Midnight Premier, edited by Tom Piccirilli

If ever there was a book perfectly suited for Horror Drive-In it's Midnight Premier. Edited by Tom Piccirilli, this anthology is a star-studded mix of horror and the movies. Alan M. Clark's cover alone is enough to warm the cockles of my heart.

Tom has assembled some of the brightest stars of both the small and mass market press, as well as individuals actually in the movie field.

Gary Braunbeck has the opening story and it's a whopper. It's called Onlookers and it deals with a man who, when he was a boy, happened upon the production of a short film written by Samuel Becket and starring Buster Keaton. The short was called Film, and it's an actual picture. I've heard about it, but I've never had an opportunity to see it.* Beckett's existential screenplay opens doors to a new way of seeing reality through film. Or does the film look at us? This story demonstrates Gary's natural storytelling powers and also his passion for film history.

Jack Ketchum seldom disappoints and his story, Elusive, is no exception. A film fan hears of an especially brutal horror movie called Sleepdirt, but every time he tries to see it, something happens and he is unable to do so. Coincidence, or something more sinister? In Ketchum's hands, I think you can count on the latter scenario.

John Shirley contributes a razor sharp short story called Seven Knives that gives Hollywood backstabbing an entirely new perspective when a group of down-on-the-luck players gather in a torture chamber to meet about a possible horror movie.

Gerald Houarner's Between the Storms is an eerie tale of an icy and isolated film shoot where fatal events might be the herald of apocalyptic times for humanity.

One of the most enjoyable stories in Midnight Premier is by Mick Garris. Ocular is a very savvy insider's look at Hollywood history and a director not doing well at the changing studio systems in 1959. He takes a dubious job on a low budget beach/monster film, but he keeps having these bizarre fantasies of self-mutilation...

Thomas F. Monteleone is a favorite of mine and his story, End of Story, is probably the funniest piece in the book. In it, Tom lampoons a notorious certain leftwing documentarian. If only stories could really come true.

The ever-reliable Ray Garton gives us Everything Must Go, an unnerving cautionary tale about the effects of too many horror movies.

Forces of Evil, by Robert Fields is the name of the story written by Lisa Morton and Richard Grove. It's one of the more provocative stories in the anthology. Most should know Morton as a veteran screenwriter and short story writer. She's a Shocklines regular. Grove is a thespian that is best known for his memorable portrayal of Henry the Red, from Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness. The story deals with some uncomfortable doings on the set of a movie that looks suspiciously like Army of Darkness. It also gives some insight into high school violence and the persecution of outsiders that love genre cinema.

I've heard some say that an editor shouldn't include his or her own stories in an anthology. As a reader, however, I enjoy it when they do. It's a personal stamp on the volume. Tom Piccirilli's Shadder is another one of his bizarre pieces of fiction that takes place in a rural setting and features darkly humorous characters. Tom's fiction is always beautifully written and Shadder is evocative and shocking.

Humps in the Field is by the legendary actor William Smith and Dark Delicacies proprietor Del Howlison. The story is written in both a classically scary style, yet is also modern in tone. It's another winner.

Arlene Shabowski of the Dead is a collaboration between the impish Mark McLaughlin and Kyra M. Shon. If you don't know who Shon is, shame on you. She is the little girl with the garden trowel from Night of the Living Dead. A recurring theme in Midnight Premier seems to be fictional counterparts to actual people...participants of the anthology in particular. This lyrical tale is about a girl that played a young zombie that grows up, but can't escape her obsession with the role. It's short, but very effective.

Del Corazon's Curse was written by Carl V. Dupree. That name rang a bell to me, but I had to look at the mini author's bio to see who he is. Dupree wrote Detroit Rock City, a couple of Hellraiser movies and The Prophecy 3. Del Corazon's Curse has a Hollywood insider's smooth polish and it concerns a diabolical screenplay. It's not the most original story I've read, but it's so well written that I barely noticed that as I enjoyed it.

I like Al Sarrantonio a lot, but I'm afraid that I wasn't that taken with his entry here. Baby Boss and the Underground Hamsters: A Feature-Length Cartoon reminds me of one of Joe R. Lansdale's wilder stories and it seems to have been inspired by the new breed of animated shows that grow increasingly more demented as years go by. I don't care for them and that's probably why I wasn't crazy about it. I didn't hate it or anything, but its style isn't for me. It might be more successful with the Bizarro crowd.

It pains me to say it, but the next story didn't work for me at all. It's called Vision and it was written by Patrick Lussier, who directed Dracula 2000 and its sequels. I ran into a brick wall trying to read it and I ended up giving up. Tom's an astute reader and editor, so I assume that the problem was with me.

T. M. Wright is one of the most challenging and intelligent writers that the horror genre has ever been graced by. His stories are never simple and they always give the reader much to ponder when he or she turns the last page. Murder Victim is about the sometimes fuzzy relationship between one that watches and one that appears on the screen, as well as our perceptions of reality and cinematic creations. Read it, marvel, and draw your own conclusions.

Wizard of Ooze is by Scream Queen legend, Linnea Quigley and genre journalist and fiction writer Michael McCarthy. The titular Wizard of Ooze is a sinister horror movie effects man and this story could possibly have been inspired by Quigley's former marriage to FX maestro, Steve Johnson. As a piece of fiction, it's lightweight, but enjoyable.

Brian Hodge is another writer who constantly amazes his readers. His fictions not only entertain, but provide intellectual stimulation. The Passion of the Beast is no exception. In it, a maligned film gets a wide distribution, bringing about alarm and unrest to the population. Is it merely riding on the coatheels of Mel Gibson's sensational movie about Jesus, or something else entirely?

A canny editor of an anthology chooses the first and last stories with care. The opener should be like a delicious treat on a hook that grabs the reader into the book's sway and keeps him there for the duration. Gary Braunbeck's Onlookers serves that purpose wonderfully.

As for the last story, it should dig deep into the reader's mind and emotions and stay there. Which brings us to the incomparable Ed Gorman's story. Gorman is a treasure and anything by him is pure gold. He gives us Scream Queen, a story that is as sad and melancholy as only Ed can deliver them. Not only is this story one of his very best, I think it's my favorite of all that he has published. It hit this reader hard, on a personal level, and my gut still feels punched. I think it's also the best story in this volume.

Please don't let my negative words on those two stories prevent you from buying Midnight Premier. As I said at the beginning of this rather long review, it's a theme that is after my own heart. If you love horror movies and fiction (and if you don't, why are you at Horror Drive-In?), this is a must-own book for your collection. Midnight Premier belongs on the same shelf as other great anthologies like Silver Scream and It Came from the Drive-In and it stands alongside other mandatory Cemetery Dance anthos like October Dreams and Taverns of the Dead.

Midnight Premier is forthcoming from Cemetery Dance Publications.


*If anyone has access to the movie, Film, and can help me see it, I'll certainly make it worth your while.