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Drive In Creature Feature
Get in line. Buy a ticket, and take a terrifying trip to the DRIVE-IN CREATURE FEATURE. Where those monsters from the classic films from the 1950’s to 1980’s shined on the large, iconic sliver screens. Where the struggle between human and monsters came alive for the fate of the world. Monsters who where created from an experiment gone wrong, legendary beasts long asleep, now awaken by melting humans Visitors from afar that aren't as friendly as they appear. Monsters like giant parasitic bugs and ancient sea beasts on the prowl. A mysterious plague turning the homeless population into Moss people. A government sponsored monster who goes toe-to-toe with a monster of Celtic myth. and many more of the creatures we loved growing up are included. Intriguing tales by some of the best names in horror, including New York Times Best selling authors and comic book writers, Clive Barker, Joe R. Lansdale, Jonathan Maberry, Christopher Golden & Mike Mignola, S.G. Browne, Elizabeth Massie, Ronald Kelly, William, F. Nolan, Lisa Morton, Taylor Grant, Joe McKinney, and so many more, with some new surprise authors forthcoming.
- GenresHorror
379 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 27, 2016
3 people are currently reading
46 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 27, 2018
I was real close to giving this three stars but mostly this is a fun read full of reasonably well written (if more funny than scary) stories that capture or play upon the drive-in creature feature ethos. A lot of bad movies are referenced here, like "The Thing With Two Heads," various slashers and kaiju, "Colour from Space," etc.
The quality varies greatly. Clive Barker and Joe Lansdale are at the high end, for example. William F. Nolan's "Jazz Kill" had me scratching my head. Not because it's poorly written but because it doesn't seem like a complete story. There's a Hellboy story, which is sort of odd because, hey, it's not a comic book, but also, Hellboy contributes nothing to it. "Popcorn" seemed campy—which in itself is fine—but also sloppy.
It's a tough line to walk, and I respect the effort, which brings me to my only real grievance here: editing/typesetting. Typesetting fails here include cramming quotes on the same line, like:
Putting quotes from different speakers on the same line can be done effectively but this just seemed to be typesetting errors, sometimes making a story hard to read. Another typesetting fail is in the justification. It's distracting when there are too many spaces inserted to get an even right margin.
These sorts of errors make a book feel cheap or rushed. And this may have been both. The fact that the table of contents pages are off doesn't help.
Then there are the editing errors, which are of three sorts:
1) The general class of typos, which these days include less frequently actual typos and more often auto-correct errors. I see this so much these days, like "Shine one, shine one harvest moon." You and I know that that's supposed to be "Shine on, shine on harvest moon," but if you're just looking for little red squigglies, you won't see them, because "one" is a perfectly cromulent word.
2) Continuity errors. I hit a few of these toward the end of the book and it also contributes to a very sloppy feeling. In Gunnell's "The Benefactor", he writes on one page "Monica has only 3 servants"—that number 3 is in there, too, which most traditional style guides would say you should spell out as "three"—and then on the facing page "she has a kitchen staff of five..."—curiously, the five is spelled out here.
There's a similar error in the previous story, "Static," where the author says one thing and then contradicts himself almost immediately afterwards. Stuff like that makes me wonder "Am I the only guy reading this stuff?"
3) Stylistic issues. This is the toughest one, especially these days. And some authors are particularly prickly about these things. (Some editors are particularly prick-y when they bring them up, too, of course.) I didn't count how many times "buttery" was used in the last few pages of "Popcorn" but it sure seemed like a lot—past the point where it was cute and started feeling self-indulgent. It gets even trickier with a story like "The Benefactor" where the main character's voice doesn't feel "true" somehow.
An interesting one on that front was double-feature, which was sort of like "Ready Player One" for the '70s, in the sense that it was more jam-packed with contemporary references than was natural for any given moment in the '70s—just ridiculously packed. But I felt the ending redeemed it, like it was playing on the deliberate absurdity of the indulgence in contemporary stressors.
Overall, I liked it quite a bit, so I was willing to overlook the editorial flaws, but they definitely set it back to me.
The quality varies greatly. Clive Barker and Joe Lansdale are at the high end, for example. William F. Nolan's "Jazz Kill" had me scratching my head. Not because it's poorly written but because it doesn't seem like a complete story. There's a Hellboy story, which is sort of odd because, hey, it's not a comic book, but also, Hellboy contributes nothing to it. "Popcorn" seemed campy—which in itself is fine—but also sloppy.
It's a tough line to walk, and I respect the effort, which brings me to my only real grievance here: editing/typesetting. Typesetting fails here include cramming quotes on the same line, like:
"We've got to get this man to a hospital." "A hospital! What is it?" "It's a big building with patients, but that's not important right now.
Putting quotes from different speakers on the same line can be done effectively but this just seemed to be typesetting errors, sometimes making a story hard to read. Another typesetting fail is in the justification. It's distracting when there are too many spaces inserted to get an even right margin.
These sorts of errors make a book feel cheap or rushed. And this may have been both. The fact that the table of contents pages are off doesn't help.
Then there are the editing errors, which are of three sorts:
1) The general class of typos, which these days include less frequently actual typos and more often auto-correct errors. I see this so much these days, like "Shine one, shine one harvest moon." You and I know that that's supposed to be "Shine on, shine on harvest moon," but if you're just looking for little red squigglies, you won't see them, because "one" is a perfectly cromulent word.
2) Continuity errors. I hit a few of these toward the end of the book and it also contributes to a very sloppy feeling. In Gunnell's "The Benefactor", he writes on one page "Monica has only 3 servants"—that number 3 is in there, too, which most traditional style guides would say you should spell out as "three"—and then on the facing page "she has a kitchen staff of five..."—curiously, the five is spelled out here.
There's a similar error in the previous story, "Static," where the author says one thing and then contradicts himself almost immediately afterwards. Stuff like that makes me wonder "Am I the only guy reading this stuff?"
3) Stylistic issues. This is the toughest one, especially these days. And some authors are particularly prickly about these things. (Some editors are particularly prick-y when they bring them up, too, of course.) I didn't count how many times "buttery" was used in the last few pages of "Popcorn" but it sure seemed like a lot—past the point where it was cute and started feeling self-indulgent. It gets even trickier with a story like "The Benefactor" where the main character's voice doesn't feel "true" somehow.
An interesting one on that front was double-feature, which was sort of like "Ready Player One" for the '70s, in the sense that it was more jam-packed with contemporary references than was natural for any given moment in the '70s—just ridiculously packed. But I felt the ending redeemed it, like it was playing on the deliberate absurdity of the indulgence in contemporary stressors.
Overall, I liked it quite a bit, so I was willing to overlook the editorial flaws, but they definitely set it back to me.
October 19, 2017
Soda? check, Popcorn? check, Blankets? check. These are some of the things you might need if you are going to your local drive-in theater. If you’re 30 or younger you probably don’t know what a drive-in is. You also don’t know the joys of sitting in your car with a group of friends while you watched giant creatures destroying the city on the big screen. Luckily Eugene Johnson and Charles Day have put together a horror anthology that captures the spirit of the Drive in. Drive In Creature Feature contains 19 stories for anyone who loves a good monster tale.
Since it would take too long to talk about each story I’ll spend some time talking about my favorites. The Tattering and Jack by Clive Barker is about a demon who has the task of driving a man crazy. The job ends up being much harder than the demon thought as the man shows he has no emotions and won’t be driven off the deep end. This story has an awesome twist and goes back and forth from being funny to scary. Another good story is The Forrest That Howls by Michael Paul Gonzalez, this is easily the best Bigfoot story I’ve ever read. It answers the question of why there is no proof that the creatures exist.
Ghoul Friend In A Coma by John Everson is a bizzaro love story between a teenage boy and a ghoul. This is another one that combines humor and horror. I love how even when the teenager sees his life in danger he still thinks with the wrong head, this is exactly like I would expect a teenager going through puberty to act. This story teaches us that a couple having sex then carrying a corpse together to the basement is what true love is all about.
Double Feature by Jason V. Brock actually takes place at a drive-in theatre in the Seventies. The story centers on a father who is taking his two kids to a movie. The father and mother are going through a divorce and the story begins with an argument between the occupants of the car. Their problems become secondary though when the drive-in becomes a battleground between a bunch of giant monsters from outer space. This story was a lot of fun but what I really loved was how the family puts their problems aside and works together when a crisis happens.
I also have to mention Popcorn by Essel Pratt, this is another one that takes place in the drive-in. A group of teenagers is at the theatre looking for a good time, but things get ugly when a giant popcorn monster attacks the movie-goers. I love the idea of a monster made of popcorn and there were some creative death scenes here, you may never want to eat popcorn again.
This book is one fun ride, it’s funny in places and scary in others. It also does an excellent job of capturing a bygone era and bringing back a lot of great memories of watching horror movies at the drive-in. There were a couple of stories here I didn’t care for but all in all this book reminded me why I love horror literature. It has humor, great monsters, and good storytelling, what more can you ask for? This is a must-read book for horror literature fans.
Since it would take too long to talk about each story I’ll spend some time talking about my favorites. The Tattering and Jack by Clive Barker is about a demon who has the task of driving a man crazy. The job ends up being much harder than the demon thought as the man shows he has no emotions and won’t be driven off the deep end. This story has an awesome twist and goes back and forth from being funny to scary. Another good story is The Forrest That Howls by Michael Paul Gonzalez, this is easily the best Bigfoot story I’ve ever read. It answers the question of why there is no proof that the creatures exist.
Ghoul Friend In A Coma by John Everson is a bizzaro love story between a teenage boy and a ghoul. This is another one that combines humor and horror. I love how even when the teenager sees his life in danger he still thinks with the wrong head, this is exactly like I would expect a teenager going through puberty to act. This story teaches us that a couple having sex then carrying a corpse together to the basement is what true love is all about.
Double Feature by Jason V. Brock actually takes place at a drive-in theatre in the Seventies. The story centers on a father who is taking his two kids to a movie. The father and mother are going through a divorce and the story begins with an argument between the occupants of the car. Their problems become secondary though when the drive-in becomes a battleground between a bunch of giant monsters from outer space. This story was a lot of fun but what I really loved was how the family puts their problems aside and works together when a crisis happens.
I also have to mention Popcorn by Essel Pratt, this is another one that takes place in the drive-in. A group of teenagers is at the theatre looking for a good time, but things get ugly when a giant popcorn monster attacks the movie-goers. I love the idea of a monster made of popcorn and there were some creative death scenes here, you may never want to eat popcorn again.
This book is one fun ride, it’s funny in places and scary in others. It also does an excellent job of capturing a bygone era and bringing back a lot of great memories of watching horror movies at the drive-in. There were a couple of stories here I didn’t care for but all in all this book reminded me why I love horror literature. It has humor, great monsters, and good storytelling, what more can you ask for? This is a must-read book for horror literature fans.
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March 9, 2017I particularly enjoyed Joe R. Lansdale's "The Folding Man". Great story, reminds me of the Phantasm films for some reason. A good example of beginning at the high point, and throwing unexpected stuff at the reader.
Also "Things" by Paul Moore. Again, no messing about - straight into the action, then finally taking a breather to switch to a different type of horror.
Also "Things" by Paul Moore. Again, no messing about - straight into the action, then finally taking a breather to switch to a different type of horror.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews