A review by bi_bibliophile
Allhallow's Eve by Richard Laymon
2.0
Contains minor spoilers
TW: Mention of rape
Ah Laymon, he's an author who I was skeptical about. Of course I knew about his less than flattering ways of writing women before I decided to read this book but I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Little did I know just how misogynistic his writing would truly be. Okay the book had a good concept and the overall writing style was easy to follow but good gods. I suppose you could say that he's an author "of his time" but really that's no excuse and it doesn't change how sexist and objectifying his views of women clearly are. The man sexualises every woman and girl in the book, I don't think a single woman got through the story without having her breasts described with great detail.
As I said, it did have a good concept and I did enjoy this story for the most part. Sure it had some parts I didn't like or really understand like the subplot about the cop wanting to cheat on his partner with a women he met (for like 5 minutes) while investigating the murders. The story is pretty predictable but it's basically a cheesy slasher set at Halloween with a load of teens and terrible teachers trapped in a house where they were having a Halloween party, of course it's going to be at least a little interesting. And the scene in the house with the gorilla suits is not something I will forget any time soon.
It's a decent but clearly problematic story but then it really went of the deep end with the finale. I know plenty of horror uses rape and sexual violence to create some kind of reality based horror and to get a reaction from audiences but this was so abrupt and poorly written it ended up seeming the mock the victims of such a vile and depraved crime. It genuinely feels like it was done to create a reaction of shock but my reaction was more one of repulsion.
Rated: 2/5 Stars
TW: Mention of rape
Ah Laymon, he's an author who I was skeptical about. Of course I knew about his less than flattering ways of writing women before I decided to read this book but I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Little did I know just how misogynistic his writing would truly be. Okay the book had a good concept and the overall writing style was easy to follow but good gods. I suppose you could say that he's an author "of his time" but really that's no excuse and it doesn't change how sexist and objectifying his views of women clearly are. The man sexualises every woman and girl in the book, I don't think a single woman got through the story without having her breasts described with great detail.
As I said, it did have a good concept and I did enjoy this story for the most part. Sure it had some parts I didn't like or really understand like the subplot about the cop wanting to cheat on his partner with a women he met (for like 5 minutes) while investigating the murders. The story is pretty predictable but it's basically a cheesy slasher set at Halloween with a load of teens and terrible teachers trapped in a house where they were having a Halloween party, of course it's going to be at least a little interesting. And the scene in the house with the gorilla suits is not something I will forget any time soon.
It's a decent but clearly problematic story but then it really went of the deep end with the finale. I know plenty of horror uses rape and sexual violence to create some kind of reality based horror and to get a reaction from audiences but this was so abrupt and poorly written it ended up seeming the mock the victims of such a vile and depraved crime. It genuinely feels like it was done to create a reaction of shock but my reaction was more one of repulsion.
Rated: 2/5 Stars