Remake

by Michael Montoure

In his heyday, audiences called Franz Joseph the “Angel of Fear.” Long-retired, half-forgotten, his most famous film is about to be remade, but the Angel of Fear has some ideas of his own ....
Pray for Dawn was Malleus Studios' last great gamble. Their most expensive film, ever, it nearly bankrupted them, it broke their backs financially and they never tried anything that ambitious again, ever. But it worked, it all worked, audiences screamed and laughed and wept. It did better box office than any of their releases ever had, but it simply wasn't enough to justify what they spent, but still — still. We'd done something to be proud of, made a nightmare that would last for generations.

Of course you know all this. I'm sure you do. If you've done any research at all, or just turned on your TV around Halloween, you know it. I just have to be sure.

Pray for Dawn is mine. It's what I was going to be remembered for. My face, flickering twenty-four times a second in the dark, forever. Can you understand that? This short story originally appeared in the collection  “SLICES,”  available now.

15 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 21, 2012

About the author

An unreliable narrator, Michael Montoure is an indie writer of horror and dark urban fantasy. His obsessions include hidden truths, secret dealings, and the changing and fragile nature of our own pasts. He is known as much for his spoken-word performances of his fiction at Seattle coffeehouses and conventions as for the stories themselves. He lives alone with a gray cat by the edge of Echo Lake, Washington.