Hallows Eve
Remember how – before it bombed – HALLOWEEN III was intended to be the first in an annual series of Michael Myers-less sequels, each of which would be unrelated to one another except for taking place on that most sinister of holidays? Al Sarrantonio’s HALLOWS EVE could have been adapted into one of those sequels, and I mean that as a compliment.
In HALLOWS EVE – which came out last October, predictably – a man named Corrie returns to his hometown of Orangefield after vacating it suddenly a dozen years ago, following the murder of his mother. Still believed by local authorities to be the killer, Corrie left to escape demons – literal ones, who made his nightmares his reality. Sure enough, upon his return, his “friends” show up again, most notably in the form of a pumpkin-headed scarecrow who leaves his cornfield perch whenever he damn well feels like it.
That’s a terrifying image to be sure, as are Sarrantonio’s passages dealing with armies of hornets and a giant spider. But John, as the scarecrow calls himself, is not what he seems. Thus, the plot shifts wildly – almost too wildly – toward the realm of fantasy as Corrie confronts these dark forces for what may be the last time, on Oct. 31.
Up until this final segment, I was running right alongside the quick pace of Sarrantonio’s story, which accurately captures that small-town-in-fall feel that Ray Bradbury perfected. While the supernatural-heavy climax by no means wrecks the book, it’s departure from solid horror was a little disappointing. Still, HALLOWS EVE is not your run-of-the-mill horror novel, with Sarrantonio almost as compelling as an author as he is an anthologist.
[...] OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS: • BERSERK by Tim Lebbon • FLIGHTS: EXTREME VISIONS OF FANTASY edited by Al Sarrantonio • HALLOWS EVE by Al Sarrantonio • 999: TWENTY-NINE ORIGINAL TALES OF HORROR AND SUSPENSE edited by Al Sarrantonio [...]
[...] Orangefield is a small town so named because of its voluminous pumpkin crop which makes it an annual destination for tourists … as well as Samhain, the Lord of the Dead, a dark force who burrows into the minds of citizens and forces them to do his bidding. Al Sarrantonio has spun tales of Orangefield before, notably in 2004’s HALLOWS EVE. The new HORRORWEEN takes another trip into town – three of them, in fact, as it’s comprised of three previously published novellas, loosely threaded to disguise it as a novel. [...]
[...] OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS: • THE ADVENTURE OF THE MISSING DETECTIVE AND 19 OF THE YEAR’S FINEST CRIME AND MYSTERY STORIES edited by by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg • BLACK RIVER FALLS by Ed Gorman • DARK DELICACIES edited by Del Howison and Jeff Gelb • DEAN KOONTZ’S FRANKENSTEIN: BOOK TWO – CITY OF NIGHT by Dean Koontz and Ed Gorman • DIFFERENT KINDS OF DEAD AND OTHER TALES by Ed Gorman • FLIGHTS: EXTREME VISIONS OF FANTASY edited by Al Sarrantonio • FOUR DARK NIGHTS by Bentley Little, Douglas Clegg, Christopher Golden and Tom Piccirilli • GHOST TOWN by Ed Gorman • GRAVES’ RETREAT by Ed Gorman • GUNSLINGER AND NINE OTHER ACTION-PACKED STORIES OF THE WILD WEST by Ed Gorman • HALLOWS EVE by Al Sarrantonio • HORRORWEEN by Al Sarrantonio • INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS: A TRIBUTE edited by Kevin McCarthy and Ed Gorman • THE GIRL NEXT DOOR by Jack Ketchum • KEEPERS by Gary A. Braunbeck • LADIES’ NIGHT by Jack Ketchum • LIVE GIRLS by Ray Garton • THE LOVELIEST DEAD by Ray Garton • 999: TWENTY-NINE ORIGINAL TALES OF HORROR AND SUPSENSE edited by Al Sarrantonio • OFF SEASON by Jack Ketchum • THE WIDOW OF SLANE AND SIX MORE OF THE BEST CRIME AND MYSTERY NOVELLAS OF THE YEAR edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg • WOLF MOON by Ed Gorman [...]