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A review by emleemay
Creed by Lindsay Currie, Trisha Leaver
2.0
Cheap B-movie horror thrills abound!
I really think that anyone who has ever watched a bad horror flick will recognise the framework of this story instantly. I'm not even sure why these tropes are so damn universal in the horror genre, because they're just not scary anymore. If they ever were.
So there's three teens. Two of them are boyfriend and girlfriend (Dee and Luke) and can't keep their damn horny hands off each other. The other is a tag-along (Mike). Why is this so common, by the way? I've seen so many horror movies featuring a couple, and then a male or female third wheel just there for - seemingly - kicks.
And why are they always so horny? I'm serious. There have been essays written about old horror movies, claiming that they're actually really puritanical and attempt to teach teens what happens when you screw around before marriage. I've no idea if that's true, but it's a really common trope... teens who just want to go on a trip and get laid somehow end up trapped in a weird cult or hanging from a meat hook in some lunatic's basement.
Plus, they are so stupid. I'm sure you remember how it goes. They're camping in the middle of the woods or alone in a cabin in the middle of nowhere and suddenly there's a noise - maybe a scream or footsteps - coming from outside. It's always during the night and the damn stupid fools always have to investigate RIGHT THEN. In the middle of the night. Often barefoot and in their pajamas (though, okay, not in this case).
In this case the teens don't quite walk out in the middle of the woods. Nope. They take a shortcut down a back road.
And get lost.
And then they run out of gas.
Shit... you just KNOW what's going to happen next, don't you?
They're stranded in the middle of psychoville, AKA a "deserted" town where all the houses are identical down to the garden arrangements. Upon arrival in this town, they hole up in one of these deserted houses and find disturbing documents listing the town's population. A population that is decreasing rapidly. So, of course, they stay the night.
The next morning they meet Joseph who tells them about his father's evil cult and, though he seems more than a bit strange, they decide to follow him in the hopes of escaping. What could possibly go wrong?
Well... Elijah shows up, Dee gets captured and separated from Luke and Mike, and her day only gets worse from there. She is tied up, drugged and threatened with death unless she join the cult and comply with Elijah's wishes. The biggest crime of this story is that it feels like nothing new. I feel like I've seen this story and these characters in a hundred other horror films and books. Dee's narrative wasn't standout enough to make me want to care about her fate and everything felt more than a little cheesy.
Elijah especially felt like a cartoon villain with over-the-top mindless evil schemes. I kept picturing him with his finger poised near his mouth, laughing evilly.
I'm actually more disappointed because the author's 2015 novel sounds amazing and I love the cover. Maybe I'll try Leaver's work again when she's writing in a different genre.
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I really think that anyone who has ever watched a bad horror flick will recognise the framework of this story instantly. I'm not even sure why these tropes are so damn universal in the horror genre, because they're just not scary anymore. If they ever were.
So there's three teens. Two of them are boyfriend and girlfriend (Dee and Luke) and can't keep their damn horny hands off each other. The other is a tag-along (Mike). Why is this so common, by the way? I've seen so many horror movies featuring a couple, and then a male or female third wheel just there for - seemingly - kicks.
And why are they always so horny? I'm serious. There have been essays written about old horror movies, claiming that they're actually really puritanical and attempt to teach teens what happens when you screw around before marriage. I've no idea if that's true, but it's a really common trope... teens who just want to go on a trip and get laid somehow end up trapped in a weird cult or hanging from a meat hook in some lunatic's basement.
Plus, they are so stupid. I'm sure you remember how it goes. They're camping in the middle of the woods or alone in a cabin in the middle of nowhere and suddenly there's a noise - maybe a scream or footsteps - coming from outside. It's always during the night and the damn stupid fools always have to investigate RIGHT THEN. In the middle of the night. Often barefoot and in their pajamas (though, okay, not in this case).
In this case the teens don't quite walk out in the middle of the woods. Nope. They take a shortcut down a back road.
And get lost.
And then they run out of gas.
Shit... you just KNOW what's going to happen next, don't you?
They're stranded in the middle of psychoville, AKA a "deserted" town where all the houses are identical down to the garden arrangements. Upon arrival in this town, they hole up in one of these deserted houses and find disturbing documents listing the town's population. A population that is decreasing rapidly. So, of course, they stay the night.
The next morning they meet Joseph who tells them about his father's evil cult and, though he seems more than a bit strange, they decide to follow him in the hopes of escaping. What could possibly go wrong?
Well... Elijah shows up, Dee gets captured and separated from Luke and Mike, and her day only gets worse from there. She is tied up, drugged and threatened with death unless she join the cult and comply with Elijah's wishes. The biggest crime of this story is that it feels like nothing new. I feel like I've seen this story and these characters in a hundred other horror films and books. Dee's narrative wasn't standout enough to make me want to care about her fate and everything felt more than a little cheesy.
Elijah especially felt like a cartoon villain with over-the-top mindless evil schemes. I kept picturing him with his finger poised near his mouth, laughing evilly.
I'm actually more disappointed because the author's 2015 novel sounds amazing and I love the cover. Maybe I'll try Leaver's work again when she's writing in a different genre.
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