So, during the 90's all three major horror franchises had short lived young adult novel series. The one I'm going to talk about today is one of my favorites, and also probably one of the most insanely inappropriate book series ever marketed at young teens every.
THE TALES FROM CAMP CRYSTAL LAKE series.
The series consists of four books (Mother's Day, Jason's Curse, The Carnival and Road Trip), all written by Eric Morse. The first interesting thing about this series is that Jason never actually makes an appearance. His mask does, but Jason never actually shows up. No, instead his mask is the main star here, possessing people, and turning them into murderous behemoths tearing apart the local population.
And I do mean tearing apart.
These books are VIOLENT! The ending of The Carnival alone is probably one of the most graphically violent things I have ever read in a novel not written by Edward Lee. Basically the whole carnival goes nuts after being infected with the evil from Crystal Lake, and everything starts killing people. A tilt a whirl goes whirring into an electric fence, frying a girl's father in front of her very eyes (he was sitting with his cheap floozy of a mistress, so she didn't feel to bad). Two preteens get deep fried by that same electric fence when they try and sneak into the carnival. Heads are cleaved and chopped off. Bodies are dismembered. These books are the blood splattered gore fest that the films always wanted to be, but never could because of the MPAA.
The one frustrating thing about this series has nothing to do with the actual writing. The books are actually very entertaining, and one or two of them are shockingly effective in creating interesting characters (one of the men possessed by Jason's mask has a truly heart breaking story that includes a history of child abuse. I believe this was in Jason's Curse, but it has been a while). No, what is frustrating about these books is how hard they are to find. Unlike most YA series, these books are not cheap, with perfect copies going for $100+. Even used copies will set you back for $15 to $20.
I read these books years ago, long before Amazon was the place to go for used books, and I remember having to search far and wide for copies of Mother's Day and The Carnival. Back then, in my desperation, I made a good deal of money for those books. Today, the price hasn't dropped much.
Still, for hardcore Friday the 13th Fans these books are must haves. For anyone else, if you can find them cheap, grab them. You won't be disappointed.
Next up will be a series within a series! WOO HOO!
No comments:
Post a Comment