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VHS: An 80s set nightmare of murder, betrayal, and madness.

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The year is 1986, and twelve year old Iain has been hearing things in the playground...things that make his mouth run dry and his heart race a whole lot faster.

He's been hearing about some very adult video tapes.

Living through the home video boom, he's no stranger to mature movies. He watches horror with his friends, he watches horror alone, and his father hires 'video nasties' any chance he gets. But now, he's heard about the 'other' tapes out there...the ones that fathers hide from their wives and from their children.

Movies where the women are completely naked, and where they do things on film that a boy wouldn't believe.

He's a good kid, but the temptation is too strong to resist.

Now, Iain is searching for treasure in the dark corners of his family home. Places where things might be hidden. Where secrets might be kept. Places forbidden by his father, with stern words and a furrowed brow.

He's going hunting for the key to his manhood, but Iain is about to find out that some secrets are so terrible, so unimaginable, that to learn them is to not only lose one's innocence, but one's very soul.

Don't press play...

58 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 15, 2016

2 people are currently reading
26 people want to read

About the author

Kyle M. Scott

32 books85 followers
Kyle M. Scott is a horror author from Scotland. His works include:
Devil's Day
The Club
Aftertaste
Where the Dead Ones Play
A Better Life
Razorblade Candies
Consumed
&
Dark Island.

He enjoys chatting with his readers, and can regularly be found on social media, despite his somewhat tenuous grasp on technology.

Contact Kyle at:

www.facebook.com/kyle.scott.9026

authorkylemscott@outlook.com

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5 stars
16 (48%)
4 stars
11 (33%)
3 stars
3 (9%)
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
Profile Image for Peter.
4,052 reviews794 followers
September 28, 2021
This was a real razorblade story in the truest sense of the word. Iain, a young lad, finds the VHS collection of his old man. But what he sees is more than regular sex or horror. When his parents come home he hides the cassette away. Will his father find out that he watched one of his movies? What can be seen on the tape? In the middle of the night father and son have a little talk. Does his father know? This is nailbiting psychological horror that keeps you on the edge of the seat. The end is also very surprising. Thumb up, great novella, absolutely disturbing and highly recommended!
Profile Image for Darren Dilnott.
296 reviews3 followers
May 29, 2016
Now that was a fantastic story!
Kyle M. Scott knows how to write shocking horror. And VHS was shocking.
Cleverly written through young eyes, you almost find yourself comfortable with the innocence.
But when the horror comes, it comes hard and brutal.
The characterisation is amazing, and incredibly disconcerting.
This is a book that will leave a mark on your soul.
Profile Image for amanda Pickett.
28 reviews7 followers
May 17, 2016
Fantastic

Wow, what a clever ending, not something I was expecting. Very dark story, but kept me hooked all the way through, now this doesn't mean I agree with what happened, but I just like the way it was told. Well done, another cracker !!
9 reviews2 followers
September 25, 2017
Creepy critter

Another great one by Shaw. Good plot, plenty of little twists and turns although somewhat predictable. Became sicker and more twisted as more was revealed!
Profile Image for Mandy.
90 reviews18 followers
May 18, 2016
This ~ VHS: An Urban Nightmare ~ is the second Razorblade Candy novella from Mr. Scott and YEEES, it is just as gratifyingly mouthwatering as the first!!
This is really proving itself to be quite an enticing and delicious little series of assorted goodies he's started dishing up for all us hungry heathens.
I hope he keeps turning 'em out for a long time to come.
The 1st of every month would be nice....

Set in 1986, the time of the VHS and VCR craze. I love anything set in the 80's, brings back a lot of nostalgia...maybe not quite so much when it came to this particular subject matter but ahhhhh VHS tapes. Such memories there.
Be kind, rewind.

Iain has a wonderful home life, only child, his parents are playful and nurturing. His dad is his hero and his mom dotes on him. He is 12 years old and on the cusp. Yep, that one...ohhhh every young man will go through it (as a mom, I'll have to suffer through it - twice), that moment when they realize they can do more than just pee with the damn thing!!
Hormones can very easily turn them pubescent boys into raging little lunatics with a new toy...but not our Iain.
Our Iain is a really sweet, well mannered lad and while he has felt the pull of his pants lately and does have many curiosities and new found interests....he's still just a shy boy at heart.
Not a crass bone in his body ~ pardon the pun...
His friend Michael is the school yard tween authority on such taboo topics and after listening to another one of his soap box speeches, Iain decides to finally seek out his dad's VHS porno stash, eager to discover a whole new world within the tapes, and himself.
ALL dads have one, his friend assures him of that.
Just gotta root around a bit, and root about he does.
Well, he finally finds the rather LARGE booty and pops a random video in; hands shaking, nerves shot, and tummy doing the tilt of whirl...
then....aaaand then ~ The Kyle Style takes full effect, messing with your senses while thumb twiddling your morals.
​I find with these shorts -so far- that it is best to only give a proper review up to THAT certain point.
​It would be doing the author a great disservice to go any farther, his brilliance deserves that courtesy.
It gets dark, it's gets disturbing, it's not all as it seems ~ enough said.

I vow to read and review every Candy offered (sorry, no choice given there...that's not MY style..) and I have a huge feeling that all said reviews will be partial in plot outlines.

This was a really short read, quite a bit shorter than the first Candies, at just 55 pages. I read it in one quick couch setting while the kids were watching Garfield....don't judge, because that put one cheesy ass grin on my face.

"Innocence was as easily severed from the soul of a child, as tender meat from a bone."
Those are the kinds of poetic lines and deep thoughts that fill the pages of EVERY Kyle M. Scott story.
He is truly a wordsmith, deep thinker, as if...Touched by a Hemingway.

Very different tone, feel, and delivery from his first Candy ~ Love Lies Dead.
And that's what you always get with Kyle, lots of diversity with a broad range of rich and delish depravities served piping hot.

Quite a few of his loyal fans do often wonder WTF is wrong with this guy ~ I just can't wait to see how much farther he can push it.
Profile Image for Zakk Madness.
273 reviews23 followers
June 18, 2016
I believe Mr. Scott has found a perfect common ground between the outrageous, gratuitous splatterfests & the man-is-the-real-monster yarns. This story hits like an ice pick. It's visceral, rattling, unflinching and (guiltily) highly entertaining.

A week after reading I still have the image of a particularly ugly, brutal scene stuck in my head. It has me shaken which doesn't happen often enough, thank you for that Kyle. I think.

The pop at the end is a little telegraphed, for those who like to guess the twist rather than let the story take you where it wants (I fall into the later category) you probably know where this is going. It doesn't lessen the punch at all. Also I didn't find the emotional investment quite as strong here, which may be a blessing. Never the less VHS is a boot stomp to the head you may not recover from.

VHS: An Urban Nightmare is not going to be for everyone. Trigger warnings abound. Heed the content warning, do a little soul searching before you dive in. Because you can't un-see this.

Zakk is a big dumb animal!
https://www.facebook.com/ExLibrisTheE...
Profile Image for Cheryl.
32 reviews2 followers
September 20, 2016
Not quite the ending I expected

This poor child. If the story wasn't so disturbing it'd be a good lesson on not giving in to peer pressure and reinforce the cliche "curiosity killed the cat." My rating is based more on the fact that I didn't particularly care for the story than any failing on the author's part (although there were a few errors).
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews

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