Scream Play

by Douglas Soesbe

Although it has been scheduled for demolition, the Odeon Theatre refuses to die, and the evil that has seized the old movie house is out to take its gruesome revenge on the unsuspecting townspeople.

Genres: Horror

268 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1990

Reviews

[Jack Tripper · Rating 3 out of 5]

(268 pages)

The old Odeon Theater has had a pretty unsavory history, and it's finally been scheduled for demolition. But it seems it's not ready to be torn down. It's slowly regenerating itself to it's old glory. No longer is it old and run-down, but a palace instead, and it wants to make sure everyone in town is there for the final showing in a few days.

Karen, living in L.A. now, has horrible memories of the Odeon from her high school days (she was viciously assaulted in the men's room), but something is drawing her back to her small hometown, and to the Odeon Theater. She keeps seeing a horrible tentacled creature out of the corner of her eye, everywhere she goes, and she realizes it's from the same movie that freaked her out decades ago at the theater, the same night she was attacked. She reconnects with her old high school friend Paul and they set out to try and solve the mystery.

This was ridiculous B-horror pulp, with no logic to the supernatural threat whatsoever, but it's mostly entertaining, which is all I ask for when choosing to read a book with a cover like the one up top. It's pretty well-written, with an engaging style that kept me turning the pages despite all the silliness and cheese. Some of the decisions the characters made would cause me to rage occasionally, but that comes with the territory with these old midlist "spinner rack" horror novels.

Douglas Soesbe would go on to write the screenplay for what turned out to be Robin Williams' final dramatic role, 2014's Boulevard, but other than the fact that he's got one other (non-genre) novel under his belt, I know nothing else about him. It's too bad he didn't stay in the horror fiction business, as this one was campy fun, and I'd like to have seen what else he had up his sleeve. Oh well.

3.0 Stars.

[Jim Lay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because I had never heard of this author before and the cheezey cover along with the goofy play on words for a title, I didn't have high expectations for this book. But I got a very pleasant surprise when I began to wade into it. The plot wasn't entirely original, but it's a fun theme that has cool potential. In this case, a strange man opens an even stranger movie theater in a small town and plants seeds of madness in the minds of movie goers. Years later, a man is forced to exorcise those demons conjured in the theater and we follow him into a bizarre world where horror movies and the real world begin to collide... This was a really fun, surprisingly creepy book. It's probably hard to find, but worth looking for if you enjoy horror with a strong b-movie flavor and some genuine chills.

[Anthony · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slightly above average horror movie theatre story. A few decent creepy scenes, but not a great ending, some parts were confusing. 2 and a half stars. Less on gore and more on character back stories.

[Michael Ritchie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the kind of book that Stephen King could write in his sleep. Soesbe has ambition but can't make much of his promising story which involves a more-or-less haunted theater and the damaged folks whose lives were affected by some evil doings over the years in that theater, mostly down in the restrooms. The author throws in a lot of elements (rape, abortion, apparent autism, a foiled romance and devil worship) but can't quite sort them out effectively. I didn't find any of the characters interesting. The author throws in some random movie references (Psycho, Laurel & Hardy) and I especially liked that he uses an obscure 50s horror film called Night of the Blood Beast as a major reference point, but even those all prove to be mostly red herrings. This paperback sat in my basement for some 30 years, and it took the pandemic to get me to read it. Ultimately a "meh" read.

[Phil Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would bet Douglas Soesbe had fun writing this book. The movies come alive and kill people. A young man is eaten alive in the men's room by rats, ala Willard and Laurel and Hardy (in their wonderful bumbling ways) kills a man by accidentally setting him on fire. A fun book.

[Emma Minazza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! The twists and storyline were brilliant and a real page turner!

[Anna McIntosh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't hate this but I remember so many nonsense scenes not going anywhere and getting a little infuriated (in good fun) over the female characters.

[Kimmyh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know who wrote the synopsis for this, but, aside from there being a movie theater little else of what was promised in that synopsis was actually in the story.