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A review by kittykult
Dark Screams: Volume One by Brian James Freeman, Bill Pronzini, Simon Clark, Ramsey Campbell, Kelley Armstrong, Stephen King, Richard Chizmar
3.0
WEEDS by Stephen King - 4 stars - a farmer is shocked when a meteor lands in his yard. He thinks he’s struck it rich, but the meteor might have other plans. I’ve read/seen this in a few formats (Creepshow comic and episode) and the story is by far my favorite format because of the detail and description of the characters thought process. It’s a solid Stephen King story but it's a tie between this and "Murder in Chains" for my favorite of this collection.
THE PRICE YOU PAY by Kelley Armstrong - 3 stars - a woman who is abducted after a night out with her best friend delves into the history that led her here. It has a pretty decent twist, one that I wasn’t expecting until about halfway through. I felt like it took entirely too long in the beginning. And that closing line was awesome.
MAGIC EYES by Bill Pronzini - 3 stars - a man in an asylum for the criminally insane journals how the murder of his wife was not his fault but the fault of an "invader." This was okay, but definitely my least favorite in the collection.
MURDER IN CHAINS by Simon Clark - 4 stars - a journalist wakes up in an underground chamber, chained to a giant, murderous man. Along with three other prisoners, he must stop the man he is chained to from killing them all. This had a significant Saw vibe and I enjoyed it quite a bit and wished it had more. I wanna know why this is happening and what the purpose is!
THE WATCHED by Ramsey Campbell - 3 stars - a young boy is forced by a police officer to snoop on his neighbors, who are potentially drug dealers who provided his daughter with drugs that killed her. This was an enjoyable story about justice and revenge, but at times it was so vague in the descriptions (in an attempt to be creepy, it never stated exactly what was going on during the “creepy” parts) that I lost focus and interest a bit. I was able to follow along but I wish the creepy scenes had been more descriptive.
Overall, these are some pretty solid short stories from significant authors, but there were only five. There need to be way more. At least there are several volumes to catch up on. The entire collection gets 3 stars, simply because there were more 3 stars than 4 and it was also a super short anthology. It is still worth reading, and if it had been twice as long with a couple more good stories thrown in, it would be a 4 star.
THE PRICE YOU PAY by Kelley Armstrong - 3 stars - a woman who is abducted after a night out with her best friend delves into the history that led her here. It has a pretty decent twist, one that I wasn’t expecting until about halfway through. I felt like it took entirely too long in the beginning. And that closing line was awesome.
MAGIC EYES by Bill Pronzini - 3 stars - a man in an asylum for the criminally insane journals how the murder of his wife was not his fault but the fault of an "invader." This was okay, but definitely my least favorite in the collection.
MURDER IN CHAINS by Simon Clark - 4 stars - a journalist wakes up in an underground chamber, chained to a giant, murderous man. Along with three other prisoners, he must stop the man he is chained to from killing them all. This had a significant Saw vibe and I enjoyed it quite a bit and wished it had more. I wanna know why this is happening and what the purpose is!
THE WATCHED by Ramsey Campbell - 3 stars - a young boy is forced by a police officer to snoop on his neighbors, who are potentially drug dealers who provided his daughter with drugs that killed her. This was an enjoyable story about justice and revenge, but at times it was so vague in the descriptions (in an attempt to be creepy, it never stated exactly what was going on during the “creepy” parts) that I lost focus and interest a bit. I was able to follow along but I wish the creepy scenes had been more descriptive.
Overall, these are some pretty solid short stories from significant authors, but there were only five. There need to be way more. At least there are several volumes to catch up on. The entire collection gets 3 stars, simply because there were more 3 stars than 4 and it was also a super short anthology. It is still worth reading, and if it had been twice as long with a couple more good stories thrown in, it would be a 4 star.