I wasn’t sure what to make of Teddy Bear Cannibal Massacre when I received it. I mean are these guys serious? Yup, there’s a rather angry looking Teddy Bear right on the cover. Yet this horror athnology from Tim Lieder’s Dybbuk press turned out to be quite a surprise with 11 stories that hit on a variety of subjects including demented fairy tales, killer clowns, and talking crabs.
C.C. Parker’s “Formaldehyde” is a somewhat meandering tale of Bad mushrooms, zombies, and the overpowering smell of formaldehyde. I really loved Paul Haines’ “Doof, Doof, Doof” telling a rather demented version of Little Red Riding Hood where the big bad wolf is down on his luck, Red is rather promiscuous, and the three little pigs are foul-mouthed little perverts. What more could you ask for!
“Rats! Wrong Alley” deals with a couple of small-time degenerate drug dealers who have to come up with some money very quickly or find themselves very dead. When they rob a convenience store and hide out in a dilapidated alley, they find that there are worse things than winos living there. Story by Tim Johnson.
Cameron Hill’s “Hermetic Crab” is wonderfully imaginative but somewhat out of place as it is more of a straight urban fantasy as opposed to horror. A man finds a crab that talks with a Scottish accent who teaches him the ways of arcane mystical arts for an eventual showdown with the story’s villain.
“Something Funny is Going On” by Brian Rosenberger is a great story. It’s told in first person through entries in the lead character’s war journal and I couldn’t get the image of Marvel Comics’ The Punisher out of my head while I read it. This lone soldier battles a world that has been infected by alien clowns and he’s terminating them with extreme prejudice…and a bit of biting humor to boot.
“Head Drippers” by Robert Steussi might be the single most horrifying tale in the book. A man conducting a journalistic experiment checks himself into a psychiatric hospital to find out just what goes on behind the closed doors and to see if he can actually get back out. He’ll soon find he’s picked the wrong hospital to check into and “head drippers” becomes quite a literal term.
Other stories are provided by Trina Shealy Orton, William Brock, Roberta Rogaw, Jennifer Jourdanne, and Michael Stone. 144 pages in all and definitely an anthology worth picking up. So when is volume two coming out?
– Tim Janson
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
