kalventure
Written on Dec 8, 2018
"Because Fridays at midnight, long after the casual moviegoers filed out of the exits, the Starlight Cinema transformed into something dark and perilous. Theater One, the newer half of the Starlight, closed for the night, while the other half, Theater Two—the older, original theater—was plunged into a shadowy world of hauntings and serial killers, werewolves and cannibals, slaughter and mayhem. Witching Hour Theatre. It was the one place he could go and allow his imagination to run rampant."Um, excuse me but why doesn't my town have something like this?! Well, minus the disappearing horror movie patrons and the creepy figure slowly making their way to the front of the theatre. I could do without a night like what our main character Larry Wilson experiences. But honestly this is such a unique, fast paced, and enjoyable read - and you can tell that it is written by a lover of horror films.
"The video guide gave it just one star, so he hoped it would be bad enough to amuse him, for that was all he really asked of the third features."As a lover of horror, and particularly B-horror, I really connected with Larry's love for the genre and his weekly routine. The MST3K and Rocky Horror shadowcast vibe for the movie showings sound like such a fun experience, and the reader is sucked into it quickly.
"[Horror movies] tap into something primal in all of us. Horror is one of the only genres that’s truly universal."I honestly was on the edge of my seat while reading this novella, but unfortunately the ending felt a little confusing and anticlimactic to me. I have a lot of questions that just aren't answered, which honestly is kind of typical of horror movies in a way but personally irksome all the same. Regardless, Longface can stay the heck away from me, please and thank you. Janz never fails to deliver me the chills I am constantly craving with his writing: I can see and smell and hear because he is such a captivating storyteller.
This is a re-release of Jonathan Janz's first published work, originally published in 2005. While this wasn't a perfect read, it was instantly captivating and as a lifelong horror fan it spoke to me deeply. From wishing that my town had a weekly Witching Hour Theatre for me to attend to cringing at Longface, I was fully enthralled from start to finish and recommend this novella to fans of the horror genre.
🤝 Buddy read with the wonderful Destiny!
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