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novelette's review
3.0
I was very excited for this book, since I heard about it on Face Off. It's less horror, and more gore. Not that that's not grand, but not exactly the high tension suspense I was expecting
doritobabe's review
3.0
3/5 Stars
Jason Blum has created an anthology of horror short stories to add to his ever-growing monopoly on the horror genre. Typically only specializing in films, it seems that for this compendium, Blum reached out to his film industry buddies and paid them a lot of money (maybe) to write short horror fiction. While some of the stories are wholly original and engrossing to read, the rest are poorly executed screenplays that do not translate well into short story form.
I think the fatal flaw in this anthology is that there are too many stories that are similar (cough cough, demon possession/murders cough cough) placed too closely together.
While I enjoyed this for my spring fluff/horror read, there was nothing to emotionally jar me or actually keep me up late at night like I was hoping it would.
Jason Blum has created an anthology of horror short stories to add to his ever-growing monopoly on the horror genre. Typically only specializing in films, it seems that for this compendium, Blum reached out to his film industry buddies and paid them a lot of money (maybe) to write short horror fiction. While some of the stories are wholly original and engrossing to read, the rest are poorly executed screenplays that do not translate well into short story form.
I think the fatal flaw in this anthology is that there are too many stories that are similar (cough cough, demon possession/murders cough cough) placed too closely together.
While I enjoyed this for my spring fluff/horror read, there was nothing to emotionally jar me or actually keep me up late at night like I was hoping it would.
nattyg's review
2.0
While the first few stories were interesting, I quickly realized this was not my cup of tea. Nothing against the book as I already know a few people who would really enjoy this. I will recommend to them.
funqandsoul's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I’ll be rating each short story individually.
Hellhole— 3.5 ⭐️
Valdivia— 1 ⭐️
Golden hour— 2 ⭐️
A clean white room— 1 ⭐️
The leap— 4.5 ⭐️
Nivel fifteen— 0.5 ⭐️
The darkish man— 2 ⭐️
1987– 1 ⭐️
Geist— 3 ⭐️
Gentholme— 1 ⭐️
Donations— 3.5 ⭐️
The old jail— 4 ⭐️
The words— 4.5 ⭐️
Dreamland— 4.5 ⭐️
Meat maker— wtf????
Eyes— 2 ⭐️
Procedure— 1 ⭐️
Hellhole— 3.5 ⭐️
Valdivia— 1 ⭐️
Golden hour— 2 ⭐️
A clean white room— 1 ⭐️
The leap— 4.5 ⭐️
Nivel fifteen— 0.5 ⭐️
The darkish man— 2 ⭐️
1987– 1 ⭐️
Geist— 3 ⭐️
Gentholme— 1 ⭐️
Donations— 3.5 ⭐️
The old jail— 4 ⭐️
The words— 4.5 ⭐️
Dreamland— 4.5 ⭐️
Meat maker— wtf????
Eyes— 2 ⭐️
Procedure— 1 ⭐️
tashaw's review against another edition
2.0
Michael Olson's "Dreamland" was the best of a not overly interesting nor particularly scary lot.
nany007's review against another edition
3.0
As excited as I was to read this, I'm really bummed by how underwhelming it was. Creepy? Absolutely. One story in particular had me nightmarish but it was a story ABOUT dreams and nightmares and my whole feverish sleep was trying to *avoid* having a nightmare (like in the story). #dreamception LOL! Anyway, I'm still impressed by the imaginations of the authors and how incredibly disturbed they all are. I love a good scary movie or book. But I've read scarier!
jhstack's review against another edition
3.0
A mixed collection of horror (and some horror-tinged or very-lite-horror) short stories that are city-oriented (some a little more loosely than others).
merricatct's review against another edition
3.0
This anthology combines two of my favorite things - cities, and horror. There were some excellent stories here, and several others that were good, but unfortunately there were a couple of additions that dragged the entire book down for me - hence the three star rating.
Standouts were "Hellhole" (Brooklyn hipsters buy a cursed house), "A Clean White Room" (a glimpse into a type of purgatory), "The Leap" (a psychic is hired to provide entertainment at a birthday party), "Gentholme" (a couple are some of the first residents in a new housing development/community), and "The Old Jail" (a journalist gets more than he bargained for when investigating a story).
Standouts were "Hellhole" (Brooklyn hipsters buy a cursed house), "A Clean White Room" (a glimpse into a type of purgatory), "The Leap" (a psychic is hired to provide entertainment at a birthday party), "Gentholme" (a couple are some of the first residents in a new housing development/community), and "The Old Jail" (a journalist gets more than he bargained for when investigating a story).
gaysandmurder's review against another edition
3.0
Average short story collection. The main negative was that I didn't like most of the longer stories.
Geist, Donations and A Clean White Room were some of my favourites.
Geist, Donations and A Clean White Room were some of my favourites.
juliacg7's review
4.0
Some of these short stories were kind of boring , but others grabbed on to me with such intrigue I had to finish them. Good collection of works