Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Black Mouth by Ronald Malfi

5 reviews

aparker89's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Follow the journey of four adults who served time as children for committing a huge crime against their community. Guilt follows then wherever they go, but they manage until one day HE reappears! Not only is The Magic Man back- but he's out there convincing other preteen kids to commit similar atrocities! 
Find out the truth behind their crime and those that came after and discover where The Magic Man really does get his magic!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Alcoholism, Blood, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Body shaming, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide, Physical abuse, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Stalking, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Mental illness, Self harm, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Suicide attempt

bookbelle5_17's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Review of Black Mouth

By: Ronald Malfi

            When Jamie Warren was thirteen, he, his brother Dennis, and two best friends Mia and Clay encounter a mysterious known as the Magician.  He teaches them magic tricks, tells them they can learn magic, but asks them to do terrible things such as sacrifice Dennis.  As an adult, Jamie is haunted by those memories becoming an alcoholic like his abusive father, but now he is being called home to Black Mouth.  The Magician has returned, and Jamie, Dennis, Mia, and Clay intend to stop him before he poisons any more children.

            This dark and creepy story has supernatural undertones as you don’t know if the Magician is an immortal or if the character’s minds are playing tricks on them.  Jamie like a lot of unreliable narrators in thrillers is an alcoholic so you find yourself not sure if he is haunted by metaphorical ghosts or literal ghosts.  This adds to creepy and unsettledness to the plot as its hard to determine what’s real and what isn’t.  Jamie as a main character is sympathetic with his addiction, his fears about the magician, and his complicated emotions towards Dennis.  He loves Dennis but finds it challenging to take of his brother.  The other two characters Mia and Clay are interesting too.  Clay was born with a disfigurement known as Vitiligo, meaning he lacked pigmentation on certain parts of his skin, and he would get bullied mercilessly.  As an adult he deals with it a lot better and helps kids with issues like his.  Mia on the other hand, lost her parents in a car accident and had become obsessed with death, eventually making horror movies as adult.  They deal with what happened in their own way.  Clay wanting to make sure they protect others like them, Mia wants revenge, and Jamie wants to run taking care of his brother with him.  It reflects how they each cope with trauma; Clay uses it to make him stronger, Mia is full of anger fueling her, and Jamie avoids.  There is foul language and one character whose head I hated being inside.  He has ugly thoughts that bothered me.  The story is good with themes of friendship and the darkness within all of us. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Homophobia, Bullying, Physical abuse, Self harm, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Child abuse, Murder, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, and Addiction

kermit_the_wrong's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Suicide, Child abuse, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Torture, Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Animal death, Bullying, Animal cruelty, Blood, Murder, and Death of parent

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Vomit, Medical content, Pedophilia, and Racism

rachelunabridged's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Murder, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Mental illness

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Lesbophobia, and Fatphobia

Minor: Suicide attempt and Infidelity

callikat's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The premise is interesting, I did think it dragged on quite a bit though. 70% of the book seems to set up the final confrontation, and it was just a lot of exposition. I liked the imagery, but it was hard to visualize. I think it'd be a better movie than a book, honestly. A lot of the haunting/grotesque imagery didn't really translate for me. One aspect I really enjoyed is the dialogue -- I think it was very natural, and felt like real conversations. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Child death

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Lesbophobia and Racism