I think more happens in Stephen Hand’s FRIDAY THE 13TH: CARNIVAL OF MANIACS than happens in any of the movies. Like what? Glad you asked.
Like three Goth kids named Trick, Glo and Z-Mob venturing out to Crystal Lake, where one discovers she has a psychic link with the disembodied head of Jason Voorhees’ poor mom Pamela. Like two backwoods brothers straight out of DELIVERANCE finding Jason’s body in the woods and taking it home to spit-roast. Like having Jason come back to life, only to be made a part of a traveling freak show named Doktor Geistmann’s Carnival of Terror. Like the owner of said show placing Voorhees’ corpse on the online auction site ZingBid. Like having a Marilyn Manson-esque rocker and his porn-star wife obsessed with all things Voorhees doing anything and everything they can to win him. And hell, I haven’t even mentioned the FBI agent who we first meet while slaying a horde of zombies.
Yeah, like that. True to its title, MANIACS is crazy, with Hand (author of the FREDDY VS. JASON and TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE novelizations) jumping back and forth between all these subplots in a fury. His lovably over-the-top gorefest is critic-proof, because it’s intended only for F13 fans, and they’re going to enjoy it. As far as horror goes, there are no scares to be found, but since Jason ceased being scary in the early 1980s, these novels are more about just keeping the franchise alive than making you wet your pants.
One of the things I liked most about MANIACS is how it repeatedly references various films in the series, even opening with a recreation of the original film’s ending. Pieces of the sequels are worked in here and there, sometimes mockingly, which is refreshing. All in all, though markedly long in the tooth for this sort of thing (and containing 10 too many uses of the phrase “man-tits”), this FRIDAY will please the slasher set. I’ve found these things work best when there’s a new angle inserted, and the eBay-like bidding war for a known serial killer certainly fits the bill. –Rod Lott
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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS SERIES:
• JASON X: TO THE THIRD POWER by Nancy Kilpatrick
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