Writtenyes: Matthew Barber
Richard Lemmon is one of the greatest writers of the slasher genre, arguably the greatest. He published over 50 short stories and over 30 novels over a period of about 20 years. Like his contemporaries such as Jack Ketchum and Edward Lee, Lemmon pushed the boundaries of the horror genre by writing explicit and explicit passages of violence and sexual deviance. These bloody accounts shocked and disgusted the reader.
During his lifetime, Lemmon was a mainstay of European horror literature. Yet in his native America, he was little known. Lemmon always believed that this was because The woods are dark 1981. According to Lemon, the book was riddled with spelling errors and grammatical errors. It also deleted a key character, Rand Diers, who had appeared in the first draft.
Richard Lemmon died in 2001. Later that year he was posthumously awarded the Bram Stoker Award in recognition of his The Traveling Vampire ShowIn the years following his death, several unpublished novels were published, including The woods are dark in 2008. This re-release was decided upon by Lemmon’s wife and daughter in order to correct a mistake made nearly thirty years ago and to give fans of Lemmon’s work the opportunity to read the story as he intended.
The woods are dark Set in the forests of eastern California, near Yosemite National Park, the story revolves around a group of college girls and the Dills family, who are captured by residents of the town of Barstow and taken to the forest as a sacrifice to cannibalistic savages, the “Krulls.”
With the help of a distraught local, the two groups manage to escape. The Krulls are in hot pursuit. They are typical rednecks, hungry for rape and human flesh. However, the Krulls are not the only ones lurking in the shadows, and the woods are dark.
The book, first released in 1981, focused on the plight of two college girls, Neala and Sherri. The 2008 re-release tells more about the Dills family, specifically a good father turned murderous rapist, Lander Dills. It’s clear that Laymon sees each victim group as a different perspective on the same concept.
In many ways, Nila and Sheri represent purity, or the closest thing to purity in Lemmon’s novel. They choose the path of justice. The Diers, on the other hand, choose to survive at all costs. They embrace the darkness around them. In the case of Rand Diers, his quest for revenge ultimately turns him into the monster that destroys his family.
Rand Diers reminds readers that violence is often cyclical. Furthermore, human agency or choice is not necessarily predictable. By focusing on the college girl and the Diers family, Lemon shows many different characters. They come to this common event with unique upbringings and perspectives. They act accordingly.
Unfortunately, for most people, death is inevitable no matter how they act. This is a Richard Lemmon novel, after all. Many people die. The actions that lead to those deaths are varied and interesting. Not all violence is directed at the escapees. There is rape and massacre on both sides.
Interestingly, the unedited version of the restoration The woods are darkReleased seven years after his death, Bloodpunk is perhaps Lemon’s greatest achievement. It’s everything bloodpunk needs to be. It’s unbridled. Thirty years later, it still shocks and disgusts. The woods are dark A reminder of the lives lost too soon. R.I.P. Richard Lemon.
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score: 5/5
