Will
Active Member
The following is a summarised review, for a full review check here.
The Cellar was the first in Richard Laymon’s Beast House series, which comprise this novel, The Beast House, The Midnight Tour and the novella Friday Night at the Beast House. It's also the first novel that Laymon ever got published, and shows us what would be in store from this great horror novelist.
It’s a short, punchy, yet quite brutal novel, but one that doesn’t lack depth. It creates and then continually manages to maintain a successful air of mystery, alongside an uncomfortable but compulsive horror-feel. With shocking moments peppered throughout, this one continues to ride through to an unexpected ending.
Laymon was a prolific and talented writer, who contributed over forty well-known and respected novels to the horror canon. He is often accredited for writing in a sub-genre of horror that later evolved into that known as splatterpunk, and in which authors such as Poppy Z Brite came to feature with some prominence.
He injects humour into his works through his characters, sometimes in the situations in which they find themselves, and creates some likeable protagonists – likely so that you will be shocked more when they’re put through the grille, but then the oldest tricks are often the most effective.
But do beware; this novel makes for some very uncomfortable reading at times. Subjects and topics that many will find uncomfortable are really tested here and it’s harsh at times, have no doubts about that.
Richard Laymon wrote to shock, and with The Cellar his aim to push the boundaries on horror literature were successful. It’s a gripping beast of a book, and will leave its boot-print stamped into your grey matter long after you’ve finished it.
The Cellar was the first in Richard Laymon’s Beast House series, which comprise this novel, The Beast House, The Midnight Tour and the novella Friday Night at the Beast House. It's also the first novel that Laymon ever got published, and shows us what would be in store from this great horror novelist.
It’s a short, punchy, yet quite brutal novel, but one that doesn’t lack depth. It creates and then continually manages to maintain a successful air of mystery, alongside an uncomfortable but compulsive horror-feel. With shocking moments peppered throughout, this one continues to ride through to an unexpected ending.
Laymon was a prolific and talented writer, who contributed over forty well-known and respected novels to the horror canon. He is often accredited for writing in a sub-genre of horror that later evolved into that known as splatterpunk, and in which authors such as Poppy Z Brite came to feature with some prominence.
He injects humour into his works through his characters, sometimes in the situations in which they find themselves, and creates some likeable protagonists – likely so that you will be shocked more when they’re put through the grille, but then the oldest tricks are often the most effective.
But do beware; this novel makes for some very uncomfortable reading at times. Subjects and topics that many will find uncomfortable are really tested here and it’s harsh at times, have no doubts about that.
Richard Laymon wrote to shock, and with The Cellar his aim to push the boundaries on horror literature were successful. It’s a gripping beast of a book, and will leave its boot-print stamped into your grey matter long after you’ve finished it.
