Scan barcode
doritobabe's review against another edition
3.0
3/5 Stars
Jason Blum has created an anthology of horror short stories to add to his ever-growing monopoly on the horror genre. Typically only specializing in films, it seems that for this compendium, Blum reached out to his film industry buddies and paid them a lot of money (maybe) to write short horror fiction. While some of the stories are wholly original and engrossing to read, the rest are poorly executed screenplays that do not translate well into short story form.
I think the fatal flaw in this anthology is that there are too many stories that are similar (cough cough, demon possession/murders cough cough) placed too closely together.
While I enjoyed this for my spring fluff/horror read, there was nothing to emotionally jar me or actually keep me up late at night like I was hoping it would.
Jason Blum has created an anthology of horror short stories to add to his ever-growing monopoly on the horror genre. Typically only specializing in films, it seems that for this compendium, Blum reached out to his film industry buddies and paid them a lot of money (maybe) to write short horror fiction. While some of the stories are wholly original and engrossing to read, the rest are poorly executed screenplays that do not translate well into short story form.
I think the fatal flaw in this anthology is that there are too many stories that are similar (cough cough, demon possession/murders cough cough) placed too closely together.
While I enjoyed this for my spring fluff/horror read, there was nothing to emotionally jar me or actually keep me up late at night like I was hoping it would.
nattyg's review against another edition
2.0
While the first few stories were interesting, I quickly realized this was not my cup of tea. Nothing against the book as I already know a few people who would really enjoy this. I will recommend to them.
funqandsoul's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I’ll be rating each short story individually.
Hellhole— 3.5 ⭐️
Valdivia— 1 ⭐️
Golden hour— 2 ⭐️
A clean white room— 1 ⭐️
The leap— 4.5 ⭐️
Nivel fifteen— 0.5 ⭐️
The darkish man— 2 ⭐️
1987– 1 ⭐️
Geist— 3 ⭐️
Gentholme— 1 ⭐️
Donations— 3.5 ⭐️
The old jail— 4 ⭐️
The words— 4.5 ⭐️
Dreamland— 4.5 ⭐️
Meat maker— wtf????
Eyes— 2 ⭐️
Procedure— 1 ⭐️
Hellhole— 3.5 ⭐️
Valdivia— 1 ⭐️
Golden hour— 2 ⭐️
A clean white room— 1 ⭐️
The leap— 4.5 ⭐️
Nivel fifteen— 0.5 ⭐️
The darkish man— 2 ⭐️
1987– 1 ⭐️
Geist— 3 ⭐️
Gentholme— 1 ⭐️
Donations— 3.5 ⭐️
The old jail— 4 ⭐️
The words— 4.5 ⭐️
Dreamland— 4.5 ⭐️
Meat maker— wtf????
Eyes— 2 ⭐️
Procedure— 1 ⭐️
tashaw's review
2.0
Michael Olson's "Dreamland" was the best of a not overly interesting nor particularly scary lot.
nany007's review
3.0
As excited as I was to read this, I'm really bummed by how underwhelming it was. Creepy? Absolutely. One story in particular had me nightmarish but it was a story ABOUT dreams and nightmares and my whole feverish sleep was trying to *avoid* having a nightmare (like in the story). #dreamception LOL! Anyway, I'm still impressed by the imaginations of the authors and how incredibly disturbed they all are. I love a good scary movie or book. But I've read scarier!
jhstack's review
3.0
A mixed collection of horror (and some horror-tinged or very-lite-horror) short stories that are city-oriented (some a little more loosely than others).
merricatct's review
3.0
This anthology combines two of my favorite things - cities, and horror. There were some excellent stories here, and several others that were good, but unfortunately there were a couple of additions that dragged the entire book down for me - hence the three star rating.
Standouts were "Hellhole" (Brooklyn hipsters buy a cursed house), "A Clean White Room" (a glimpse into a type of purgatory), "The Leap" (a psychic is hired to provide entertainment at a birthday party), "Gentholme" (a couple are some of the first residents in a new housing development/community), and "The Old Jail" (a journalist gets more than he bargained for when investigating a story).
Standouts were "Hellhole" (Brooklyn hipsters buy a cursed house), "A Clean White Room" (a glimpse into a type of purgatory), "The Leap" (a psychic is hired to provide entertainment at a birthday party), "Gentholme" (a couple are some of the first residents in a new housing development/community), and "The Old Jail" (a journalist gets more than he bargained for when investigating a story).
gaysandmurder's review
3.0
Average short story collection. The main negative was that I didn't like most of the longer stories.
Geist, Donations and A Clean White Room were some of my favourites.
Geist, Donations and A Clean White Room were some of my favourites.
juliacg7's review against another edition
4.0
Some of these short stories were kind of boring , but others grabbed on to me with such intrigue I had to finish them. Good collection of works
vanessakm's review against another edition
2.0
What is the trickiest genre to find something you like in? Horror. What is the biggest gamble you can take on a shiny bookstore purchase? A short story anthology.
Who rolled the dice on both counts and lost? THIS GUY!
Blumhouse, in case the name doesn't ring a bell, is a horror film producer and they've made movies over the last decade or so that you've at least heard of and probably seen: Paranormal Activity, Get Out, the new Halloween. Also, weirdly, the excellent HBO production of The Normal Heart, Larry Kramer's play about the AIDS epidemic in New York City in the early 80's, which you could obviously say is a horror story of a different, tragic sort.
So, Blumhouse knows horror. And Jason Blum has a lot of connections with writers and actors who write, so this anthology is mostly filled with people of that sort rather than the usual writer suspects. I will say the first story, "Hellhole", by Christopher Denham, is EXCELLENT. It's about a hipster couple who buy the fixer-upper they can afford in Brooklyn only to find it comes with a creepy doll. And maybe a portal to Hell. And the next story by Eli Roth, "Valdivia", is really well-written because I stayed immersed in the story when nothing much happened until the last two pages.
But with each story, the quality slipped a little bit more. "Novel Fifteen" by Steve Faber was long and tedious and not really a horror story--I get that there are different types of horror, but if I have to read a wordsplosion like that I expect to get at least a jump scare in return and not some meandering tale about an entitled asshole with writer's block. "The Darkish Man" by Nissar Modi, about a serial killer who weaponizes his victim's fear of looking racist, had a somewhat original hook but it was vile. I've read enough first person killer POV's to last me a lifetime. Bring something truly original or thought-provoking to make the icky experience worthwhile or don't bother.
The biggest name contributor to this book besides Roth is Ethan Hawke, who contributed the short tale "1987". It was....decent.
I made it about halfway through, got to the point where I'd read too many disappointing things in a row, and my hands just sort of refused to open the book again. I really can't make myself keep going to the point where I don't even see the use in keeping this around to re-tackle later. It's going, unfinished, into the donation pile. DAMN IT!
Who rolled the dice on both counts and lost? THIS GUY!
Blumhouse, in case the name doesn't ring a bell, is a horror film producer and they've made movies over the last decade or so that you've at least heard of and probably seen: Paranormal Activity, Get Out, the new Halloween. Also, weirdly, the excellent HBO production of The Normal Heart, Larry Kramer's play about the AIDS epidemic in New York City in the early 80's, which you could obviously say is a horror story of a different, tragic sort.
So, Blumhouse knows horror. And Jason Blum has a lot of connections with writers and actors who write, so this anthology is mostly filled with people of that sort rather than the usual writer suspects. I will say the first story, "Hellhole", by Christopher Denham, is EXCELLENT. It's about a hipster couple who buy the fixer-upper they can afford in Brooklyn only to find it comes with a creepy doll. And maybe a portal to Hell. And the next story by Eli Roth, "Valdivia", is really well-written because I stayed immersed in the story when nothing much happened until the last two pages.
But with each story, the quality slipped a little bit more. "Novel Fifteen" by Steve Faber was long and tedious and not really a horror story--I get that there are different types of horror, but if I have to read a wordsplosion like that I expect to get at least a jump scare in return and not some meandering tale about an entitled asshole with writer's block. "The Darkish Man" by Nissar Modi, about a serial killer who weaponizes his victim's fear of looking racist, had a somewhat original hook but it was vile. I've read enough first person killer POV's to last me a lifetime. Bring something truly original or thought-provoking to make the icky experience worthwhile or don't bother.
The biggest name contributor to this book besides Roth is Ethan Hawke, who contributed the short tale "1987". It was....decent.
I made it about halfway through, got to the point where I'd read too many disappointing things in a row, and my hands just sort of refused to open the book again. I really can't make myself keep going to the point where I don't even see the use in keeping this around to re-tackle later. It's going, unfinished, into the donation pile. DAMN IT!