Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror by Jordan Peele, John Joseph Adams

18 reviews

heggs's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Slavery, Cultural appropriation, Drug abuse, Body horror, Child death, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Violence, and Gore

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

I picked this up because it was the Literally Dead Book Club pick for the month of February.
"Out There Screaming" is an anthology of 19 short stories written by black authors. Each story is meant to be horror in nature, and the anthology explores all different types of horror one might encounter.
My two favorite short stories were "Eye & Tooth" and "The Other One". "Eye & Tooth" follows a brother sister duo who investigate strange phenomena and often get roped into wild, supernatural experiences. "The Other One" follows a woman trying to get over a breakup, when she receives a text message from her ex's new girlfriend that appears to be her ex without his heart.
My biggest gripe with this book is that it is not horror. Yes, some of the stories have some horrific elements, but I think this book is far more science fiction than anything. This is not a bad thing per say, but I think it is mis marketed, and a different audience would enjoy it more.
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the supernatural and science fiction. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Racism, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Violence, Gore, Child death, and Police brutality

astrangewind's review

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Out There Screaming left me breathless. It changed the way I feel about horror as a genre. I've never liked how the paranormal tends to be written, in books or in movies; the stories tend towards the Catholic concept of demons, which make each one of those stories predictable and, as a result, boring. But as I've journeyed into non-paranormal horror, it's always been too much for me, like the authors spend more time trying to cram in every gross and gory thing into the same package than actually writing a good story. Out There Screaming is different. It's gross and gory, sure, but it's not just those things. These Black authors' oubliettes - their Sunken Places - reveal the frightening underbelly of things that lurk in the corner of your vision, in the fabric of your interaction with the world, in your own psyche, deep and hungry and sometimes even hopeful.

I couldn't put it down. Out There Screaming is a shining example of what horror should be, not as violence for the sake of it but blooming outward from the real and tangible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Gore, Body horror, Murder, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Abandonment, Death of parent, Violence, Gun violence, Slavery, Drug use, Drug abuse, Car accident, Medical content, Police brutality, Grief, Toxic relationship, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racial slurs, War, Mass/school shootings, Hate crime, Confinement, Colonisation, Misogyny, Infertility, Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pandemic/Epidemic, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Cancer, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Vomit, and Panic attacks/disorders

breathehopebooks's review against another edition

Lost interest due to differing authorial writing styles. Plus i’m not usually a fan of this genre.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Police brutality, Pregnancy, and Body horror

Moderate: Hate crime, Kidnapping, Murder, Self harm, Racism, Cannibalism, Child death, Car accident, and Blood

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Death, Hate crime, Blood, Car accident, Violence, Racism, Body horror, Murder, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Misogyny, Sexism, Pregnancy, Child death, Racial slurs, Drug use, Cannibalism, Police brutality, Abandonment, Gun violence, Medical content, Slavery, Drug abuse, and Child abuse

Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Rape, Homophobia, Suicide, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

cherrywine's review

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Physical abuse, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Body horror

Moderate: Car accident, Death, and Drug abuse

katieb1034's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

There are some really strong stories in this collection and then some that fell to the wayside, easily forgotten. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Racism

vixenreader's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

A smorgasbord of the best voices in Black Horror, there is a variety of stories that focus on a diverse set of fears. Even the stories that I was not entirely enthralled with were still  impressive. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Gore, Child abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Body horror, Racial slurs, Cursing, Grief, Colonisation, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Racism, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Gaslighting, Body shaming, Car accident, Child death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Abandonment, Cultural appropriation, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Drug use, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Vomit, Cannibalism, Bullying, Ableism, and Gun violence

Minor: Slavery, War, Deportation, Kidnapping, and Dementia

The trigger warnings are numerous and featured in specific stories.

kayceeisbookish's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

A compelling and insightful anthology. It left me often with feelings of unease (in a good way that you want in horror style books) and a unique version of various fears that these authors have developed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Animal death, Blood, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Body horror, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Car accident, Confinement, Drug use, Genocide, Slavery, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Misogyny, Police brutality, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Cursing, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Terminal illness, Vomit, Cancer, Mental illness, and Grief

the_vegan_bookworm's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

Like most anthologies, there were stories I liked a lot ("The Rider" and "Your Happy Place" being particular favourites) and ones I wasn't so keen on. Unfortunately, I felt a lot of the stories fell on a more under-developed end of the spectrum despite having really great premises. I also think I would have made changes to the order the stories were presented in, as some transitions from one story to another felt random instead of adding to the collection's overall narrative.

With this said, there is a great range of diversity in these stories and a lot that a horror fan would enjoy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Sexual content, Police brutality, Gore, Sexual assault, and Murder