Richard Laymon is the literature equivalent of a sleazy 70's grindhouse exploitation film in which graphic sex and violence are at the fore-front and trivial things like plot and character development are left on the sidelines. I love it.
The two books presented here are The Woods Are Dark and Out Are The Lights and with titles as hackneyed as these you know what you're in for. Woods deals with a group of out-of-towners trying to survive the murderous clutches of "The Krulls", a race of mutants that eat people. Lights deals with cinema that shows short horror films that may or may not be snuff films.
Laymon's style is limited yet he revels in the sleaze like a boy who's just seen his first pair of tits. Gore is sprayed willingly (much of it actually quite disgusting) and sex is instigated in way akin to a porn flick ("My car broke down" said Brock, "can I come in?", "Why yes," said the big breasted blonde with dick-sucking lips, "the phone is in the bedroom". Moments later, they're fucking). It's cheap but fun and is a rather good way to lose a couple of days in the narrative. Fundimentally terrible but entertaining non the less. Think Point Horror for adults.
Stephen King digs him and that's a good enough recommendation for me.
3/5
No comments:
Post a Comment