INHUMAN

by John A. Russo

Transformed into murderous lizards by a brain-damaging accident, terorists stalk six couples attending a remote marriage counseling camp

Genres: Horror

221 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1986

About the author

John A. Russo, sometimes credited as Jack Russo or John Russo, is an American screenwriter and film director most commonly associated with the 1968 horror classic film Night of the Living Dead. As a screenwriter, his credits include Night of the Living Dead, The Majorettes, Midnight, and Santa Claws. The latter two, he also directed. He has performed small roles as an actor, most notably the first ghoul who is stabbed in the head in Night of the Living Dead.

Reviews

[Wayne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very thin plot with, at least for this author, John "Night Of The Living Dead" Russo, over used situations and settings. Instead of run of the mill zombies, this time around he uses a terrorist group and their hostages with lack of oxygen that turns them into zombie brain reptiles of some sort. They move around all jerky and slow. Killing is all they want to do. They chase after some couples on a marriage retreat weekend. They get trapped in a isolated house and argue about the basement being the best place to make a stand against the creatures. Sound familiar?

[Douglas Castagna · Rating 2 out of 5]

John Russo, a name associated with horror, and quality horror at that. This is the exception. The plot is asinine. A plane full of terrorists, are deprived of oxygen, and now are a group of mindless killers, their "reptilian" brain has kicked in and they are hell bent on blood lust. I could not get past this being the story, and thought some other reason, some other plot would come out of nowhere and save the story and author's reputation. No such luck. Stick with his living dead books, or just about anything else he has written.

[Tyler Hakes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Now I know why this book was 10 cents at the thrift store.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

"I can think of at least two things wrong with that title" ~ Nelson Muntz

I am always out looking for some creature feature horror paperbacks from earlier times as they may not always be written well, they usually hit a soft spot of old school horror. As the front and back of the book suggests "lizard people", I thought that hits a lot of notes for me.

Unfortunately, its a lie.

There are no lizard people. Basically the brain damage that made these dangerous lizard men are more of the psychological variety and not of actual physical transformations. The brain damage basically causes the dormant primordial section of the brain to become active as the rest of the brain was damaged by air deprivation. Basically, a bunch of psycho humans.

What a tease.

The book is just over 200 pages and it take more then half to actually get to the psychos. By then I didn't really care what happened as none of the characters were all that interesting or likable.

[Jordan Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spooktober 2021 Book 11

2.5 Stars

Inhuman isn’t nearly as bad as a lot of negative reviews say.

I’ll agree it’s not exactly a “good” novel…it’s a bit thin on plot and development…but it’s a fast paced and easy read that screams pure 80’s insanity.

I guess I didn’t really hate this novel, but I don’t think I truly “liked” it either.