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A review by motherofallbats
Classic Monsters Unleashed by James Aquilone
4.0
Very solidly good anthology with a lot of tonal variety. As expected it was pretty Frankenstein, Dracula, and were-creature heavy, but there were also some surprising out of pocket choices for monster representation (Dr. Moreau, The Wicked Witch of the West, The Fly, and The Hands of Orlac were all very welcome surprises). Like all anthologies it's uneven, but there were only a couple of outright duds, which is a pretty good rate for a 30-story collection.The stories that really knocked it out of the park for me:
-- Old Monsters Never Die by Tim Waggoner. A werewolf story that packs a huge emotional gut punch in a very short space. The combination of physical and emotional brutality reminded me a lot of Stephen Graham Jones.
-- This Viscount and the Phantom by Lucy A. Snyder. I'm a big sucker for literally any Phantom retelling, but this one was especially enjoyable; the premise of the first couple of pages immediately made me go "OOOOH OKAY" and then it developed in an extremely unexpected and delightful way.
-- Beautiful Monsters by JG Faherty. A very emotional Frankenstein's monster story, kinda gave me San Junipero vibes.
-- A Tale of Wickedness by Kelsea Yu. A very short origin story for the Wicked Witch. I audibly made a "nooooo" sound halfway through when I realized what was going on, which is my highest compliment for a horror story.
-- Diminished Seventh by Sean Eads and Joshua Viola. This is the Hands of Orlac story, I've never seen any of the versions of that film and only know the very basic premise of it so I'm not sure if there was any specific thematic drama or irony that I missed because of that, but even if there was this is still an absolute banger of a surgical horror story on its own.
-- You Can Have the Ground, My Love by Carlie St. George. Hands-down my favorite story in the collection, from the Bride of Frankenstein's perspective. A heart-rending meditation on her character and a beautiful tribute to Elsa Lanchester's film performance.
Overall very happy with this collection; apparently there is a Shakespeare-themed one coming out soon with many of the same authors that I'll gladly be checking out after this!
-- Old Monsters Never Die by Tim Waggoner. A werewolf story that packs a huge emotional gut punch in a very short space. The combination of physical and emotional brutality reminded me a lot of Stephen Graham Jones.
-- This Viscount and the Phantom by Lucy A. Snyder. I'm a big sucker for literally any Phantom retelling, but this one was especially enjoyable; the premise of the first couple of pages immediately made me go "OOOOH OKAY" and then it developed in an extremely unexpected and delightful way.
-- Beautiful Monsters by JG Faherty. A very emotional Frankenstein's monster story, kinda gave me San Junipero vibes.
-- A Tale of Wickedness by Kelsea Yu. A very short origin story for the Wicked Witch. I audibly made a "nooooo" sound halfway through when I realized what was going on, which is my highest compliment for a horror story.
-- Diminished Seventh by Sean Eads and Joshua Viola. This is the Hands of Orlac story, I've never seen any of the versions of that film and only know the very basic premise of it so I'm not sure if there was any specific thematic drama or irony that I missed because of that, but even if there was this is still an absolute banger of a surgical horror story on its own.
-- You Can Have the Ground, My Love by Carlie St. George. Hands-down my favorite story in the collection, from the Bride of Frankenstein's perspective. A heart-rending meditation on her character and a beautiful tribute to Elsa Lanchester's film performance.
Overall very happy with this collection; apparently there is a Shakespeare-themed one coming out soon with many of the same authors that I'll gladly be checking out after this!