 |
| Throwback Thursday! |
Welcome to my first Throwback Thursday here at the blog. I’ve
been writing reviews and other such nonsense for almost twenty years now. My
submissions have gone to websites, fanzines, and even a magazine! Some of them
got used and some didn’t. Sadly many of those that got used ended up on dead
projects including my own website. Some of the work I’m very proud of or more
importantly what I was covering is something that I want people to know about.
With that in mind I’ve decided to dig into my archives and give them a home
here. The first is a book review that I did for a website called Screamzine.
I love the horror movies of the ‘70s and ‘80s. With first the drive-in market and then the
video store boom there was an outlet for a lot of independent horror flicks to
be shown. Sadly, as things got
“corporate” those outlets dried up and with them the funds available to the
creative minds behind them. You might be
wondering what this has to do with the book review of Melonheads, well read on
and find out.
The story opens years before the main events of the book as
we are given a flashback to a creepy doctor/scientist type named Crowe that is
picking up some children from a hospital.
These unfortunate children suffer from Hydrocephalus (water on the
brain) that causes their craniums to become large and misshapen. It becomes clear that Crowe is spiriting the
children away under mysterious and probably not legitimate circumstances. But what is he up to? The story jumps to the present where we are
introduced to the main cast of characters including the local football coach,
his recently graduated son (and slacker!), as well as the attractive new lady
doctor! Oh and of course the Melonheads
who are hiding out in the woods. When
one of them is killed they decide to come to town and get some revenge. Of
course, all hell breaks loose!
I’ve kept things purposefully vague in my plot synopsis. I did this so as to not spoil any of the
fun. After getting off to a slow start
the book really picks up and is a blast.
I stayed up way too late to finish and paid for it the next day (totally
worth it!). Maybe because it was based
on a screenplay or perhaps just because of the subject matter as I was reading
Melonheads it played out in my head like a cheesy and fun horror movie. It has a definite Castle Freak/Return of the
Living Dead vibe to it that I was really digging. The characters are familiar while still being
fun. We get bits of humor scattered
throughout, some of it really juvenile and just to be clear I consider this to
be a good thing. Of course, there are
some gruesome kills as well. Like I said
it feels like a horror movie that I would have rented on VHS back in my younger
days.
Modern horror likes to go for the throat. That is true of both the movies and the short
stories/novels. That isn’t a bad thing
and some of it I enjoy. But a book like
Melonheads is what I love. Give me a
body count and gore, but don’t forget the laughs. Anytime that I can be reminded of what makes
Horror great it is a good thing.
Melonheads does that and is something we should all support. Consider it highly recommended.
While working on this review I was in contact with Bob Gray
who wrote the screenplay that this book was based on. It looks like they are going to make the
movie and better yet it will be shot in Ohio!
Pardon me while I do a little dance in front of my keyboard…
© Copyright 2017 John
Shatzer
No comments:
Post a Comment