Mr. Tilling’s Basement & Other Stories by Edward Lee (Deadite Press) | review by Douglas J. Ogurek

Old pervs collide with young floozies in extreme horror collection that considers aging and self-perception amid gratuitous sex and violence

Holding back? Not here. Subtlety? Nah. Leaving sexual encounters or violence to the reader’s imagination? Read something else!

One of the four tales in Edward Lee’s Mr. Tilling’s Basement & Other Stories describes a painting that depicts spectator benches surrounding a hellish landscape where people are being tortured in the most gruesome ways. This collection gives readers a seat on one of those benches. 

Several stories involve nubile young women who are not only willing but also eager to have intercourse with an older, and in some cases, physically unattractive man. What distinguishes this from pornography is that Lee provides a reason why these women are so aggressive. And it’s usually a duplicitous one.  

In the titular story, college professor Herman Tilling takes over the dilapidated home of a man suffering from dementia. A potty-mouthed albeit beautiful Native American woman shows up and reveals that there is some secret associated with the basement — it involves cryptic text, smoking herbs, and an incantation. Throughout, Tilling remains focused on the woman’s physical endowments such as her thin stomach (and other traits). 

At one point, Lee throws plot out the window and moves from one brutal scene to the next, but with its inventive torture scenes and wordplay, the story entertains. Moreover, the work explores aging: an academic past his prime questions his self-worth and his authority as a bearer of knowledge when this young woman (whom he can’t help but sexualize) suggests his entire way of thinking is flawed. 

The reclusive older male protagonist in “The Night-Sitter” also encounters a sexually aggressive young woman. This time, it’s a webcammer who is staying up at night to keep an eye and ear out for any oddities. Seeing him as a cash cow, she’s more than willing to indulge his fantasies, but he doesn’t want that. Once again, we’re taken to a place where horrific things are described in vivid detail. 

Part history book and part slasher, “An American Tourist in Poland” is about a horny, overweight man. The unnamed narrator, an acquaintance of Mr. Foster Morley (also referred to as “our protagonist”) recounts the horrific thing that happened to Morley during his second trip to Poland, a trip fuelled by both cultural curiosity and lust. One fascinating aspect of this story is its strange juxtapositions. The style and vocabulary, for instance, feel like it was written a hundred years ago. Old-fashioned words such as “balderdash” and “gads” mingle with vulgarities. Geographic landmarks and historic events coexist with graphic depictions of violence in everything from tapestries to snuff films. Morley’s appreciation of Poland’s architectural highlights competes with his focus on women’s breasts and genitals. 

The final and much shorter story, “The Statement of Sgt. Justin Jessop of the Innsmouth Police Department”, is clearly influenced by H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos. Somebody is interviewing a police sergeant about the horrific incident that he experienced. It has to do with cosmic creatures and because this is Lee, there’s a sexual component. It all started when the sergeant saw a legless guy dragging himself across a field… 

I once heard Lee, the godfather of extreme horror, state that extreme horror stories, with their over-the-top violence and debauchery, are supposed to be humorous. And in this case, they are. 

Sometimes, when the Kindle shows I have an hour left in a story, I dread it and just want to get it over with. In the case of Mr. Tilling’s Basement & Other Stories, I was glad when I had an hour left. 

What makes Lee’s work so compelling is his ability to keep the reader wondering: what hellscape awaits within that closet… or in that basement… or on that SD card? Whatever it is, it’s going to be grisly and imaginative, for there is no hellscape like that depicted by Edward Lee. Douglas J. Ogurek ****

Terrifier 2 | review by Douglas J. Ogurek

Knives, hammers, and scissors speak louder than words: gore exhibition holds a mirror up to visceral horror and carves out new slasher villain superstar.

Early in Terrifier 2, the part-mime/part-clown known as Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) uses his own blood to write “ART” on a mirror as his latest victim struggles to stay alive. Yes, this is the deranged villain’s name, but it’s also an announcement that this sequel will hold a mirror up to the cinematic phenomenon known as torture porn. Is Art solely a vessel for shocking the viewer? Or is he an artist? Is Terrifier 2 simply another bloody entry in the pantheon of pointless violence, or is it commenting on the splatterpunk subgenre?

When Art, constantly on the brink of breaking that fourth wall, rapidly raises his eyebrows twice, the mute murderer acknowledges other characters, but he also enlists the viewer and dares them not to turn away from the atrocities he is about to commit. And he takes those atrocities far… really far. 

Terrifier 2 bears the distinction of being both terrible and brilliant. Its weaknesses include bad dialogue, a flimsy plot, poor acting, female objectification, and a fair amount of senselessness. Why, for instance, does the electricity of a haunted house at an abandoned carnival still work? Why is there a little girl version of Art that only he and a few others can see? Also, why aren’t any cops following up on Art’s horrific murders?

High schooler protagonist Sienna (Lauren LaVera), who is destined to encounter Art, has no real goal other than to design a warrior princess Halloween costume that her deceased father sketched. He also left her a sword apparently endowed with special powers. Sienna’s nerdy younger brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam) is obsessed with the Miles County Massacre that Art committed the previous Halloween. Their moody mother Barbara (Sarah Voigt) tends to berate both Sienna and Jonathan.

The interest level takes a dramatic shift the moment Art enters a scene. What he lacks in words he makes up for with his Ace Ventura-level exaggerated facial expressions and gestures. When he laughs (at the physical or psychological suffering of others), he throws his head back, shakes his shoulders, or puts his hands on his knees. When he sneaks up behind someone, he does so with a cartoon character’s panache. But there are also moments when Art stands motionless, creating a contrast to his typical flamboyance, a contrast that is both creepy and at times funny. 

When the time comes for Art to take centre stage, the story comes to a halt so he can indulge in his art: the brutal, prolonged, unrelenting, over-the-top maiming and killing of people. Art doesn’t just hit, whip or stab someone once. He does it over and over and over. Moreover, the camera doesn’t turn away. The film also empowers victims with near-supernatural stamina that enables them to stay alive and conscious during the attacks. And just when you think Art’s done, he might just come back and do more. 

Despite a contemporary setting, the film has an eighties feel thanks largely to its synthesizer-heavy music, aligning it with the classic horror films and villains of that era. If Art the Clown, with his tiny askew top hat secured with a rubber band, his weapons-filled black garbage bag, his terrible teeth, and the black dot on his nose, continues to appear in films, he may become a name as recognisable as Jason and Freddie. 

Terrifier 2 is Art.—Douglas J. Ogurek *****