The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City

by Jason Blum (Editor)

A stunning collection of original, terrifying fiction from a unique cast of master storytellers. Available in deluxe hardcover edition, paperback, and eBook.
 
Jason Blum invited an impressive group of authors, filmmakers, and screenwriters to envision a city of their choosing . . . and to let their demons run wild.
     Taken together, the provocative stories in The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City create the unforgettable cityscape of a new world of horror. Disturbing, suspenseful, devious, and entertaining, each tale showcases an innovative voice featured in a definitive collection that could only come from Jason Blum.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Audiobook, Fantasy, Adult

370 pages, Hardcover

First published July 7, 2015

Reviews

[Vanessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

What is the trickiest genre to find something you like in? Horror. What is the biggest gamble you can take on a shiny bookstore purchase? A short story anthology.

Who rolled the dice on both counts and lost? THIS GUY!

Blumhouse, in case the name doesn't ring a bell, is a horror film producer and they've made movies over the last decade or so that you've at least heard of and probably seen: Paranormal Activity, Get Out, the new Halloween. Also, weirdly, the excellent HBO production of The Normal Heart, Larry Kramer's play about the AIDS epidemic in New York City in the early 80's, which you could obviously say is a horror story of a different, tragic sort.

So, Blumhouse knows horror. And Jason Blum has a lot of connections with writers and actors who write, so this anthology is mostly filled with people of that sort rather than the usual writer suspects. I will say the first story, "Hellhole", by Christopher Denham, is EXCELLENT. It's about a hipster couple who buy the fixer-upper they can afford in Brooklyn only to find it comes with a creepy doll. And maybe a portal to Hell. And the next story by Eli Roth, "Valdivia", is really well-written because I stayed immersed in the story when nothing much happened until the last two pages.

But with each story, the quality slipped a little bit more. "Novel Fifteen" by Steve Faber was long and tedious and not really a horror story--I get that there are different types of horror, but if I have to read a wordsplosion like that I expect to get at least a jump scare in return and not some meandering tale about an entitled asshole with writer's block. "The Darkish Man" by Nissar Modi, about a serial killer who weaponizes his victim's fear of looking racist, had a somewhat original hook but it was vile. I've read enough first person killer POV's to last me a lifetime. Bring something truly original or thought-provoking to make the icky experience worthwhile or don't bother.

The biggest name contributor to this book besides Roth is Ethan Hawke, who contributed the short tale "1987". It was....decent.

I made it about halfway through, got to the point where I'd read too many disappointing things in a row, and my hands just sort of refused to open the book again. I really can't make myself keep going to the point where I don't even see the use in keeping this around to re-tackle later. It's going, unfinished, into the donation pile. DAMN IT!

[Frank Errington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review copy

The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City, edited by Jason Blum, is a stunning anthology from some of the biggest names in horror film and literature.

First a bit about the editor. Jason Blum has worked as an executive producer for Bob and Harvey Weinstein, in 2000, he founded Blumhouse Productions, which specializes in micro-budget movies. For example, Paranormal Activity which was produced for $15,000 and has earned nearly $200 million. Blum also produced Insidious, Sinister, The Purge, and the soon to be released, The Gallows. I'd say he knows a thing or two about horror.

For The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City, Blum has gathered some of the biggest names in modern horror films and literature and given them two guidelines--let the story take place in a city and enjoy no other creative constraints whatsoever. The result is an impressive volume of some of the best horror I've read this year.

The collection gets off to a helluva start with "Hellhole" by writer/director Christopher Denham. Sam and Martha Rathbone purchase a fixer-upper in Crown Heights, New York and move in with their six-year-old son, Max.

"Behind a wall of cobwebs and dusty canned goods, Max found a doll about his size. Its body made of sticks tied together with twine and its head was a burlap bag filled with twigs. It didn't have hair and it didn't have clothes. Nothing cute about it. Which was fine by Max. He hated cute toy."

What follows is a beautifully written short with more horror than many full-length novels.

Another story worth mentioning is "Golden Hour" by screenwriter Jeremy Slater hose credits include The Lazarus Effect and the reboot of The Fantastic Four. This one left me wondering if the protagonist was really a monster hunter or just a paranoid schizophrenic, either way there's some extreme monster stuff here.

The collection closes just as strong as it begins with "Procedure" from screenwriter/director/producer James DeMonaco, best known for his work on The Purge movies. NYC has a new serial killer on the loose.

"I refocus on the victim's chest, which bears the same foot-long crudely stitched incision as the four others who were on this table recently. Infected, swollen, oozing multicolored pus and bile. It's as if JD went in for a heart bypass at the world's worst hospital, with the world's most incompetent doc, had his skin scalpeled with a rusty steak knife, his breastbone rent asunder with a chain saw, and was then stitched back up by handicapped kids using Pixy Stix and a ball of yarn."

The truth of what is happening in this story went far beyond my wildest expectations.

The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City is 384 pages filled with seventeen deliciously dark tales. Published by Doubleday, it's available now in a wide variety of formats from online retailers and brick and mortar book sellers.

My highest recommendation.

[Crowinator · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have I really had this since the summer? Man, I'm so behind on Netgalley/Edelweiss titles.

Read so far:

"Hellhole" by Christopher Denham. 2.5 stars.

"Valdivia" by Eli Roth. 2 stars.

"Golden Hour" by Jeremy Slater, 3 stars.

"A Clean White Room" by Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill. 4 stars. This was the first one I thought was strong all the way through to the end.

"The Leap" by Dana Stevens. 4 stars. This is my favorite one so far. Loved it. Excellently ominous ending. But who is Dana Stevens?

At this point, I went and got the hardcover from the library. I've found I dislike reading short stories on the Kindle. I want to know how many pages each story is before I start it, and I want to skip around.

"The Darkish Man" by Nissar Modi. Competently written, not doing anything interesting though. 2 stars.

"1987" by Ethan Hawke. What the hell was this? 1 star.

"Donations" by William Joselyn. 2 stars.

"The Old Jail" by Sarah Langan. Sarah Langan's writing always creeps me out and this is no exception. Very Lovecraftian. 4 stars.

"Meat Maker" by Mark Neveldine. Pointless and poorly written. 1 star.

"Novel Fifteen" by Steve Faber. A chilling, kind of sad, disorienting look at failing your potential. 4 stars.

"Geist" by Les Bohem. Middling ghost story: not bad, but doesn't stand out. 3 stars.

"Gentholme" by Simon Kurt Unsworth. I think I missed something at the end, and the strange town could have had more development with the creepy vibe. 3 stars.

[Doubleday Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a devout fan of horror movies, I was thrilled to explore new fiction from some of the best writers in the business. Combining the talents of several notable authors, screenwriters, and filmmakers, including Ethan Hawke, Eli Roth and many others, Jason Blum has shared with us a new work that has NO limits when it comes to scaring. Unlike the many classic horror stories centered on a desolate cabin deep in the woods, these stories take place amidst the backdrop of major cities. This book brings horror to an exciting new place in the way it shows evil can be lurking virtually anywhere- even as close as just down the street! Fans of Stephen King, as well as anyone who just appreciates thrilling storytelling, will love this gripping new addition to the world of all things frightening.
- Steve E., Doubleday Editorial Intern

[Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City - edited by Jason Blum is an anthology of horror and suspense short stories from a collection of writers, directors and actors. The collection has one central theme, that is the setting be in a city. What follows is grouping of macabre and visceral tales of demon possession, monsters and the very dark side of humanity.

What is great about an anthology is the same thing that too often will doom it when you have contributions from a variety of authors. Add to it that most of storytellers are not known for writing and The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares can sometimes suffer from the inconsistency of the group of voices. But overall I found it enjoyable and in fact, disturbing. Original in a genre that very often has found too little left untapped.

Jason Blum has made his name as a film producer. He turns low budget horror movies into big earners. Movies such as Paranormal Activity, Insidious and Sinister are part of his resume. So his position as editor in this dark collage is well earned.

There have been several recent releases of horror short stories from notable authors that don't have the kick these stories do. It reminded me of the early Clive Barker Books of Blood. Disturbing on a very visceral level.

A pretty good read.

[Ripley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: Nightmare City is a collection of short stories put together by Jason Blum owner of Blumhouse Films and producer of many horror films. Much like the movies he produces, these stories are either really good or really bad. Contributers include the likes of Eli Roth and Ethan Hawke.

Roth's contribution about a famous Nazi Refuge commune in South America is actually really good although very reminiscent of films like Hostel. It's a different kind of horror and I was surprised by it.

A Clean White Room was written by Dr Strange writer C Robert Cargill and Dr Strange director Scott Derrickson. This one is about a man tasked with keeping demons on lockdown in an apartment complex. Excellent story.

The Leap was written by film critic Dana Stevens and is the story of a medium who wants to help an autistic boy he meets at a part. This one is more bizarre than horror but has a fantastic ending. Reading it made me feel good and it's my favorite in the collection.

Novel Fifteen is about a writer with too many vices and a serious case of writer's block. Written by comedy screenwriter Steve Faber, this story is really disturbing. I stopped reading for the rest of the night after this one because it haunted me a bit.

The final story in the book is called The Procedure and was written by Purge and Purge Anarchy Writer/Director James DeManaco. This story is about a homicide detective that gets in too deep. Boy is this story depraved. I kind of loved it but was kind of disgusted at the same time. It's unlike anything I've ever read and is a surprisingly fresh idea.

There's at least 10 other stories, some utter garbage, some nonsensical, and some amazing. I definitely recommend this one.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received a digital ARC from the publisher.

I'm not sure if this was a collection of "horror" stories as much as it is a collection of "disturbing imagery." You've got mother's killing their daughters. Perfectly normal guys deciding that hey... I'm going to become a serial killer today. Exploration of new sexual orifices. Your usual assortment of things from beyond infecting suburban households. And by "infecting," I mean infecting. You know that feeling when you get when you wake up in the morning, step off of your bed, and the first foot to touch the floor lands in a furball deposited in the night by your roommate's cat? That ewwww! How did that get there? Dammit! It'll never come clean kinda feeling? Yeah. This is like that. But not because it's gross. But because, while you can clean your foot, you can't do the same thing to your brain. Definately give it a go if you like your anthologies a little ewww....

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

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).

[Diana Iozzia · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares”
Presented by Jason Blum
A Collection of Short Stories
Review written by Diana Iozzia

Where on Earth to begin? In shopping in the book section of the ever-brilliant Dollar Tree, I found “The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares”. I have been a fan of films created and produced by the Blumhouse production company in the past. My favorites include: “Sinister”, “Paranormal Activity”, and my favorite horror film to date, “Get Out”. I opened up this book and found that the book is a collection of short stories written by Jason Blum’s friends and colleagues, including a contest winner to have a place in the book. Jason Blum had stipulated to each writer that the story they contributed did not need to be of a certain plot, horror, character choice, or fear level. The main stipulation was that each story should take place in a city. Whether that be a fictional or a non-fictional city. By the way, this is not a spoiler free review. But I’m not going to give toooooo much detail in case you do read the book after you read my review.
To begin, I cannot give a flat answer, “yes, this book was amazing” or “this book was terrible”. Short story collections are often difficult to gauge, because they are often written by various authors. I would say for this, I counted how many stories I loved, how many I liked, and how many I wanted to burn. I am a fan of horror fiction, but not every horror plot intrigues me. I am not afraid of much, aside from falling from literally any height, drowning, dark laundromats, and food that might be saucy or squirt out at you when you try to bite it. So, when I begin reading horror, I look for scary stories that would be great at a campfire, or when you’re trying to creep out your significant other before bed time. I did not expect to hide under the covers or place white sheets over my mirrors.
“Hellhole” followed a man who is flipping a rotten and destroyed money pit of a home in Brooklyn. I didn’t enjoy the plot or the ending, but the writing style was intriguing.
“Valdivia” was one of my favorite stories, and after reading this book about a month ago, this story is certainly the most memorable. I was intrigued after I read that the author was Eli Roth, a horror favorite and common colleague of Jason Blum. Our main character visits a strange city in Chile, in which he investigates to find about the rumored Nazi community that once existed there. **

“Golden Hour” follows two men hunting down predatory monsters in Hollywood. I disliked this story greatly.
“A Clean White Room” follows a strange landlord who kills tenants for the superintendent. This was absolutely the worst, most boring, and stupidest story in the collection. I know my opinion is subjective, but I hate it and that’s that.
“The Leap” follows a really strange psychic who has the ability to possess others. This was a story I didn’t expect to like, but I thoroughly enjoyed it in the end. **
“Novel Fifteen” follows a pompous mystery writer. He’s sweaty and an alcoholic. He’s bored. He’s possibly going to have a mental breakdown. I think this story is more, “you’re driving yourself insane” scary than “ooh, there’s a boogeyman” scary.
“The Darkish Man” follows a creepy stalker who kills people mysteriously in bars. Umm, nah. Skip this one.
“1987” was a strange story about homophobia and gay bashing.
“Geist” creeped me out pretty badly before bed. This follows an urban legend in Munich, in which a man who finds out his lover is a ghost. **
“Gentholme” was fascinating and a really creative way to tell a story in which a couple accidentally move into a ghost town, with its previous occupants still around... ***
“Donations” was the short story winner that was entered into this collection. I thought this was completely passable. A city in which people, their body parts, and their possessions are taken by some magical omnipotent, over-being for donations to the city. This sounds like an episode of “The Twilight Zone”, but we’re missing the twist ending, like “Oh, they’re all in a doll house. Oh, they’re experiments made by Sid from ‘Toy Story’”.
“The Old Jail” follows a man’s descent into insanity. It was really confusing, but I didn’t mind it too much. The narrative is strange, because it’s from the perspective of the man, so the narrative becomes more frenzied as the story progresses.
“The Words” is about a child psychologist who is struggling to have her young five-year-old trauma patient recover from his tragedy and his mutism.
“Dreamland” follows a sleep study gone wrong. I can imagine this on screen, whether it be a film or a Black Mirror episode. Pretty good, but also bizarre on many different levels.
“Meat Maker” was a strange, weird cop chase.
“Eyes” was completely unmemorable. Even skimming it for a second time just to write up a little bit about it for the review, I remember absolutely nothing from this. It seems like our main narrator is a man who is paranoid a homeless man is following him.
“Procedure” follows a police investigator who is trying to solve the crime of a rape and attack of a woman. She shows him a secret group of strange surgeons who have found an erogenous zone inside the body, only accessible by an invasive, dark room procedure.
Overall, my favorite stories were “Geist”, “Gentholme”, and “The Leap”. I think these stories were brilliant, while some of the other stories were lackluster. I would suggest this if you have a wide taste in horror, I think this just proved I’m more of a “ghost story” horror fan.

[Alex Dolan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every October, I'm driven to find a spooky book that I can curl up with, until Halloween is over and I start thinking about turkey. This is that book. Working around the concept of horror set in a city, The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares it a brilliant selection of horror stories from novelists, screenwriters and actors. How does Eli Roth sound in prose? Find out (quite good). The writing is intelligent and well crafted, and not only was I entertained, but I discovered a few new writers that I want to continue reading (e.g., Simon Kurt Unsworth, author of The Devil's Detective).

[Becca]

Buddy read with Brad! ♥

Okay, I’ve been reading this book for five months & I’m finally DNF’ing it because I’m tired of seeing it on my currently reading. I had high hopes because yay! Blumhouse, but unfortunately, I just couldn’t get into any of the stories.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads . I enjoyed reading this book .I will be looking for more books from the author in the future , Great book !!

[Tania · Rating 1 out of 5]

These weren't scary stories. Some were weird; most were just a disgusting jumble of nonsense that made absolutely no sense

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Kari · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an anthology of horror stories written by screenwriters and actors from Hollywood. They were given a prompt and total creative freedom in their stories. I read all of them and honestly, I can't say this was a great set of stories. None of them were particular scary. None of them really stood out, except maybe the second one, Valdivia. That was one kind of disturbing. There were a few that made no sense to me and were more like a stream of consciousness or a movie pitch idea. Even Ethan Hawkes story wasn't that great.

[Shaun Thomasson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved quite a few of the stories in this collection. And I liked several more besides. Only a couple of them did not do it for me. (The first story being a big one because it feels a trite mechanism to use in a horror story.)

My favorite far and away was “A Clean White Room”. It just hit a lot of my favorite themes and had really good pacing.

“Geist” is a close second because there’s something so captivating about the idea of the Foehn wind and what it might carry.

[Devan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good some bad

[Casey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Do you enjoy ghost, demon, and gore-lit? If yes, then you'll enjoy this collection of stories ranging from psychological horror to down and dirty violent bloodletting. I feel this anthology does a nice job at covering the various bases in this subgenre, and for those of you interested in such reading material, I think you'll enjoy the reading experience.

Table of Contents:
"Hellhole" by Christopher Denham
"Valdivia" by Eli Roth
"Golden Hour" by Jeremy Slater
"A Clean White Room" by Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill
"The Leap" by Dana Stevens
"Novel Fifteen" by Steve Faber
"The Darkish Man" by Nissar Modi
"1987" by Ethan Hawke…“Donations” by William Joselyn
"Geist" by Les Bohem
"Gentholme" by Simon Kurt Unsworth
"Donations" by William Joselyn
"The Old Jail" by Sarah Langan
"The Words" by Scott Stewart
"Dreamland" by Michael Olson
"Meat Maker" by Mark Neveldine
"Eyes" by George Gallo
"Procedure" by James DeMonaco

I'm not averse to reading stories that are violent or haunted by ghosts, but I need good writing. Some of these tales are fine examples of solid craft and storytelling. "A Clean White Room" by Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill was a delight in the forward lean immediacy of the story. "Gentholme" by Simon Kurt Unsworth is an excellent story rendered in a pleasing unfolding of character exploration, and while the ending is a little flat, it was a pleasure to read.

Regarding recommendations? Yes, if you are a fan of these types of stories. No, if you are only an occasional horror reader. This is not a good collection to start on. It is a great collection if you're looking to add to your already substantial horror reading catalog.

Audiobook:
Several different narrators collaborate on this audiobook. I couldn't find a list of the readers, but I think all deliver an outstanding reading. I was impressed with the audio quality.

[Bookaholic · Rating 1 out of 5]

This one is an appallingly bad anthology. Except one, all stories are about men—narrated by men, centered around them. Women serve as cliched props in the stories—you know, to be sexualized, raped and murdered, which they are in almost every other story.

Out of 17 stories in the collection only 2 are written by women.

Out of 17, I only recommend 2 stories, which were actually great: “The Leap” by Dana Stevens and “Geist” by Les Bohem. The rest were atrociously boring, except the first one which started great but turned into a ridiculous eye-roll. I skipped through most of these, for the now obvious reasons.

[Alanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am having a difficult time deciding how I feel about this book. I decided to read this after reading “Haunting Of Hillhouse” which is pure horror written in the most beautiful way. Blumhouse is the first I have read of its kind, so I had a difficult time getting used to the short story feel of it. There are some particular stories in this book that I absolutely loved and would 100% recommend, others were so-so, and others were simply terrible and not worth my time. I would not stay any of these stories are particularly terrifying. Let’s get into it:

Hellhole: 0/5 - Being the first story in the book, I expected MUCH more. I understand the entire point of this book is to let the author’s mind run wild and for them to get down on paper what truly scares them. This story was all over the place and simply not enjoyable for me. I am not sure what about this story made me hate it so much; I soldiered through this one.

Valdivia: 2/5 - Enjoyed this story much more, it was easier to get through and I found the writing style to be better... the end was mildly haunting but definitely not scary.

Golden Hour: 2.5/5 - Also enjoyed this story, scarier than Valdivia but still not terrifying. The end leaves you slightly confused, as a few of these short stories do, but in a good way.

A Clean White Room: 3.5/5 - This was the first story I thoroughly enjoyed. One of the few stories I would actually recommend to somebody who only wanted to read a few out of this book. Still not terrifying, although much much better than the last few.

The Leap: 3/5 - Good story, good ending. I enjoyed this one only slightly less than a clean white room.

Novel Fifteen: 1/5 - OK plot but quite boring. Not what I would expect out of a “book of nightmares” not scary in the slightest.

The Darkish Man: 3/5 - There was something I really liked about this one, short and to the point. On the scarier side.

1987: 3/5 - Something about this one as well that was enjoyable since it was short and to the point. Creepy.

Geist: 3/5 - Good story, slightly predictable. Not the scariest.

Gentholme: 4/5 - I enjoyed this one very much, the end left me wondering if I had missed something. Ominous and spooky and thoroughly enjoyable.

Donations: 2/5 - Ok, not awful but just ok.

The Old Jail: 5/5 - This one is quite long but I loved it. It was very nicely done and in my opinion the scariest in the book.

The Words: 2/5 - OK

Dreamland: 5/5 - Also one of my favorites. I do not want to give anything away, but this is one of the few stories that made the book worth the time.

Meatmaker: 0/5 - What in the world did I just read? In the worst way possible????? Really bad.

Eyes: 1/5 - Eh. Very mediocre.

Procedure: 5/5 - Great story one of the only others worth reading! Really loved this one.

[Maddie · Rating 2 out of 5]

So the premise is: Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions invites a bunch of his horror-film adjacent friends and colleagues to each write a horror story. The only constraint is that each story must be set in a city; there are no other creative constraints.

You'd think that each person, having been in the business of horror films and stories within the genre, would know how to write a horror story. I mean, some of these authors in here are screenwriters and playwrights. But alas, this is not so.

There are a handful of good stories in here. Eli Roth's "Valdivia" for one, and Ethan Hawke's (yeah, that one) "1987" are both standouts. I also really enjoyed "Golden Hour" by Jeremy Slater -- one of the stories that had a lot of ambiguities and unanswered questions, but was still a good story by the end.

The rest, unfortunately, suffer from a number of maladies: Unrealistic body horror, stilted dialogue and even just blatant rip offs of other scary stories ("A Clean White Room" uses many concepts that made "House of Leaves" so good, but fails to use them effectively).

I don't want to rag on this book too much, especially since it's one that I just plucked off the shelf of my local library based on the name recognition alone -- so what was I expecting, exactly?

Overall: This book just made me very grateful for Stephen King and his mastery of the genre. This book is kind of proof that not everyone can do what he does.

[Archana · Rating 2 out of 5]

To pick up a book specifically because one wants to read something scary and horror, knowing full well that horror isn't an easy genre to click right, and a short story collection can usually go wrong in many ways, was a brave thing for me to do. But I do hoped that there would be at least a few stories that would give me the chills and justify the read. Sadly, it didn't, and the only reason I did finish the book is to not have the first book I picked this year as unfinished. I really wanted Blumhouse to do what Blumhouse does with horror!

I understand that there are all kinds of horror and we may not necessarily like all the sub-genres. And in that case, to me this felt like a book full of only such sub-genres of horror as the ones I don't like. And this is to say, I usually love supernatural horror, entities and ghosts, psychological horror, thrillers and many more.

The gore, the creature features, the random police chase that went on for 20+ pages, and many others just left me getting weary more than anything else.

[Snood · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection is all over the place in terms of quality, especially towards the end.

After some good but not spectacular stories, we’re hit with Dreamland, an incredibly interesting and creepy story that was my favorite in the whole book.

This is immediately followed up by Meat Maker, an incomprehensible slog of a story about a cop running people over while vaguely referring to something he’s trying to remember. The nonstop senseless slaughter of characters given two-sentence introductions before being reduced to gore sails over the realm of the distasteful or shocking and lands squarely in tedious and annoying. There’s no climactic reveal of what any of it means, it just ends with the protagonist being hit by a train and derailing it, killing even more people as if the reader even cares at that point.

Overall, a pretty good collection of horror stories. I’d recommend checking it out. Skip out on Meat Maker though.

[Beth Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very solid, beautifully produced anthology of horror fiction. The writing and individual stories were far better than I anticipated. I got this from the Dollar Tree and it may have been the best dollar I ever spent on entertainment.

Individual stories and ratings as follows:

Christopher Denham - Hellhole 3.5
Eli Roth - Valdivia5
Jeremy Slater - Golden Hour 5
Scott Derrickson & Robert C. Cargill - A Clean White Room 5
Dana Stevens - The Leap 5
Steve Faber - Novel Fifteen 5
Nissar Modi - The Darkish Man 3.5
Ethan Hawke - 1987 5
Les Bohem - Geist 4
Simon Kurt Unsworth - Gentholme 5
William Joselyn - Donations 4
Sarah Langan - The Old Jail5
Scott Stewart - The Words 3
Michael Olson - Dreamland 5
Mark Neveldine - Meat Maker 1
George Gallo - Eyes 5
James DeMonaco - Procedure 5

[Joshua]

This was a poorly executed horror anthology that highlights the skill that is required to write good short horror. There were definitely some standout good stories in here but there are a number written by folks need to work on their short horror writing a lot more to be worthy of being anthologized. I read a good deal of horror anthologies so I know that I am not going to be wowed by every story in an anthology but, damn, this book just made me angry with how haphazardly good quality work was thrown in with utter garbage. Maybe after I calm down a bit, I’ll highlight the ones that I thought were worthy of acclaim but, for now, I’m just glad to be done with this book.

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, I didn’t finish it. The first story was awful, predictable, unoriginal, and just plain ridiculously unrealistic and written. The second story (which was by Eli Roth) was just like his films. An idea he thinks is original, but one with potential still, and then just way under-explained and pretentious. The third story begins with a stolen idea, and then drifts into other ideas that seem way too familiar....and then just goes all over the place as if it’s a novel and not a short story.

At this point, I had to put the book down.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to give this a 3 star rating because I had such high hopes for it. The first story starts off really creepy, and then after that it kind of goes downhill. I did enjoy a few in between and the 3 at the end, but I still found myself in most cases saying “this is not horror.” I felt that the stories I really enjoyed were to short, and the bad ones lasted forever! The last couple of stories are what redeemed this book from a 2 star rating! Overall, it was okay.

[Ashton Ahart · Rating 2 out of 5]

The main problem I find with most short story collections is that there will be 25% of really good stories and then the rest just leave a disappointed feeling after reading it. Unfortunately that was the case with this book and although there were about 3 short stories that I really loved and made me actually reflect on them afterwards, most stories in this collection are just mindless tales that leave a dissatisfying feeling after reading.

[Sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5. I rarely finish or enjoy anthologies but when I saw this was curated by Jason Blum I had to pick it up. There are some absolute gems in this anthology: Golden Hour, A Clean White Room and The Leap are all phenomenal. Unfortunately the rest really stands sub-par for my taste. 14/17 were ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ stories. Recommended for the 3 i listed but otherwise not my jam.

[Stacie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't believe I scored this at the dollar store, because this book is fantastic! If you are a horror fan (or a fan of CREEPY STUFF) this is the book for you. I love short story anthologies anyway, but this is a supremely good one. Each story is unique and well written. Probably not the best to read before bed (but I enjoy playing with fire).