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charshorrorcorner's review against another edition
5.0
SLIMER is a perfect example of why I loved (and still love), horror from the 80's! It's fun, it's fast paced, unpredictable, imaginative, and did I mention it's FUN?
Three couples find themselves stranded in a life boat after the yacht they were on sank. After several days they come upon an abandoned oil rig, and are grateful to be on solid ground again. After they start looking around, their gratitude turns to confusion and eventually fear. Why are there scientific labs instead of oil production equipment? Where are all the people? Most importantly, why are they finding piles of clothing all over the place? Piles with undergarments and socks inside, almost as if the person vanished into thin air? You'll have to read this to find out!
I know that the title doesn't bring to mind great works of literature, but this book towers above most creature features, and unlike a lot of horror from that time period, it's actually pretty well written. I'm not looking for Shirley Jackson all the time, you know? Sometimes I want lots of action and in your face horror and both of those are found here in spades! I've been trying to think of movies or other books I can compare SLIMER with, and all I can come up with is The Thing. Instead of the arctic setting, we're on an isolated oil rig in the middle of the deep sea...but all the other main components are there. The growing fear, the confusion, and suspicion regarding your fellow man, all of it's here. And all of it spells F-U-N!
Valancourt Books' PAPERBACKS FROM HELL series is going to be a lot of fun if this is the kind of stuff they'll be putting out. I, for one, am going to be lined up for each new release like a shopper at midnight on Black Friday!
If you liked John Carpenter's The Thing, if you like creature features, and finally, (maybe especially), if you liked the best works that 80's horror had to offer, SLIMER is a MUST-HAVE for your home library. My highest recommendation!
Available on October 2nd, but up for pre-order now, here: https://www.amazon.com/Slimer-Harry-Adam-Knight/dp/1948405172/chashorcor-20
Three couples find themselves stranded in a life boat after the yacht they were on sank. After several days they come upon an abandoned oil rig, and are grateful to be on solid ground again. After they start looking around, their gratitude turns to confusion and eventually fear. Why are there scientific labs instead of oil production equipment? Where are all the people? Most importantly, why are they finding piles of clothing all over the place? Piles with undergarments and socks inside, almost as if the person vanished into thin air? You'll have to read this to find out!
I know that the title doesn't bring to mind great works of literature, but this book towers above most creature features, and unlike a lot of horror from that time period, it's actually pretty well written. I'm not looking for Shirley Jackson all the time, you know? Sometimes I want lots of action and in your face horror and both of those are found here in spades! I've been trying to think of movies or other books I can compare SLIMER with, and all I can come up with is The Thing. Instead of the arctic setting, we're on an isolated oil rig in the middle of the deep sea...but all the other main components are there. The growing fear, the confusion, and suspicion regarding your fellow man, all of it's here. And all of it spells F-U-N!
Valancourt Books' PAPERBACKS FROM HELL series is going to be a lot of fun if this is the kind of stuff they'll be putting out. I, for one, am going to be lined up for each new release like a shopper at midnight on Black Friday!
If you liked John Carpenter's The Thing, if you like creature features, and finally, (maybe especially), if you liked the best works that 80's horror had to offer, SLIMER is a MUST-HAVE for your home library. My highest recommendation!
Available on October 2nd, but up for pre-order now, here: https://www.amazon.com/Slimer-Harry-Adam-Knight/dp/1948405172/chashorcor-20
teamredmon's review against another edition
5.0
Initially published in 1983, Slimer is the story of six drug smugglers stranded on an oil rig after their boat sinks. They find the platform deserted with only piles of clothes as evidence of the former inhabitants. Also, the rig isn’t decked out like an oil drilling equipment but scientific research equipment instead. Soon, the six drug smugglers find that they are not alone and are being hunted by something, not human.
I picked this one up because I read comparisons to John Carpenter’s The Thing, which is my absolute favorite film. And despite being published 36 years ago and reeking of 80’s sexism and misogyny, I had a lot of fun with this one. The characters are universally terrible people and not overly developed, but the focus of this one is on the action and the creature hunting them. The setting of the oil rig makes for some unusual scenarios that make this one different enough to feel still original. We also get several POV chapters from the creature’s perspective, which I much enjoyed. Slimer is the first book from Valancourt Press that I’ve read, and if this is the kind of book that they are resurrecting from the horror trash heap, then I’ll be throwing my money at them for a while to come. I recommend this one to anyone that’s looking for an old school well-written horror that values action over character development.
I picked this one up because I read comparisons to John Carpenter’s The Thing, which is my absolute favorite film. And despite being published 36 years ago and reeking of 80’s sexism and misogyny, I had a lot of fun with this one. The characters are universally terrible people and not overly developed, but the focus of this one is on the action and the creature hunting them. The setting of the oil rig makes for some unusual scenarios that make this one different enough to feel still original. We also get several POV chapters from the creature’s perspective, which I much enjoyed. Slimer is the first book from Valancourt Press that I’ve read, and if this is the kind of book that they are resurrecting from the horror trash heap, then I’ll be throwing my money at them for a while to come. I recommend this one to anyone that’s looking for an old school well-written horror that values action over character development.
lilyn_g's review
4.0
This was my first time listening to Hannibal Hills narrate. While I did have to speed his narration up a bit, I generally liked his work. His accents were good, his range between the men was decent. His female voices weren’t grating to the ears, but not terrifically varied, either. His voicing of the characters had me wanting to said character every time he appeared in my ears but considering the dude was a class A jackass it was a good choice.
The characters aren’t much to speak of. You’ve got an asshole drug-runner and his tough girlfriend, a druggie and his girlfriend that would do anything for him, and then the other guy and his girlfriend. That is pretty much all you find out about the characters and, really, all you need to know about them. They’re characters in an 80’s cheesy horror book. The rules say that only a few of them are going to survive and the rest are going to die horrifically. (I like this rule.)
There was a scene in here that made my stomach churn. Unusual for me. I can put up with a lot without even thinking about it, but stuff being forced unnaturally far down people’s throats triggers my gag very, very quickly. The rest of the scenes were weird and/or gross, but not particularly disturbing. (Sometimes they were kind of fascinating to imagine.)
In regards to the story itself: It took a while to hook me and it reminded me a little too strongly of The Thing but I was nevertheless engaged in what I was reading. This is only a 133-page (at least on Kindle) book, so by necessity the story had to be tight and the pace rapid. Stuff starts happening within about fifteen minutes and doesn’t let up until a suitably dramatic ending.
Overall, Slimer is not particularly original or horrifying, but it is as cheesy as you would expect horror from this era to be. I’m happy that Valancourt are re-releasing these gems in an era that can embrace them for their bad-goodnesss. Hannibal Hills did a solid job as narrator and I’d be willing to listen to more from him in the future.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
The characters aren’t much to speak of. You’ve got an asshole drug-runner and his tough girlfriend, a druggie and his girlfriend that would do anything for him, and then the other guy and his girlfriend. That is pretty much all you find out about the characters and, really, all you need to know about them. They’re characters in an 80’s cheesy horror book. The rules say that only a few of them are going to survive and the rest are going to die horrifically. (I like this rule.)
There was a scene in here that made my stomach churn. Unusual for me. I can put up with a lot without even thinking about it, but stuff being forced unnaturally far down people’s throats triggers my gag very, very quickly. The rest of the scenes were weird and/or gross, but not particularly disturbing. (Sometimes they were kind of fascinating to imagine.)
In regards to the story itself: It took a while to hook me and it reminded me a little too strongly of The Thing but I was nevertheless engaged in what I was reading. This is only a 133-page (at least on Kindle) book, so by necessity the story had to be tight and the pace rapid. Stuff starts happening within about fifteen minutes and doesn’t let up until a suitably dramatic ending.
Overall, Slimer is not particularly original or horrifying, but it is as cheesy as you would expect horror from this era to be. I’m happy that Valancourt are re-releasing these gems in an era that can embrace them for their bad-goodnesss. Hannibal Hills did a solid job as narrator and I’d be willing to listen to more from him in the future.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
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