(pb; 2018: novella)
Review
When Jerry Harford, a man with self-esteem issues, finds out his wife (Lisa) has been cheating on him, his best friend and co-worker (Mike) takes him a strange, Russian whore house where Jerry gets his ashes hauled. Unfortunately, Jerry has an addict’s personality, and nobody (not even the commanding Madame Zhora or her bouncer, Ivan) can stop him from getting what he wants.
Special is a fun, compelling, sometimes hilarious, and relatively restrained (considering its ickalicious elements) eighty-four-page novella that wastes no words in telling its character-sketched tale, a quick-escalation work with the feel of an Eighties B movie (I could imagine Frank Henenlotter or Stuart Gordon directing a film version of this). Despite its inherently pervy McGuffin, Special is surprisingly mainstream in its language, violence and delivery, nowhere near as sleazy as it could be. Chalk that up to Newman and Steensland’s excellent, cut-to-it, character-focused writing. This is a book worth owning if you love ‘80s B flick book horror, aren’t a prude, and like your pleasures short, sharp and fast.
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The resulting film was released stateside on October 13, 2020. B. Harrison Smith directed it, from a screenplay by source-book authors James Newman and Mark Steensland.
Davy Raphaely played Jerry. Dave Sheridan played Mike. Sarah French played Lisa.
Doug Henderson played Ivan. Susan Moses played Madame Zhora. Paul Cottman played Det. Barnes.
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