On the night before Halloween, a Satanic mass is held deep in the woods outside a small American town. Followers of the dark faith are assigned a mission in a message delivered by the devil himself. On Halloween, they must deliver a bounty of pure souls to their dark master. By killing virgins. As Halloween begins, so does the all-day horror movie marathon hosted by Count Victor von Gravemore on Channel 39. Many will be watching as real horror invades their lives and screams ring out all over town.
Bryan Smith is the Splatterpunk Award-winning author of more than forty horror and crime books, including 68 Kill, the cult classic Depraved and its sequels, as well as The Killing Kind, Slowly We Rot, The Freakshow, and many more. Bestselling horror author Brian Keene called Slowly We Rot, "The best zombie novel I've ever read."
68 Kill was adapted into a motion picture directed by Trent Haaga and starring Matthew Gray Gubler of the long-running CBS series Criminal Minds. 68 Kill won the Midnighters Award at the SXSW film festival in 2017 and was released to wide acclaim, including positive reviews in The New York Times and Bloody Disgusting.
Bryan also co-scripted an original Harley Quinn story for the House of Horrors anthology from DC Comics. He has worked with renowned horror publishers in both the mass market and small press spheres, including Leisure Books, Samhain Publishing, Grindhouse Press, Death’s Head Press, and more. His works are available wherever books are sold, with select titles also available in German and Italian.
Micah is under his girlfriend's spell (Sindie) who's a satanist. After attending a meeting of satanists in the woods (everything you can think of from ritual killing of a virgin to wild screwing scenes... especially liked the reference to the algebra teacher) the high priestess (has a killer body with big breasts) calls for a killing spree. All virgins in Littleburg (smalltown anywhere USA) must be killed for Satan. Will any virgin (male or female) survive? The author uses every cliche imaginable but comes up with an entertaining, gory read. I especially liked the passage on Morrie the elderly horror host in the middle of his Halloween horror marathon meeting up with some heroes from the past. Not to be taken too serious, at parts almost a parody, at parts criticism on a sanctimonious population. Recommended, not only to virgin readers (LOL).
3.5 stars. Bryan Smith writes some really fun horror stories. The situations, the dialogue, the characters, they're all just that. Fun. This, being my second outing with him, was a fairly pleasant one. In a nutshell, we follow Seth as he navigates a group of satanists killing all the virgins in his town. The chapters fell into a pattern of going between Micah, then Seth, and then a random victim. I didn't dislike that strategy, but the amount of chapters dedicated to the victims could have been reduced, making for further room to develop our main characters, especially Seth, a bit more. But there is lots of violence and sex, above all else. I even cracked up when Seth was injured, he still had the ability to displace the pain and have sex. I won't spoil anything, but from the sound of the situation with the particular person he was with, I don't think it would have been a problem for any male with a pulse. The satanists had their moments, but were just a murderous cult trying to bring about the apocalypse. Because that's...well...what they all seem to want to do. Makes sense, right? The ending was good, and adequately continued some of the plot points beyond where this story ended. All in all, this was enjoyable, and I look forward to seeing more of Bryan Smith's offerings.
During her time away from Littleburg, her murderous compulsions had gone away, but the old craving for blood came back within days of her return. There was just something about this place. Something that made her feel … evil.
A satanic mass is held deep in the woods outside a small American town on the night before Halloween. Satan's faithful followers are given a mission given to them by the devil himself. On Halloween, they must deliver a tally of fresh pure souls to their evil master by hunting and killing virgins. Meanwhile, Count Victor von Gravemore narrates a classic horror movie marathon on Channel 39, unaware of the very real horrors terrorizing the innocent all over town.
This was crazy old-school slasher horror at its finest. It wasn't very deep and it didn't try to be. It was like an extreme black metal music video come to life. Lots of gore, human sacrifice, cannibalism, ritualistic orgies, devil worship, bloody slaughter and edginess for the sake of edginess. Some of the death scenes and horror scenes were actually really creative and did a good job subverting expectations. One involving a friendly neighborhood grandpa and another involving a lifelong horror fan being terrorized by cultists wearing masks of his idols such as Vincent Price, Christopher Lee and Maila Nurmi.
Another thing that gets a bonus from me was the fact that the main female protagonist/antagonist wore a Cradle of Filth shirt throughout the whole book. Dusk and Her Embrace and Cruelty and the Beast are two of my favorite metal albums of all time and they inspired me as an artist myself over the years. So I couldn't help but grin from the constant references to the band. Again, this whole book essentially felt like a crazy black metal music video come to life and I loved it. Mindless shock can be a lot of fun when there's enough creativity and soul behind it.
YES! What a bloody ride. Kill For Satan is the first thing I have read by Bryan Smith and its definitely one of the few books in this sub-genre of horror that I have read, as well. I really enjoyed the pace of this story and how we got to experience it from the POV that we did - and how that POV went through a roller coaster of emotions, assumptions, and realizations. This book made me cringe at the bloody carnage and terror at times and I am absolutely looking forward to more from Bryan Smith!
Kill for Satan! might be one of the most aptly named horror books I've read recently, its title perfectly capturing the breadth and depth of this particular story in three short, simple words. Bryan Smith's latest is dense with blood and mayhem, even if the plot and characters are paper thin, and its hundred or so pages move along pretty damn swiftly.
Plot-wise, Kill for Satan! is every bit as simple as its title indicates. Littleburg's Satanic coven is commanded by their Dark Lord to slaughter the tiny town's virgins on Halloween. That's it! This is an easy peasy, one and done kind of read. What you see is exactly what you get, and you best damn not ask for anything more, cause you ain't getting it!
Over the course of fourteen chapters (plus an epilogue!), Smith sends a spate of Satan worshipers door-to-door to carry out their kill spree. The story, what little of it there is, is primarily focused on Sindie and Micah, a pair of black-clad, machete wielding lovebirds. There's also Seth and Caitlin, two teens holed up in church for their twice-weekly Youth Abstinence League of Littleburg (YALL, hilariously enough, given the book's Bible Belt setting). Seth has the hots for her, and she probably doesn't even know he's alive.
Kill for Satan! is a quick and dirty romp of mad-dash carnage, written with a measure of tongue-in-cheek quirkiness that regularly reminds you Smith was having an abundantly good time writing this sucker, and probably cackling madly with glee along the way. Consider Micah, a recent convert to Sindie's devil worshiping ways, who muses over the escalating violence, that "one thing he knew from the two midnight masses he’d attended, there were a lot of Satanists in this little town. Like, a really shockingly high number of them." Or a brief explanation to a would-be victim during a familial massacre: "I'm sorry, sweetie. I do love you. But I love Satan more."
Published by Grindhouse Press, Kill for Satan! fits perfectly within the ethos of this particular small-press publisher. It's sleazy, cheesy, violent B-movie-styled slasher pulp, and it makes for an interesting second billing to the publisher's summer release, Cockblock. The artistic merit of high literature, depth of theme, and deeply drawn, soul-filled characters doesn't so much take the backseat as it much as it gets run over, backed over, and then ran over again and ground into the pavement by the more exploitative elements, with Smith focusing solely on sex and violence for this novella's slim duration. And, by the way, I do mean this in the best, most affectionate way possible! This is a compliment!
The aim of Kill for Satan! successfully hits its target. I got almost exactly what I wanted and expected from Smith's book. I do wish, though, that I could have gotten treated to a few extra bits of Shock Theater, and an extra chapter or two to familiarize ourselves with Seth and Caitlin wouldn't have hurt any, either. But you know what? It's a fair trade-off for that exceptionally, fantastically, terrifically composed Matthew Revert cover art. Hot damn, is that cover ever a beauty.
Smith's novella gets by purely on its trashy entertainment value and ridiculously high kill count. If you're looking for a book solely about Satanists killing everyfuckingbody, you'd be really hard pressed to do better than Kill for Satan!.
"It was the night before Halloween and there was a certain uncanny magic in the air, a sense of something momentous about to occur."
Kill for Satan! was such a fun Halloween read. This book is set on Halloween during a satanic murder spree while on all-day horror movie marathon is going on. Just a heads up, it falls on the extreme horror side, so there's there's a lot of gore and sex happening.
This was my first book by Bryan Smith, and I would love to read more. Kill for Satan! was a really amusing story, and I think it would be so much fun as a movie, too. If you need a last-minute Halloween read, grab this one!
4.5 stars. Everything I want in a book. Short, sweet, super fun, super violent, super gory. This is horror the way I love it. Zero pretentiousness - all horror. Half-star could easily be added if the book gets reissued with more titties.
This is a tough review. I really enjoyed KILL FOR SATAN! by Bryan Smith. I had to grapple with awarding it 3 or 4 stars however. It is a comfortable 3.5 stars without a doubt. I'm just not sure it quite makes it over the top for 4 at this point. This is one that I will have to let ruminate in my brain for a bit to see if it deserves a posthumous 4 star review in the end.
That being said, this is one of those great stories where the not-so-happy (or is it) ending is a breath of fresh air. Anyone who reads Bryan Smith knows not all endings are shiny and KILL FOR SATAN delivers on that promise. The body count is high, the blood spilled can be measured in tons and there are black masses and ritual orgies in spades. What more could you want.
The writing is concise and packs a wallop without any fluff. KILL FOR SATAN is a quick and engaging read. A tired and truck splatterpunk anthem with a flair of devil worshiping. What could possibly go wrong?
Kill for Satan is a hell of a lot of fun. Satanists are greeted by the man downstairs himself (via possessing the black mass’s plague mask wearing leader) and explains to them that he requires virgin deaths this Halloween season. What ensues is the town’s sexless citizens being torn apart, eviscerated, shot up, and beheaded in brutal fashion. The book is exactly what you want it to be, if what you want is some light reading that will make you thankful you bumped uglies with that one chubby girl at that one party back in high school (anyone else… just me?).
An entertaining read that is perfect for the season, Kill For Satan was hard to put down and brought all the things a good horror story needs. Gore, lust and satanic debauchery come together nicely. Pick this up for some good Halloween reading.
"One by one, the acolytes climbed the steps to the platform to taste the dead woman’s blood and devour bits of her flesh. By the time each member of the congregation had finished taking a taste, not much was left of the corpse."
Kill For Satan was the first book that I’ve read by Bryan Smith. I didn’t know what to expect but he came highly recommended by some of my horror book loving fiends. This did not disappoint. It was a roller coaster ride straight to hell. This gruesome story of sacrificing everything for a higher being was bizarre and highly enjoyable. Would definitely read more books by him in the future.
This book will not be for everyone. It was a non-stop gore fest with strong language, blood filled orgies, thoughts, and murder. If you love horror and not offended by anything... then welcome to the club!
I read this the night before Halloween, and it was an absolute blast! There's a whole lot of sex and violence and blood and guts, but it also has some amazing characters within (seriously I dare you not to adore Libby, Wesley, and Morrie) it was a fast read that felt a lot like a B movie slasher flick, and I mean that in the absolute best way. This was my first read by Bryan Smith and I enjoyed it so much I'm going to start reading as much of his other work as I can!
This book was a slasher and killing fest. The action started immediately and it honestly didn’t stop until the end of the book. Needless to say the pace was pretty quick. This was a quick read for me.
Every religion has their own requirements and work that must be done and serving Satan is no different. Satan is supplying his followers with these monthly meetings and they’re living it up. The orders come to kill all virgins on Halloween.
Micah is a man completely in love with Sindie Midnight, a devout satanist. She will do anything to serve her dark lord and her boyfriend has no choice to go along with it.
The scenes in the book are very horrific and gory. This book can best be described as riding a rollercoaster. You have no choice but to sit and enjoy the ride until the end. This is definitely an entertaining read.
"It was the night before Halloween and there was a certain uncanny magic in the air, a sense of something momentous about to occur. Something special and life-altering. Each of the gathered acolytes felt it deep in their bones."
It's the night before Halloween and a satanic mass takes place in the woods. The devil assigns his followers a mission - deliver a bounty of virgin souls to him on Halloween. As the day begins, so does Count Victor von Gravemore's horror movie marathon as people tune in, not knowing real life horrors are about to ensue.
The POV used for this story made for an interesting read. It was different compared to typical clichés because the MC was no devil worshipper. Micah's girlfriend was a Satanist and he would do anything for her, including attending a satanic mass. Once he realized what was happening, it was too late to turn back, and he had no choice but to participate in a mass killing alongside his girlfriend.
Kill for Satan was a straight up bloodfest with satanic worship, human sacrifice, ritualistic orgies, and gory fun. It felt like an old school slasher movie and a black metal music video had a baby and produced this novella! Not for the faint of heart, but I do recommend this for lovers of blood and gore!
Yikes. There are authors who have a story to tell, so they write a book. And then there are authors who have a secret fantasy they want to read about and can't find anywhere else, so they write... this.
The whole thing was so stupid I was angry when I finished it. Kill for Satan! sounds like a good time, right? Right?! I was so excited to read about a cult and their belief and their idea of Satan and what I got was a bunch of horny men. Nothing but men being virgins and so desperate for human touch they'll lust after every single woman they come across.
I know absolutely nothing plot relevant, I have learned nothing about the town's history, how it came to be a devil-worshipping hotspot, how their religion is structured... all I know is the town is full of a bunch of virgins and women of the same build. I know that the author is into "big-breasted" women, who "porn stars are nothing compared to".
The whole thing was soooooo disgusting, and not because of the gore that happened inbetween the objectification of women. Ew.
Author Bryan Smith clearly had loads of fun writing this one. There's almost a giddy pleasure in his descriptions and character reactions. The story is a bit absurd, but so much fun to read if you just accept that most of a small town secretly worships Satan. Graphic sex and violence is what you expect from something like this and oh boy do you get it in spades. Smith infuses almost every scene with a wink to the audience and some really dry humor that makes the gory scenes more palatable. If you want a literary masterpiece, read something else, but this really scratched an itch I was having and the book satisfied completely. Really fun ending, too. I hope Smith continues to put out these short novels more often. Amazing cover art and an awesome publisher. Big recommendation to start off the New Year!
This was the Halloween read I've been looking for! This is a fast-paced piece of trash slasher story about a group of Satanist ordered by their Lord and Master, Satan, to go out on Halloween and kill virgins. And a killing they a go!
Killing virgins for Satan has never been so much fun!
If you are a fan of Bryan Smith (of which I am, of course) this story will have his trademark feel to it. It has all the elements but just felt a little lacking. Part of the problem for me was there was not enough chance of survival for the virgins. I think if there were more sections like Caitlin and Seth, it would have been a more intriguing read. Bryan is amazing at character development so I am not sure why this story had so little. This is a story you read when you have read everything Bryan has wrote and need another fix.
Nothing compares to bloody, campy, over-the-top horror fiction. Throw in a bit of satanism, a touch of heavy metal pulpy goodness, and a tribute to classic horror movies and you have a winning combination. This is the case with Bryan SmithBryan Smith’s Kill for Satan!, a book that can only be described as unabashedly fun.
You can read Gabino's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.
Значи, от към литература вероятно трябва да му дам някаква отрицателна оценка – две-три малки черни дупки като противовес на звездичките. За сметка на това книгата е чист кеф все едно гледаш слашър с бюджет за закуски и бири. Смит изобщо не си играе да рисува герои или да вниква във “вътрешния им свят“, само гледа как да ги нареже, застреля, прегази, разчлени, изкорми, премаже и прочие. Добре дошли във Литълбърг, както подсказва името – това е малко американско градче. Както не подсказва, тук има силен сатанински култ. Обикновено се занимават с пренасяне в жертва на някоя друга друсана девственица и съпътстващата събитието оргия. Този Хелоуийн обаче Сатаната има други планове. Култистите трябва да му принесат колкото могат повече души на девственици. И се почва. Сюжет няма – всяка глава е кърваво меле с боклукчав привкус. Оргиите в началото и края на книгата (според мен умишлено зле описани) придават още повече атмосфера на цялото нещо и вдигат оценката с още една звезда. Смит ми е от любимите следовници на Леймън и никога не разочарова, ама щото знам какво искам като взема негова книжка.
"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."
This book seems like the third act of a much bigger book. Action packed and fast paced killing for Satan. I wish we had spent more time with each character, but this moves lightning fast and leaves you wanting more.
They always say that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, this is what we are always told and most of the time its true; but with Bryan Smiths Kill For Satan! it probably best you do just that.
The cover to Kill For Satan! is a nice piece of artwork, it's mostly functional with a good "finish" and doesn't approach the subject in too abstract a fashion. Basically what you see is what you get, and sometimes this is the best approach to something. You can sometimes be too "clever" and produce artwork that misses your key audience and the cover to Kill For Satan! manages to walk the line between these two states of being, its just abstract enough to be interesting but straight forward enough for you to know what you get.
See where I'm going with this?
Kill For Satan! is not approached as if its rocket science, there's a setup in the first couple of chapters and then we're into it; and by "into it" I mean carnage, a death a chapter - sometimes more - with a side helping of depravity.
If you're looking for great depth of character then this may not be the book for you but if you are more interested in a bloodfest with an 80's movie aesthetic, complete with language, sex and violence that would earn disapproving looks from your mother, then this is almost certainly a book you should try out, especially if you prefer your books in an audio format.
Sean Dereggers performance of Kill For Satan! is typical of his work. Always on-point and as no nonsense as the book he's presenting, which is the way it should be done. This approach has the benefit of keeping the running time short giving Kill For Satan! the feel of a movie, the kind you have seen many times so merely hearing the soundtrack is enough for you to get all you needed to follow the plot.
With this book that's an easy one, because - not to put too fine a point on it - there's almost no plot to speak of. Kill For Satan! can be summed up in three words... The title itself. A more complex synopsis could read: Satanists invade a small town and... Kill For Satan! In the good old style of a traditional VHS cover tag-line.
This one is a good buy for a winters night, but a particularly good buy for an October night, its something you can get through in a few hours and have time over for a short story or two and what more could you want for on Halloween night?
In a matter of hours, Bryan Smith has managed to both mesmerize and horrify me in his novella "Kill For Satan!"
The story opens with a satanic massacre, and we meet main characters Micah and his girlfriend Sindie. Sindie is special. She wears all black and rocks gorgeous tattoos of occult symbols, she wears creepy jewelry and works at the newest record store in town. Oh, and one other thing: Sindie is an active follower of the dark faith, or as we better know it, a satanic cult!
As the story progresses, Sindie forcefully introduces Micah to the dark faith, and forces him to take part in the monthly midnight mass, where he would eventually watch sacrifices take place and submit to hedonism.
When Micah attends the next Midnight Mass, which happens to take place the night before Halloween, he witnesses the summoning of Satan himself. Satan has a Halloween task for his loyal followers: kill and collect as many virgins as possible for him.
Here's where things get really fun. Bryan Smith gives us every terrible detail but in an extremely unique way. He switches back and forth between the main story line, and side stories, making sure to give us the perspectives of both the dark faith followers, and the victims. He uses these side stories to fuel the main plot and develop the characters like I've never seen. Needless to say, I couldn't put this book down until I finished.
Speaking of finishing, the ending was everything. There were a couple twists and a scene that takes place 3 months after the dark faith massacre. At this point I was hoping for closure, but now all I want is more!
My brother loves horror movies even more than I do. Back in the day, he would painstakingly splice together scenes from his favorite slasher/monster/demon movies on VHS and we would watch them like it was the greatest horror movie ever assembled. No plot, no character development — only the bloodiest, goriest, scariest scenes played out to our horror-loving delight.
That’s basically the M.O. for Kill for Satan!, a non-stop barrage of devil-driven murder in a short book — a novella you can read in one long sitting — written by Bryan Smith and published by Grindhouse Press. Grindhouse focuses on publishing “six to twelve books a year with an emphasis on horror, extreme horror, transgressive fiction, sleaze, exploitation, and general weirdness with a dark theme,” according to their website.
Kill for Satan! checks off all those boxes and does so in a self-aware manner that never allows the depravity to take itself too seriously. The plot is as direct as the orders from the man downstairs: On Halloween, kill every virgin in town as a sacrifice to the Dark Master. Luckily said town is rife with Satan worshippers and it isn’t long before the blood begins to splatter.
Smith is no Stephen King, but who cares? Kill for Satan! won’t waste your time with character development or a deeper understanding of the human condition. Instead, it gleefully goes about its bloody business and keeps the reader entertained throughout its 144 pages of mayhem.