Mr. Nasty
Leo Darke
Samhain Publishing
September 1, 2015
Reviewed by Tim Potter
Mr. Nasty, by Leo Darke, is a new novel from Samhain Horror that is equal parts entertaining and tiresome. As the title indicates, the book revolves around a killer who has an obsession with the notorious Video Nasties, 39 films banned in the U.K. in the early ‘80s. The killer does his best to recreate some of the most provocative death scenes from the Nasties. The result is a number of very fun, elaborate scenes of extreme gore that will be of special interest to fans of the banned films. Unfortunately, there is a lot of filler between Video Nasties scenes and the story slows down regularly.
The novel is decidedly British, which is fitting considering that the Video Nasties list was a specifically British occurrence. The prose is sharp and fun, especially to American eyes that may be unfamiliar with English slang and swearing. And, man, can the Brits swear. The story is set primarily on movie and television sets, ranging from the interesting World War One epic, to the tedious Professor What show. The later is an obvious nod to Doctor Who that spends entirely too much time establishing a show that is just a throwaway setup for a Nasties killing.
Tommy is the main character, a failed marriage behind him and barely successful acting career ahead, and he finds himself within arm’s reach of many of the murders. Tommy must deal with his professional rival Mark and his new romantic interest Jasmine while trying to find out what connection, if any, he has to the killings. As Mark teases him with his involvement in a small film that he says will be a masterpiece, Tommy auditions for it and finds the process disturbing to say the least. This mysterious film may also have something to do with the murders, but it is shrouded in secrecy, leaving Tommy and the reader in the dark until the story’s conclusion.
Killings mimic classic death scenes in films including Don’t Go In the Woods… Alone, The Toolbox Murders, Axe and Anthropophagus. Absurd plays an important role, as does The Burning, The Living Dead At the Manchester Morgue and Don’t Go In the House. For fans of these movies the references are interesting, entertaining and well informed. The author brings a clear love of these films to the book and those scenes dealing with the movies are consistently a pleasure to read. The story drags from one of these scenes to the next, though, and the reader has to get through some real slow-downs to get to the next Nasty-inspired scene. As a novella, a work of about half the length, Mr. Nasty would have been a resounding success, but as it stands it is likely to work mainly for serious fans of the Video Nasties.
Disclaimer: A review copy was provided by one of our sponsors.
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