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Behold the Undead of Dracula: Lurid Tales of Cinematic Gothic Horror
The classic monsters have returned... again!
During the gothic horror revival of the late 1950s through the 1970s, vampires, witches, devil worshipers, occultists, spirits, ghouls, and grave-robbing mad scientists returned to terrify a new generation of thrill-seeking movie audiences. Influenced by the social and cultural upheavals of the time and the ever-present specter of nuclear war, these classic terrors became more violent, more subversive--and more seductive.
Behold the Undead of Dracula features stories inspired by the films of the gothic horror revival, dripping with blazing bright-red blood and radiating sex appeal.
Eleven of the best authors in underground horror fiction offer up unique and terrifying takes on this special era of cinematic history, summoning spine-tingling tales sure to frighten and seduce unwary readers.
Grab your popcorn, take a seat, and watch as the curtain rises on these gothic nightmares. Bear witness to the lurid and sensual horrors of Behold the Undead of Dracula!
During the gothic horror revival of the late 1950s through the 1970s, vampires, witches, devil worshipers, occultists, spirits, ghouls, and grave-robbing mad scientists returned to terrify a new generation of thrill-seeking movie audiences. Influenced by the social and cultural upheavals of the time and the ever-present specter of nuclear war, these classic terrors became more violent, more subversive--and more seductive.
Behold the Undead of Dracula features stories inspired by the films of the gothic horror revival, dripping with blazing bright-red blood and radiating sex appeal.
Eleven of the best authors in underground horror fiction offer up unique and terrifying takes on this special era of cinematic history, summoning spine-tingling tales sure to frighten and seduce unwary readers.
Grab your popcorn, take a seat, and watch as the curtain rises on these gothic nightmares. Bear witness to the lurid and sensual horrors of Behold the Undead of Dracula!
264 pages, Paperback
First published September 21, 2019
About the author
Matthew M. Bartlett
71 books329 followersMatthew M. Bartlett was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1970. He writes dark and strange fiction at his home in Western Massachusetts, where he lives with his wife Katie and an unknown number of cats.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 30, 2019
Just look at that cover, why don'tcha?
If Behold the Undead of Dracula let's me down at all, it's only because its logline is so totally my jam that it is bound to be unable to live up to it completely. An anthology devoted entirely to the lurid, Technicolor Gothic horrors of the house of Hammer... be still my black heart.
For those who prefer their Gothic horrors Dracula-shaped, there are plenty of vampires in these pages, but there are also Satanism shockers and witch covens, surprise appearances by Rasputin and George Strait (?!), and, of course, a couple of Frankensteins.
A few of these tales act as revisionist retellings or extended fan fiction sequels to specific Hammer films, with more than one taking on The Vampire Lovers, while "The Filthy Creation of Frankenstein" shows us an alternate way that the adventures of Hammer's Baron Frankenstein could have played out. Others simply borrow the trappings and the atmosphere of these Gothic chillers to tell entirely new stories - some set in the present day, others in the costumed past; some metafictionally located on the very sets of these sorts of films, such as Christa Carmen's "Cleaver Castle of Carnage Presents: The Coven Strikes Back" or Matthew M. Bartlett's predictably show-stopping "Go to the Devil."
The best of them capture the same lightning in a bottle that the original films did, while going places those films could never go. And while it's not quite the perfect return to those fog-shrouded sets, it's damn close.
If Behold the Undead of Dracula let's me down at all, it's only because its logline is so totally my jam that it is bound to be unable to live up to it completely. An anthology devoted entirely to the lurid, Technicolor Gothic horrors of the house of Hammer... be still my black heart.
For those who prefer their Gothic horrors Dracula-shaped, there are plenty of vampires in these pages, but there are also Satanism shockers and witch covens, surprise appearances by Rasputin and George Strait (?!), and, of course, a couple of Frankensteins.
A few of these tales act as revisionist retellings or extended fan fiction sequels to specific Hammer films, with more than one taking on The Vampire Lovers, while "The Filthy Creation of Frankenstein" shows us an alternate way that the adventures of Hammer's Baron Frankenstein could have played out. Others simply borrow the trappings and the atmosphere of these Gothic chillers to tell entirely new stories - some set in the present day, others in the costumed past; some metafictionally located on the very sets of these sorts of films, such as Christa Carmen's "Cleaver Castle of Carnage Presents: The Coven Strikes Back" or Matthew M. Bartlett's predictably show-stopping "Go to the Devil."
The best of them capture the same lightning in a bottle that the original films did, while going places those films could never go. And while it's not quite the perfect return to those fog-shrouded sets, it's damn close.
October 14, 2019
This collection has inspired me to go through and watch as many Hammer Horror films as I can find. It's strange, creepy, and enormous fun, much like the best of the films themselves. My favorite stories are Gwendolyn Kiste's Over the Violets There That Lie, where a trophy wife works out her frustrations, William Tea's tale of an impotent musician in Diabolus in Musica, Tom Breen's Irish folklore inspired Taste of Fear in the Night (European Release Title: Curse of the Mountain Witches), and the wonderful send-up by Sean M. Thompson, Mina's Castle. My favorite scares were in Mer Whinery's back country horror, George Strait and the Black Orchard Grimoire, Heather L. Levy's You Should Smile More: The Blood Coven of Arkana, and Thomas C. Mavroudis's The Bloody Cask of Rasputin. A fascinating collection from Muzzleland Press that has inspired me to seek out more in the genre, both in the format of book and film.
October 9, 2019
Technicolor terror on the page! As a fan of Hammer studios, I loved this collection. The authors absolutely nail the tone and spirit of those classic British horror movies. The elegant actors, the gothic settings, the paint-red blood. It's all here, along with some fresh perspectives.
It would be an insult to call these new points of view merely "modern." They're timeless. These stories respect their inspirations, and challenge traditions, yet in the end manage to deliver themes that are universal. War, mortality, morality, class, family, love, lust, sex, revenge, triumph, and despair. The same hot-blooded appeal found in the many tales of Baron Frankenstein, Count Dracula, and Blood From the Mummy's Tomb can be found here. Behold!
It would be an insult to call these new points of view merely "modern." They're timeless. These stories respect their inspirations, and challenge traditions, yet in the end manage to deliver themes that are universal. War, mortality, morality, class, family, love, lust, sex, revenge, triumph, and despair. The same hot-blooded appeal found in the many tales of Baron Frankenstein, Count Dracula, and Blood From the Mummy's Tomb can be found here. Behold!
January 24, 2023
A fun anthology inspired by the vibe of the Hammer Horror films.
Some favorites in the collection:
Over the Violets That Lie by Gwendolyn Kiste - a marginalized actress finds herself on the set of a horror movie, where the line between reality and fantasy begins to blur.
Diabolus in Musica by William Tea - a film composer inherits the mansion of his late mentor, and weird things begin to happen as he feels compelled (almost possessed) to write a score. Probably the creepiest of the bunch.
Taste of Fear in the Night by Tom Breen - a Lord returns to his family estate in Ireland so his ill daughter will be exposed to clean country air. He decides to clear a patch of forest to make way for railroad tracks, and ends up pissing off some fairies. Doozy of an ending.
You Should Smile More: The Blood Coven of Arkana by Heather L. Levy - a nasty little ditty of what happens when feminism crosses the line into blanket manhating.
Mina's Castle by Sean M Thompson - supposes what may have happened to Mina Harker years later, with a fun twist at the end.
The Filthy Creation of Frankenstein by Gemma Files - a reimagining of Frankenstein in which Victor ends up continuing his experiments with the help of his good friend Paul and his wife Elisabeth. This one involves a threesome and some weird, wild musings on procreation, sci-fi style. Possibly the best of the bunch.
Some favorites in the collection:
Over the Violets That Lie by Gwendolyn Kiste - a marginalized actress finds herself on the set of a horror movie, where the line between reality and fantasy begins to blur.
Diabolus in Musica by William Tea - a film composer inherits the mansion of his late mentor, and weird things begin to happen as he feels compelled (almost possessed) to write a score. Probably the creepiest of the bunch.
Taste of Fear in the Night by Tom Breen - a Lord returns to his family estate in Ireland so his ill daughter will be exposed to clean country air. He decides to clear a patch of forest to make way for railroad tracks, and ends up pissing off some fairies. Doozy of an ending.
You Should Smile More: The Blood Coven of Arkana by Heather L. Levy - a nasty little ditty of what happens when feminism crosses the line into blanket manhating.
Mina's Castle by Sean M Thompson - supposes what may have happened to Mina Harker years later, with a fun twist at the end.
The Filthy Creation of Frankenstein by Gemma Files - a reimagining of Frankenstein in which Victor ends up continuing his experiments with the help of his good friend Paul and his wife Elisabeth. This one involves a threesome and some weird, wild musings on procreation, sci-fi style. Possibly the best of the bunch.
February 14, 2021
Jonathan Raab and Muzzleland Press serve up another great themed collection. This particular collection focuses on the gothic horror revival of the classic Hammer horror films. The stories here range from inspired by those beautifully coloured early films to fan-fiction esque re-imaginings or continuinations. Mer Whinery's "George Straight and the Black Orchard Grimoire" is coming home/prodigal son story of the former sort, in which plenty of his Little Dixie, backwoods (back plains?), feel comes through. You'll have to imagine the corrupt Oklahoma version of the Irish accent instead of the refined British voices we're used to from Hammer. You'll hear a more pure version of that brogue in Tom Breen's haunted moor meets traditional traditional faerie story, "Taste of Fear in the Night." It gives us fun alternate European and American titles, and as the author notes may be the first Hammer story set in Ireland.
A number of these stories involve female empowerment or flipping the tropes of the Hammer era of heaving bosoms. So many in fact that I would be tempted to call it a second, more subtle theme in the collection. Gwendoline Kriste's "Over the Violets Here There That Lie" Poe tinged feminist tale, as well as Christa Carmen's "Cleaver Castle of Carnage Presents: The Coven Strikes Back" are even set in a meta world in which the filming of those movies is incorporated ala Shadow of the Vampire. Other pieces attempt to update the gender roles and power dynamics of the Hammer films that always approached being ahead of their time but never quite stepped all the way over the line. In "Vengeance of the Blood Princess", Dominique Lamssies gives us a continuation of the Karnstein trilogy, but this time firmly grounded in the feminist empowerment that the original lacked. Heather Levy tries to push the other, possibly negative, boundary of female empowerment in "You Should Smile More: The Blood Coven of Arkana", a modern folk-horror tale.
By contrast, the bulk William Tea's "Diabolus in Musica" seems feels like one of the most perfect encapsulations of the slow burn, atmospheric, gothic feel of so much of the Hammer era coloured by an almost Yellow Wallpaper style domination of the female lead. It the suddenly dovetails (in the best way possible) into scenes that fit right in with the wildest of the Hammer creations.
Tom Breen maintains the gothic aesthetic with a nod to "Dracula" in "Mina's Castle." It uses the same technique to maintain verisimilitude as Dracula, telling the story through a series of letters, but updating it for the modern era and his familiar territory of the integration of technology with the horrific supernatural by using emails.
Matthew Bartlett's "Go To The Devil"and Thomas Mavroudis' "Bloody Cask of Rasputin" feel more like Hammer influenced tales, with the two author's familiar voices and styles still very much dominating.
My favourite inclusion might just be Gamma Files', "The Filthy Creation of Frankenstein." A spectacular, intimate, love triangle retelling of the creation of monsters that both frightens and touches the heart.
While too short to possibly cover all of the delightfully outlandish settings and themes from those films, there are certainly plenty of satanic cults, created monters, and of course, Draculas, here to satisfy. I would add that the only omission I regret here is that Orrin Grey, given his love of cinema and extensive writing in ouvre both fictional and non, didn't make it into this collection. It would have been a match made in...well...an old, cobweb strewn castle.
A number of these stories involve female empowerment or flipping the tropes of the Hammer era of heaving bosoms. So many in fact that I would be tempted to call it a second, more subtle theme in the collection. Gwendoline Kriste's "Over the Violets Here There That Lie" Poe tinged feminist tale, as well as Christa Carmen's "Cleaver Castle of Carnage Presents: The Coven Strikes Back" are even set in a meta world in which the filming of those movies is incorporated ala Shadow of the Vampire. Other pieces attempt to update the gender roles and power dynamics of the Hammer films that always approached being ahead of their time but never quite stepped all the way over the line. In "Vengeance of the Blood Princess", Dominique Lamssies gives us a continuation of the Karnstein trilogy, but this time firmly grounded in the feminist empowerment that the original lacked. Heather Levy tries to push the other, possibly negative, boundary of female empowerment in "You Should Smile More: The Blood Coven of Arkana", a modern folk-horror tale.
By contrast, the bulk William Tea's "Diabolus in Musica" seems feels like one of the most perfect encapsulations of the slow burn, atmospheric, gothic feel of so much of the Hammer era coloured by an almost Yellow Wallpaper style domination of the female lead. It the suddenly dovetails (in the best way possible) into scenes that fit right in with the wildest of the Hammer creations.
Tom Breen maintains the gothic aesthetic with a nod to "Dracula" in "Mina's Castle." It uses the same technique to maintain verisimilitude as Dracula, telling the story through a series of letters, but updating it for the modern era and his familiar territory of the integration of technology with the horrific supernatural by using emails.
Matthew Bartlett's "Go To The Devil"and Thomas Mavroudis' "Bloody Cask of Rasputin" feel more like Hammer influenced tales, with the two author's familiar voices and styles still very much dominating.
My favourite inclusion might just be Gamma Files', "The Filthy Creation of Frankenstein." A spectacular, intimate, love triangle retelling of the creation of monsters that both frightens and touches the heart.
While too short to possibly cover all of the delightfully outlandish settings and themes from those films, there are certainly plenty of satanic cults, created monters, and of course, Draculas, here to satisfy. I would add that the only omission I regret here is that Orrin Grey, given his love of cinema and extensive writing in ouvre both fictional and non, didn't make it into this collection. It would have been a match made in...well...an old, cobweb strewn castle.
December 3, 2019
I actually reviewed this a while ago for High Fever Books, but totally forgot to do something here. So here's part of that review...
In the fifties, sixties, and seventies, Hammer Films churned out technicolor nightmares starring monsters, witchcraft, and ghouls to terrify and seduce movie-going audiences. And now, thanks to Muzzleland Press, you can experience those same thrills again in the 11 original tales making up the anthology Behold the Undead of Dracula. But, you don’t need to be a Hammer Horror expert to enjoy the twisted Gothic stories that have updated the ideas and concepts of those macabre movies for 2019.
Full disclosure, I don’t know much about the Hammer movies (I know, I know, what kind of horror fan am I?). What I do know is that they usually feature a version of the Universal Monsters, may take place in a Gothic castle, there may be some seduction, as well as some brightly colored blood. I also know that Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee will probably show up.
Now the question you’ll probably ask is why did I want to read this if I didn’t have much knowledge of these movies? A couple of reasons. First, I’m a huge fan of Muzzleland Press. Everything of theirs that I have read I have enjoyed and I trust in editor Jonathan Raab’s ability to pick out great stories. Which leads me to my next reason, the authors. Gwendolyn Kiste, Matthew M. Bartlett, Gemma Files, and Christa Carmen are just a few of the names that contributed. The third reason is that the concept intrigued me. It can be tricky to write something based on a series of movies. You could easily fall into the trap of rehashing what’s already been done or lose some of the cinematic magic that comes from the visual medium. With these reasons in mind I jumped into the anthology ready to be thrilled.
In the fifties, sixties, and seventies, Hammer Films churned out technicolor nightmares starring monsters, witchcraft, and ghouls to terrify and seduce movie-going audiences. And now, thanks to Muzzleland Press, you can experience those same thrills again in the 11 original tales making up the anthology Behold the Undead of Dracula. But, you don’t need to be a Hammer Horror expert to enjoy the twisted Gothic stories that have updated the ideas and concepts of those macabre movies for 2019.
Full disclosure, I don’t know much about the Hammer movies (I know, I know, what kind of horror fan am I?). What I do know is that they usually feature a version of the Universal Monsters, may take place in a Gothic castle, there may be some seduction, as well as some brightly colored blood. I also know that Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee will probably show up.
Now the question you’ll probably ask is why did I want to read this if I didn’t have much knowledge of these movies? A couple of reasons. First, I’m a huge fan of Muzzleland Press. Everything of theirs that I have read I have enjoyed and I trust in editor Jonathan Raab’s ability to pick out great stories. Which leads me to my next reason, the authors. Gwendolyn Kiste, Matthew M. Bartlett, Gemma Files, and Christa Carmen are just a few of the names that contributed. The third reason is that the concept intrigued me. It can be tricky to write something based on a series of movies. You could easily fall into the trap of rehashing what’s already been done or lose some of the cinematic magic that comes from the visual medium. With these reasons in mind I jumped into the anthology ready to be thrilled.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews