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A review by ojtheviking
The Quiet Boy by Nick Antosca
3.25
I've lately read a couple of books retrospectively, as I fell in love with a TV series and went back to check out the books the series was adapted from. But as I learned that the upcoming movie Antlers is based on this short story, I wanted to catch the source material first.
And simply put, I enjoyed it. It's a short and creepy story, with the audiobook adding an extra eerie atmosphere with some spooky ambience and jarring sound effects. It gave the whole experience a sense of reading a morbid, adult fairytale.
Despite its shortness, the pacing of the story leans towards a slow burn, but I often enjoy it when a story takes the time to establish the characters and flesh them out a little bit (as opposed to, say, how some horror movies just gets right down to it after five minutes, before you even know or care about any of the people involved).
This way, the sense of mystery builds too, because it's not immediately clear what's going on. And within the limited span of a story that is less than 60 minutes in audiobook format, you've already been through a journey where you're trying to piece together what the mystery is all about. Then, when things start to become more clear, it really takes off from there, cranking up not just the creep factor, but also the gore and violence, giving the story a savage, blood-thirsty edge that leaves an impression.
Had it not been for the fact that it's already been adapted into a full-length movie, this is the kind of story that would have lent itself well to an anthology series like Tales from the Crypt or Creepshow. And I'm always a sucker for that. And all the more stoked for the movie.
And simply put, I enjoyed it. It's a short and creepy story, with the audiobook adding an extra eerie atmosphere with some spooky ambience and jarring sound effects. It gave the whole experience a sense of reading a morbid, adult fairytale.
Despite its shortness, the pacing of the story leans towards a slow burn, but I often enjoy it when a story takes the time to establish the characters and flesh them out a little bit (as opposed to, say, how some horror movies just gets right down to it after five minutes, before you even know or care about any of the people involved).
This way, the sense of mystery builds too, because it's not immediately clear what's going on. And within the limited span of a story that is less than 60 minutes in audiobook format, you've already been through a journey where you're trying to piece together what the mystery is all about. Then, when things start to become more clear, it really takes off from there, cranking up not just the creep factor, but also the gore and violence, giving the story a savage, blood-thirsty edge that leaves an impression.
Had it not been for the fact that it's already been adapted into a full-length movie, this is the kind of story that would have lent itself well to an anthology series like Tales from the Crypt or Creepshow. And I'm always a sucker for that. And all the more stoked for the movie.