The story begins with Jude’s assistant, Danny, discovering an ad on the internet promising a “real ghost” for sale.  Jude takes an immediate interest in adding this to his collection of morbid curios, believing full well that it’s a hoax but willing to hand over the cash just to find out.  He gets more than he bargained for when the Dead Man’s Suit arrives, packaged in the titular heart-shaped box.

Almost immediately Jude comes face to face with the spirit of Craddock McDermott, the stepfather of one of Jude’s past groupie girlfriends, although he doesn’t get the connection until later when it becomes clear that the malicious spirit is here to avenge the death of his now-departed step-daughter.

With Craddock’s ghost plaguing both Jude and his current girl-toy “Georgia” (Jude names his girlfriends by the state they are from in an effort to displace any emotion toward them), the aged rocker is forced to face his past while outrunning their ghostly pursuer.

Early in the story Georgia pricks her finger on pin within the Dead Man’s Suit and her hand becomes the author’s device reflecting the growing doom as it goes from merely sore, to swollen, to pustulating and discolored over the course of the novel.

One of the most interesting things about Heart-Shaped Box is the way in which the author depicts Craddock’s spirit itself.  Gone are the glowing mists or shapeless figures that we’ve become accustomed to.  Instead we are presented a very real image of the man sitting in his old-style shaker chair, seemingly at ease in his suit with his hat on his knee, as if taking a simple afternoon nap.  But his eyes are black lines scribbled and twisted like cartoon spirals, his movements are jittering like photographs strung together in a flip-book.

Georgia’s face swam before him, and he had an alarming thought, that her eyes had been missing, hidden behind black scribbles. She was dead, and she was with the ghosts. He struggled back toward wakefulness for a few moments and almost made it. He opened his eyes frantically. Georgia stood in the door to the library, watching him, her little white hands balled into little white fists, and her eyes were her own. He felt a moment of sweet relief at the sight of her. Then he saw the dead man in the hallway behind her. His skin was pulled tight across the knobs of his cheekbones, and he was grinning to show his nicotine-stained teeth. Craddock McDermott moved in stop motion, a series of life-size still photographs. In one moment his arms were at his sides. In the next, one of his gaunt hands were on Georgia’s shoulder. His fingernails were yellowed and long and curled at the end. The black marks jumped and quivered in front of his eyes.

Craddock also carries a chain with the crescent shaped pendant and sharp razorblade attached that, when alive, he used to hypnotize people.  Now in death you can imagine it’s function.  This is definitely not Casper the Friendly Ghost here!

A power struggle begins as Jude fights off Craddock’s ghostly efforts at mind control, all the while trying to keep his sanity and Georgia safe from the powers of the dead man’s suggestions.  They take to the road, picking up a few endearing characters along the way, including Marybeth’s (aka Georgia the former stripper with whom Jude is now involved) Nan.  The wickedly opinionated but accepting grandmother character is a refreshing relief from all the doom and gloom, breathing a sweet comedy into the story – as well as being a strong part of Jude’s sudden change in approach to the predicament.  We are taken for a wild ride as things are, of course, not as they seem

Complaints about Heart-Shaped Box are few.  I could have done without the animal killing; a thing I have rarely found necessary to a plot.  Here it did work with the story, as it was explained that Jude’s dogs were his guardians and “died for a cause”, but the protagonist’s reaction to the loss of his companions and protectors didn’t seem genuine.  If it were me I would have broken down and gotten angry as hell but Jude just takes it as par for the ghostly coaster ride he’s on.

The story also lost a little steam near the ending, which wasn’t unexpected as it had been going at such a fast pace from the very beginning.  It almost seemed inevitable that the ending wouldn’t impact as strongly as the rest of the story had been.

However, those complaints are minor.  Overall, I’d have to say that Heart Shaped Box is a tight read from start to finish.  It easily sucks you in and keeps you turning the pages of this twisted tale.  I’m looking forward to more from Joe Hill in the future.

~ Bonnie D.

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

LINKS:

Joe Hill, Blog

I would have been an awkward, pimply 14 year old just discovering Guns & Roses, The Simpsons made their first appearance on the Tracy Ullman show and Jack Ketchum’s Cover hit bookstore shelves.

Fast forward 20 years later and Cover is on store shelves yet again, as a standard reprint with an added introduction by the author (written in 1999).

So the question is, can a novel written over 20 years ago about a crazed vietnam vet hunting a group of campers in the California wilderness still engage the reader in 2009?

The answer is, mostly.  And the few shortcomings don’t stem from the novels age but from what feels (to me, at least) like a sensitivity for the source material.

Lee Moravian is a 39 year old Vietnam veteran haunted by his experiences in the war.  Unable to adjust to life back home he retreats to the California wilderness with his wife, son and dog.  They live a bare subsistence lifestyle, camping in the bush and farming small plots of marijuana for whatever money they can make.  Lee is almost totally withdrawn emotionally, referring to his son only as “the boy” and his dog as “dog”.  The only person in Lee’s life who retains a name is his wife, Alma.

The book begins with Lee’s relationship at the breaking point.  Alma and “the boy” are leaving and with them go Lee’s last tethers to the real world.  Alone, save for his trained attack dog (he was in dog platoon before transfering to frontline infantry), Lee’s sanity finally unravels and the memories that plagued his nightmares spill into and distort reality.

These points where the two realities, the nightmares of the war and the waking world, bleed together are particularly well handled by Ketchum.

Intruders soon arrive in the form of an aging writer on the downslope of his career along with his wife and mistress (in a strange share-and-share-alike love triangle).  Rounding out the party is the writer’s agent, his less successful and not-so-secretly jealous friend and a magazine photographer assigned to tag along.

It’s a strange setup that I don’t quite buy, this tribe of pampered elites all “roughing it” in the woods together, especially given the personal baggage that’s lurking beneath the surface.  It’s an overly convenient setup, just a hair above “teens enter a haunted house to make out”.

It’s not long before the unwelcome campers end up on Lee’s hit list and become prey for a man who is now little more than a predator defending his territory.

This is a very straightforward “hunted in the wilderness” story made unique by how much the reader empathises with the killer.  Ketchum spends as much time on Lee, his motivation, depression and psychotic breaks as he does on the victims.  In fact, I found Lee to be more sympathetic than Kelsey, the self-indulgent writer, and his tribe of hangers-on.

In the introduction the author explains how he conducted research for the novel, interviewing a number of Vietnam veterans at a time (remember this was back in mid ’80s) when the war and its scars were fresh in everyone’s mind and in pop culture.

Ketchum displays remarkeable insight into the effects post traumatic stress had on veterans but in turning that insight into a horror yarn about a psychotic vet he seems to have held back.  This is Jack Ketchum, after all, a man with a well documented history of making readers squirm.

I appreciate that the author was going for realism.  When you examine real-world serial killers and mass murderers they aren’t remotely like Hannibal Lector or Leatherface.  More often than not they’re just sad, emotionally broken, almost pathetic creatures.

Yes, portraying Lee as a cartoonish ogre out “hunting humans” would have been offensive, especially back in ‘87, but I think the balance could have been handled better for the sake of story, to offer a much more intimidating “enemy”.

The end result is that you’re not really rooting for anybody.  The story has neither a sympathetic protagonist nor a truly intimidating “killing machine” antagonist.  It’s like watching a slow-motion car wreck where neither party really deserves their fate.

Ketchum isn’t one to give easy answers or Scooby-Doo happy endings and this has never been more true than with Cover, more a tragedy than a balls-out horror novel.  It’s not a bad book by a long shot but it lacks the punch of his other work.

If you can temper your expectations for the level of violence and sit through a longer than usual buildup (130 pages before the action really begins) then Cover can still be a satisfying read. It’s probably the most “mainstream” Jack Ketchum novel.

If on the other hand you are looking for a more straightforward horror story or even a “best example” of Ketchum’s work I would recommend his debut novel Off Season over this.

~ Kyle Nau

LINKS:

Jack Ketchum, Official Site

Horror film sites are a dime a dozen. They have advertisers lining up to give free swag, buy impressions and grant behind the scenes access to anyone who will help push their latest product.  I could have created YetAnotherHorrorMovieBlog.com* and have done quite well with it.

So why “horror in print”?

Guts and Gore was originally going to be a horror movie review site, right up until I started watching the DVDs and realized that I could write a blanket review easily covering half of the horror movie output each year:

I’ve heard the opinion that audiences are getting stupider, and it’s hard to build a case against that argument with “2012” leading the box office.  But I consider it a failure of leadership.  If audiences are stupider it’s because film producers are complete morons:

Sony acquires the movie rights for RISK board game

Hasbro and Univeral partner for movie based on Monopoly, Battleship

Coming Soon to a Theater Near You!

The creative bankruptcy of Hollywood is nothing new, critics have been crying about it for decades.  The difference is that the audience is starting to notice and are collectively questioning the value of a night at the movies.  Technology is helping slow the exodus but better screens, luxury seating and the “3D bump” won’t last forever.  There’s only so much that can be done on the exhibition side; the real problem is one of content.

What do Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, The Haunting of Hill House, The Shining, Silence of the Lambs and Jaws all have in common?

Before they became high-water marks in film history they all began life as novels.

Once upon a time producers read books and then optioned those books to make movies.

And the aforementioned films were also produced using top tier stars and directors with the intent of making a “good movie” not merely a “good horror movie”.  They were meant to entertain, horrify, make a profit and stand on their own as works of art.

Okay, okay, you’re starting to black out from shock.  Stay with me here.

The defense you’ll hear from Hollywood is that with the massive investment required to produce a film these days they are forced to rely on high concept brand recognition; toys, videogames, comics, and apparently old board games.  “New” is considered untested, difficult and risky.

I’ll spare you my assertion that it does not cost $100+ million dollars to make a “blockbuster” movie, that something at the core of the Hollywood production machine is fundamentally broken, or that vague 1980s familiarity does not constitute “brand value”.

Horror lit is the home of high concept!

What I would like to point out, and one of the overall philosophies of this site, is that horror lit is the home of high concept.

“Patient Zero” is like Mission Impossible with zombies.  “Queen Victoria, Demon Hunter” is…well, it’s insane…but it’s high concept no matter how you define it!

Horror films are also the last vestige of value for money filmmaking.  At a time when even a crappy, generic romantic comedy costs $40 – $60 million dollars to produce you can still create a mainstream competitive horror film for under $15 million dollars.  Hell, you can even do it for under $1 million.

Let’s not kid ourselves, you can option a lesser known horror novel for cheaper than the catering budget on most movies.

And a successful original horror film has endless merchandising opportunities that extend the revenue lifespan, opportunities that simply don’t exist for romantic comedies, board game licenses and CG disaster movies.

What I’m trying to say is that there’s plenty of opportunity to make great horror films that make money but the endless sequels, licenses and rip-offs are dragging down everyone’s potential.

It’s time to go back to fully developed stories, well-executed plots and deeper characterization.  It’s time to start optioning horror novels for movies and actually completing them (We’re still waiting on World War Z – Way to strike while the iron is hot, Brad!).

So, if I may address Hollywood producers and young aspiring filmmakers directly – in your search for source material, step out of the toy aisle and put down the game controller.  You can do better.

This site exists because almost all of mainstream entertainment starts with the written word.  If I can do anything to restore the ties between great horror fiction and great horror films then I will have succeeded in my goal for gutsandgore.com.

*BTW – as of this writing that domain is available, if anyone wants it

For an idea of what this site is and why its here, read the “O Hollywood, Where Art Thou” post.  This post is here just to stick something in the stupid “welcome” category that Wordpress apparently forces you to use or else breaks your entire permalink structure.  Not cool, Wordpress!