, unabashedly traffic - heck, revel - in b-movie grue, lust and other social taboos, and The Black Train is no exception. Those who find Stephen King or Dean Koontz "shocking" (as one of my friends claims they are) probably won't enjoy this gleefully gory, sometimes sexually explicit work: this is not a read for the faint of heart.

There's not a lot of plot twists here, but this is a fun, nasty and twisted blast of a b-movie novel (which screams to be shot as a film), that put me in the mindset of Herschell Gordon Lewis' Two Thousand Maniacs! - only with (slightly) smarter characters and a more salacious tone.

Good read, this, if you're a b-movie buff, looking for a grisly demonic thrill ride.

•

There is one film out right now, based on Lee's work: a lower-budget, above-average Header (2006).

Header is a hillbillies-from-Hell sexually nasty work that's liable to put off anybody who cringes at brutal meldings of libido, revenge and humanity-based horrors.

If you see it, make sure to watch for Edward Lee's cameo as "State Trooper #1", as well as a cameo by Lee's real-life friend and fellow horror writer, Jack Ketchum, as "State Trooper #2".

The Devils of D-Day by Graham Masterton

(pb; 1978)


From the back cover:

"September, 1944. . . the villagers of Pont D'Ouilly still shudder at the memory of that infernal day when a special division of American tanks aniihilated a Nazi armored column. Thirteen U.S. tanks, all painted black. A strange sight, even in wartime. One of the vehicles had broken a track, and stopped, its deadly mission complete. For some mysterious reason, the Allies sealed the hatch, and left the tank by the roadside. For thirty years, it sat there, rusting with time, a grim reminder of the nearly forgotten battle.

"Some local people claimed the tank was cursed. Hadn't they heard eerie voices and wild laughter echoing from within? And didn't an old woman die exactly thirteen days after she'd tried to exorcize the supposed demons? Was there indeed a supernatural force inside. . . something so unearthly and sinister that no one would come near. . . something capable of unleashing an unspeakable evil that no power on earth could destroy?"


Review:

Fun, off-beat horror novel - if you ignore the unconvincing motivations and lack of imagination of one the key characters. It isn't exactly a People Have Many Incredibly Stupid Moments novel, but it isn't Masterton's best - or even more solid - works, either.

What kept me reading the book was Masterton's impressive writing chops: he knows how to streamline even the cheesiest of storylines into compelling reads, and the occasional (if often pro forma) goreworks and demonic background stuff create some effective, unsettling moments.

Enjoyable b-movie war-themed romp from an excellent author. Worth reading, or owning, if you only pay two or three dollars for it.

Charnel House by Graham Masterton

(pb; 1978)


From the back cover:

"When Seymour Willis told people his house was breathing, they thought he was crazy -- until they heard it for themselves. . . The sound was terrifying -- like a human heartbeat, pounding within the walls.

"Led by John Hyatt, San Francisco Sanitation Department Exterminator, the disbelievers investigated. Their only lead was an ancient Indian legend. Centuries ago a demon coyote had been banished from that very spot. Now the creature lived again -- and killed again -- grotesquely murdering one of the searchers.

"By then it was too late to stop the fiendish force from rejoining the land of the living -- wreaking vengeance on those who had denied his very existence."


Review:

Compact, fast-moving, suspenseful, deftly-characterized entry in the horror genre.

A couple of the scenes in Charnel House threatened to crash this reader's suspension of disbelief, but Masterton, aware of how the workings of ancient Indian magic must seem to a non-believer, isn't above cracking darkly-comical jokes, or explaining why characters do the things they do, and why certain scenes play out the way they do.

Solid, and chock full of cinematic money shots, this is a B-flick worthy novel that echoes an earlier novel of Masterton's, The Manitou.

Charnel House sufficiently differs from The Manitou, making Charnel House an original, interlinked work. (The Gitche Manitou, a heavily-mentioned element/character in the Manitou series, gets a mention in Charnel House.)

In some ways, because of its deeper characterizations, its colorful locale (San Francisco), and its fuller explanations of Indian magic, Charnel House is a superior, more fully realized work than The Manitou.

Both novels -- and the Manitou series -- are worth reading, but if you're looking for a fun, horrific afternoon read, check out Charnel House first, then start the Manitou series.

Legion by William Peter Blatty

(pb; 1983: sequel to The Exorcist) 

 From the inside flap

"A young boy, a deaf-mute, is found horribly murdered in a mock crucifixion. The kindly, aging detective assigned to the case sees it not only as a crime -- one that calls for all his skill and intuition as an investigator -- but as part of a a larger and more baffling mystery: whether or not a good god can exist if He tolerates such monstrous evil. Is the murderer the elderly woman who witnessed the crime? A neurologist who can no longer bear the pain life inflicts on its victims? A psychiatrist with a macabre sense of humor and a guilty secret? A mysterious mental patient, locked in silent isolation? 

 "As Lieutenant Kinderman follows a bewildering trail that links all these people, he confronts a new enigma at every turn. Why does each victim suffer the same dreadful mutilations? Why are two of the victims priests? Is there a connection between these crimes and another series of murders that took place twelve years ago -- and supposedly ended with the death of the killer?" 

Review

Twelve year after the events of The Exorcist -- Regan MacNeil's little-known demonic possession; the murder of Burke Dennings; and Damien Karras's suicide on the steep M Street/"Hitchcock Steps" -- multiple homicides rock the Georgetown area. The murders are beyond-bizarre weird in their one-killer-consistent M.O.s; a gleefully-macabre wit is at bloody work here. Even more bizarre, their M.O.s are almost dead-on replications of the Gemini (read: Zodiac) Killer, who died years ago. The more Lt. William Kinderman (still ruminating long on Natural, philosophical and religious tangents relating to the nature of evil) learns about the murders, the more they become linked to the Dennings/Karras deaths, cases that were filed away, but never officially solved: these new victims were not chosen at random, it seems. 

 Father Joseph Dyer, friend of Karras and Kinderman in The Exorcist, indirectly aids Kinderman in his investigation. As Kinderman closes in on the killer, the more dangerous -- and crazier -- his life gets, as do the lives of those around him. Blatty once again has crafted a novel that is landmark in its execution. Interplays of warmth (especially relating to Kinderman's interactions with others) dispel much of the cold, alien darkness of the murders, past and present. A sly, macabre wit not only informs the killer's M.O., but the novel itself . 

One nit: Kinderman's ruminations run overlong at times. These ruminations relate to the events of Legion, lending often intuitive and key points (and Kinderman's personality) to the mood of the novel, but a lot of it could've been trimmed, without hurting the overall effect of the novel. That minor nit aside, this spin-off novel not only continues the story begun in The Exorcist, but fully mutates into its own, distinctive work -- an equally-excellent, equally-shocking-blow-to-the-plexus sequel that is ultimately a crime and redemption tale. 

#

Novel-author Blatty directed and scripted the resulting film, The Exorcist III, released stateside on August 17, 1990.

George C. Scott played Lt. William Kinderman. Ed Flanders played Father Joseph Dyer. Brad Dourif provided the voice for The Gemini Killer. Jason Miller, who played Father Damien Karras in The Exorcist, played Patient X. Nicol Williamson played Father Morning. Scott Wilson played Dr. Temple. Don Gordon played Ryan.

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

(pb; 1971: prequel to Legion) 

Caveat: possible spoilers in this review. 

Rhythmic tappings are heard in actress Chris MacNeil's Washington D.C. house, at first in the attic, later in different locations. A short while later, Chris's twelve-year-old daughter, sweet-natured Regan, begins acting rebellious and verbally abusive as if she were another person. (None of the many medical and psychiatric "specialists" who examine Regan can figure out what's wrong with her.) Then Burke Dennings, Chris's current, raconteur-when-drunk film director, is found dead at the bottom of the steep steps leading up to Chris's house, a direct fall from Regan's window. It seems Burke died when his head was turned all the way around -- backwards -- on his body, then flung onto the steps: the steps couldn't have done that sort of damage... 

Enter kind, middle-aged, garrulous, cinema-loving Lieutenant William F. Kinderman, who's investigating Burke's murder, but only knows that Regan is bed-ridden and "sick," and Damien Karras, a middle-aged psychiatrist-priest who's wracked by doubts regarding his dual professions and grieving for his recently-deceased mother. Karras has been hired to try and help Regan. When she shows signs possibly indicating demonic possession (speaking in foreign tongues, telekinetic ability, wallowing in her own filth, verbal and physical abuse of those around her), Karras calls on an additional person to help them. 

Enter Lankester Merrin, an old priest who once, in his younger years, exorcised the demon (Pazuzu) who has taken over Regan. 

Exorcist is a compelling, intricate and landmark novel. Blatty's writing is thick with facts and potentially miasmic ruminations, leavened with often-drark wit, ever-present humanity and hope. The characters are distinctive and memorable, the book's scenes of bodily waste and shocking blasphemy equally so. This is one of my all-time favorite horror novels. Followed by Legion.

#

The film version was released stateside on December 26, 1973. William Friedkin directed it, from a screenplay by novel-author Blatty.

Linda Blair played Regan. Ellen Burstyn played Chris MacNeil. Kitty Winn played Sharon Spencer. Jack MacGowan played Burke Dennings. 

Lee J. Cobb played Lt. Kinderman. Jason Miller played Father Karras. Max von Sydow played Father Merrin.  

Vampires, Werewolves & Other Demons, by Bernhardt J. Hurwood

(pb; 1972: YA horror anthology)

From the back cover:

"Lock your doors and bar your windows against THINGS you'd rather not see or hear. Turn down all the lights except the one you need to read by. Then, let your mind drift back to other lands, other times, when terrors rose with the moon and unspeakable monsters stalked the land.

"Thirty tales resurrected from the mouldering vaults of horror, from the crypts of fear, to send old-fashioned chills down your spine."

Review:

Good primer for young readers new to horror writing. For the experienced horror aficionado, it's a worthwhile -- if simplified, tell-don't-show -- read.

All of the thirty stories contained in this short anthology -- which are little more than morality tales with a minimum of gothic window-dressing -- are über-short, told-in-broad-strokes pieces. Hurwood used this tell-don't-show approach in a few of the stories in another, less generic (non-YA) anthology, Monsters Galore. This style of tell-don't-show writing is interesting in a dry, intellectual way, but probably won't engage readers used to fuller, more descriptive terror tales.

One of the stories in Vampires, Werewolves & Other Demons also appeared in Monsters Galore, namely: "The Vampire at the Inn" (which was listed in Monsters as "The Corpse at the Inn" and credited to Pu Sung Ling and, again, adapted by Hurwood).

Monster's "The Purple Terror" (by Fred M. White) gets a genericized, character-less, less-story-oriented retelling as "The Vampire Plant" in Vampires; Monster's "The Vampire Cat of Nabeshima" gets the same treatment in Vampires, listed there as "The Demon Cat". Hurwood wisely simplified these last two tales for a younger audience, though the genericized versions aren't nearly as interesting as the character-based longer versions in Monsters.

My favorite stories in Vampires: "The Curious Vampires of Bohemia and Moravia"; "The Wine Demon"; "The Two Corpses"; "The Beautiful Mara"; "The Last Meal of Igor Malikov" "The Were-Tiger of Slim"; "The Return of the Werewolf"; and "The Lonely Man and the Fox Princess".

Good anthological offering, this. Check it out.