Lee Allen's Blog - Posts Tagged "demonology"

Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Ira Levin's classic horror thriller is a masterpiece in plotting and suspense.

Rosemary's Baby is one of those stories that has developed to become mythology, a story that is so well-known that people know it without having read it, as part of a culture as folklore. It's a wonder it took me so long to finally read it. I loved it and couldn't put it down.

Having seen the equally classic 1968 film (the novel was published in 1967), I knew the plot well and the twists in the tale. Rosemary and her husband Guy acquire a highly sought-after apartment and soon become friendly with eccentric, elderly couple, Minnie and Roman Castavet. Their situation appears idyllic - a young couple moving into their new home, spending time with their interesting, kindly neighbours, Guy seeking his big acting break, Rosemary hoping for a baby.

Levin expertly layers the tension as the novel progresses, hinting at the witchcraft and Satanism twisted throughout the building's history and an apparent suicide that begins the young couple's relationship with the Castavets, who develop from harmless to unsettling, to sinister, to menacing. Soon it appears all the world may be conspiring against Rosemary and she struggles to know who to trust as the novel hurtles towards its nightmarish conclusion.

With underlying themes of religion with witchcraft as its enemy, with specific references to Catholicism, it is perhaps ironic that this modern scheme for the downfall of humankind is triggered by a man's greed and ambition leading to his betrayal of a woman and allowing her to be defiled and used for her body, as opposed to the concept of Original Sin where a woman made an error in judgement when tempted into betrayal by the same forces of darkness. In this novel, we know she would never be so foolish.

After fifty years, Rosemary's Baby remains relevant, authentic, and most of all thrilling, in its telling of a story of good versus evil, and the lengths human beings may go to in pursuit of their beliefs and desires.

The story continues in Levin's final novel, 'Son of Rosemary'.



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Son of Rosemary by Ira Levin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


An enjoyable conclusion to the horrors that began with the classic 'Rosemary's Baby'.

Ira Levin's sequel picks up over thirty years following the conclusion of the original, with Rosemary awakening from a coma which appears to have been the result of a curse cast by the coven of the original novel. She soon learns that her son, Andy, has grown up to become the new Messiah - either a bizarre twist of fate or truthfully a False Messiah of prophecy.

Taking advantage of her celebrity status as the woman who awoke unharmed after decades lying in a coma, she connects with Andy on the global stage and gets to know her son all over again as the man he has become since she last saw him as a child. Some may find what follows a little slow, but as the novel progresses you realise Levin is subtly laying the foundations for what is to come later.

The conclusion to Part Two is a clever revelation, with the paranoia of the first novel now fully returning, with Rosemary unsure who she can trust, finding Andy has more secrets than she wished to find. This is explored more fully in Part Three, as Rosemary investigates her son and his colleagues and their organisation.

*SPOILERS*The ending completely took me by surprise. It has proved controversial, but I found it quite ambiguous. The obvious interpretation is that the events of both novels are an elaborate nightmare Rosemary suffers. This would sit well with the dream-like and nightmarish sequences of both novels, and perhaps doesn't take anything away from the masterful storytelling. My first thought when Rosemary awoke with Guy was that this was her version of Hell, seeing as she had been heading there with Satan at the conclusion to the previous scene. To relive her suffering over and over, never quite sure if it's real or imagined, would be Hell indeed.

There is also the suggestion that the events of both novels are a premonition, a dream telling Rosemary of the potential dangers and horrors of the future. When Hutch mentions the puzzle to solve the anagram of 'Roast Mules' which recurred throughout the novel - something Rosemary had not heard prior to her dream - it delivers a final cold shiver that perhaps she has not escaped her fate after all, that the events of both novels are yet to come.

As Levin's seventh and final novel, 'Son of Rosemary' is a solid ending to a superb body of work and a suitably discomforting follow-up to 'Rosemary's Baby'.



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To the Devil a Daughter (Molly Fountain, #1) by Dennis Wheatley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A gripping occult thriller from the master of the black magic thriller.

Despite writing over sixty novels, many of them bestsellers, Dennis Wheatley is perhaps best known for his black magic novels, of which he wrote eleven (as well as a non-fiction book on the Occult). Perhaps the most famous of these was his first novel on the subject, 'The Devil Rides Out', a classic of the genre. Both 'The Devil Rides Out' and 'To the Devil a Daughter' were made into movies by Hammer Studios, the latter only loosely based on Wheatley's novel.

The novel begins in the South of France, where we meet Molly Fountain, a thriller writer awaiting a visit from her son. She becomes intrigued by the mysterious behaviour of her new neighbour, a young woman who spends her days staring out to sea, apparently doing nothing. Upon seeing her returning home in the middle of the night, Molly soon decides to introduce herself to the young woman, who introduces herself as Christina.

Christina soon breaks down and tells Molly the disturbing story of how her father has hidden her at the villa under an assumed name, seemingly to keep her safe from enemies she didn't know she had. Determined to help, Molly tells her son John the story on his arrival and they both endeavour to keep her safe. But they encounter many strange occurrences - as night falls, Christina's behaviour radically changes, leading Molly to draw the conclusion she is possessed by a demonic force.

Enlisting the help of Molly's old secret service colleague and friend Colonel Verney, John and Molly become Christina's protectors, coming up against a villainous Marquis and his son the Count leading a gang of criminals determined to kidnap Christina and smuggle her back to the UK; and the nefarious Canon Copely-Syle, Christina's godfather and, it is revealed, a Satanist with a diabolical scheme that will conclude on the evening of Christina's twenty-first birthday.

The action takes place between France and the UK as the group battle with criminals and Satanic forces to keep Christina safe until the danger has passed. With insights into the rituals and schemes of the Occult, Wheatley crafts a tale of diabolical tension that is both a gripping thriller and disturbing horror story. The final scenes in the Canon's crypt and the Cave of Bats are superbly realised, evoking strong images of the dark forces and those that dabble in them.

'To the Devil a Daughter' is a classic and a masterpiece of the horror and thriller genres and, particularly when you consider how shocking its subject matter and imagery would have been at the time of publication, proves why Wheatley's occult works have become the most famous of his legacy.



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The Forbidden by F.R. Tallis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


An engrossing tale of psychological horror and demonic possession by Frank Tallis, writing as F.R. Tallis.

‘The Forbidden’ begins as Dr Paul Clement travels to Saint-Sebastien, an island in the French Antilles, with dreams of making advances in medicine that will help a great number of people. There he witnesses a ritual that will change the course of his life and he is cursed that, if ever he is to speak of it, he will go to Hell. He returns to Paris, taking up a position at the Salpetriere, where he becomes fascinated by the accounts of patients’ near-death experiences.

As he is drawn to undertake his own experiments, Clement chooses to make the journey himself – a terrifying experience during which he travels beneath the earth and witnesses some of the torturous horrors of Hell. But is his encounter with demons a fulfilment of the curse or simply the conjurings of his dying brain?

Abandoning his experiments, Clement attempts to return to normality, going about his work and embarking on an affair with a colleague’s wife. But he begins to notice that some things have changed. He fears madness, but is soon confronted with a greater fear – that when he returned from Hell, something monstrous and powerful returned to the world and his body with him.

Reminiscent of 19th century Gothic horror masterpieces - like Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ - and the occult works of Dennis Wheatley, ‘The Forbidden’ is enthrallingly told. Even in his most flawed moments, Clement is an endearing character. With him, we dream of the great future before him, experience the terror of the unknown and his harrowing near-death experience, his struggles as he befalls the evil entity and succumbs to desire and temptation, and finally the battles to save his soul and the souls of others.

From his background as a clinical psychologist, Tallis threads authentic psychological detail throughout his fiction, making for a fascinating character-driven novel; also drawing on historical fact to create a vivid sense of France in the 1870s and 80s.

This was the first of Tallis’ horror novels, followed by ‘The Sleep Room’, ‘The Voices’ and his most recent, ‘The Passenger’, while he has also written a series of crime novels set at the turn of the 20th century featuring psychoanalyst Dr Max Liebermann, which have been adapted for television and will broadcast soon on BBC2 in the UK under the title ‘Vienna Blood’.

With psychological depth and supernatural mystery, ‘The Forbidden’ is a suspenseful study of the diabolical and the resilience of the human spirit.



The Sleep Room by F.R. Tallis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A nightmarish psychological horror that clutches hold of you and doesn’t let go until the final page.



The Voices by F.R. Tallis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A beautifully chilling ghost story that I couldn't wait to get back to reading every time I was forced to put it down.



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The Witching Hour by Anne Rice

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A bewitching gothic family saga crafted with history, horror and romance.

Dr Rowan Mayfair, adopted at a young age, is unaware of the legacy she stands to inherit when her birth mother, Deirdre, reaches the end of her life.

Michael Curry, after being rescued from drowning and a near death experience, finds himself with newfound psychic abilities, while his memories from the other side convince him he has a mission to fulfill.

Rowan and Michael are drawn to each other with a passion and emotion that envelopes and enslaves them, setting them on a path to discover the truth of the Mayfair dynasty and unravel the mysteries at its heart.

'The Witching Hour' is the first novel in Anne Rice's 'Lives of the Mayfair Witches' trilogy, a sublime work of gothic fiction, laced with philosophy, romance, eroticism and horror. Rice's rich and evocative gothic prose is almost lyrical and poetic, sublimely conjuring time and place in each scene and breathing life into the characters through their actions, thoughts and emotions. Dark and atmospheric, with a pervasive evil lurking behind every twist and turn, it lures you in from the beginning and then refuses to relent its grip.

Through a vast cast of characters, each impeccably developed and contributing to moving the narrative forward, we witness the history of the Mayfair family from the very beginning - with the persecution and witch trials in Scotland in the 17th century, travelling to France and Saint Domingue and New Orleans, through to the present day remnants of their legacy of witchcraft; a tale fraught with power, corruption, incest and tragedy.

Through the ages, there is one constant - an entity that is at once dangerous and destructive, charming and seductive. Lasher lurks forever in the shadows, perhaps a faithful familiar, perhaps something demonic with his own malignant motives, a constant companion and lover to the Mayfair Witches. This mystery stretches through the centuries, ever present through the trauma, drama and tragedy experienced by the family.

Deeply immersive, endlessly fascinating and provocative, the novel perfectly evokes the passing expanse of the centuries and the complex web of the characters' lives, culminating in a brutal and disturbing climax. With bursts of graphic imagery and raw emotion, squalour and desperation juxtaposed with glamour and indulgence, marinated in sin and debauchery, moulded with history and spiritualism, magic and science, while forever shrouded in a haunting and gothic atmosphere, this saga has everything you could wish for and more. I'm very excited to read the first sequel, 'Lasher', and also highly anticipating the upcoming TV adaptation.

Spellbinding and suspenseful, 'The Witching Hour' is a chilling and seductive masterpiece that takes you on an epic journey that leaves you exhilarated, fulfilled and gasping for more.



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Blood on Satan's Claw: or, The Devil's Skin by Robert Wynne-Simmons

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A bewitching folktale of terror.

The discovery of a skull buried in a field begins the horror that befalls the rural community of Chapel Folding.

The children begin to act strangely, their childish games and squabbles developing a more sinister nature, a cult forming around the girl who holds a vicious claw.

Now a disease is spreading throughout the village, visible by the fur growing on the skin. Evil, malignant and contagious, has taken root, the idyllic countryside blighted and cursed in a war for the soul.

'Blood on Satan's Claw; or, The Devil's Skin' is the novelisation of the 1971 film 'The Blood on Satan's Claw', a story of supernatural horror, devil worship, demonic possession and religious mania, and one of the forebears of the folk horror sub-genre. Written by Robert Wynne-Simmons, who wrote the original screenplay and co-wrote the reworked version alongside director Piers Haggard, the novel combines a vivid depiction of its rural setting and its inhabitants with slow-burning, ominous plotting to produce a vision of nightmarish, vintage horror.

Set in the early 18th century, this is a time when the beliefs and customs of folklore and old Paganism still held firm and Christian fears of witchcraft and Satanism were at the height of hysteria, beliefs combining and conflicting, with the English Civil War and England's witch trials still in living memory. Exploring the epidemic qualities of terror and hysteria, which we've witnessed so often throughout history and continue to this day, Wynne-Simmons crafts an atmospheric narrative of compelling and creeping dread.

Following a dizzying amount of characters, with the switch between narratives sometimes feeling a little disjointed, it has the feel of a story once told orally, transcribed on to the page from a tale around the campfire. At its centre is teenager Angel, who, under the influence of the devil, becomes sorceress and seductress, a pawn in his plan to return to the realm of flesh and bone. Meanwhile, surrounding the cult building around her are those who hope to combat the evil, yet many may fall before it is thwarted, as the superstition and horror mounts to a final crusading attempt to prevent Satan setting foot upon the earth.

A folk horror classic, 'Blood on Satan's Claw' creeps beneath the skin to explore the influence of superstition and the supernatural on the human mind.



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Demonic Foes: My Twenty-Five Years as a Psychiatrist Investigating Possessions, Diabolic Attacks, and the Paranormal by Richard Gallagher

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A captivating study of diabolic attacks from a professor of psychiatry.

Richard Gallagher's 'Demonic Foes' is part memoir, part study in demonology, a fascinating exploration of the reality behind phenomena we often witness in horror fiction. As a psychiatrist and member of the International Association of Exorcists, Dr. Gallagher has spent many years working alongside exorcists to combat demonic assaults - including oppression, infestation, and possession - and lead sufferers to their path to deliverance.

Gallagher's involvement began when he was contacted by a priest to undertake a psychiatric assessment of someone believed to be possessed. Contrary to common misconception, responsible clergy will seek medical and psychological assessment prior to an exorcism being performed. As Gallagher notes, the vast majority of suspected diabolic attacks ultimately prove not to be so. Yet, despite their relative rarity, some prove to be paranormal in origin.

In addition to selected accounts of suspected cases of possession he has assessed, Gallagher also details comparison to cases of psychosis and personality disorders, defining how they and spiritual attacks present differently. Gallagher also examines a history of belief in demons, evil spirits and possession across belief systems, with particular focus on the Abrahamic religions and the development of the concept of the Devil and his legion of fallen angels.

It should be noted that, as a Catholic, his beliefs influence his views on spiritualism, pre-Christian beliefs and Eastern religions. Nevertheless, the narrative is largely balanced and consideration given that belief systems in opposition to some Christian beliefs are not necessarily malignant. Regardless of your own beliefs or agnosticism on the subject, 'Demonic Foes' is an endlessly intriguing dossier of spiritual inquiry, religious history, psychological insight, and witness evidence. Intelligent and thought-provoking, it proves powerful testimony for the existence of malign spiritual forces.



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Lasher by Anne Rice

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A dark and alluring gothic supernatural thriller, continuing the family saga of the Mayfair witches.

Rowan Mayfair has vanished without a trace. Her husband Michael Curry has been hospitalised since the night of her disappearance. The rest of the Mayfair clan gather around – speculating, in denial, hovering like vultures.

An ancient evil, the demonic entity Lasher, now walks the realm of the living, born of flesh and blood, after centuries of fulfilling the role of dutiful familiar to the Mayfair witches.

Lasher is pursuing his own insidious endgame, a chilling scheme to populate the earth with his progeny.

‘Lasher’ is the second novel in the ‘Lives of the Mayfair Witches’ trilogy by Anne Rice. A dark and twisted Gothic family saga, laced with horror, romance, erotica, philosophy and faith, Rice’s luscious, immersive prose takes us on a delicious and horrific journey into the forbidden, delving back in time and further exploring the past of the Mayfair family, building on the events of the first novel, moving the narrative forwards with a twist of speculative and science fiction, as we meet the wider family in the present day and dig deeper into secrets entwined within their history.

Rice weaves a sublime mix of horror and eroticism, history and villainy, the novel immediately and relentlessly capturing us under its spell. A complex, multi-layered narrative, swirling in mystery and suspense, at times disturbing, often thought-provoking, it explores themes of good and evil, pleasure and pain, genetics and evolution, religion and mythology, survival and sacrifice, forgiveness and vengeance, combining in a mesmerising concoction to tell a tale of power, corruption and tragedy.

Picking up where ‘The Witching Hour’ left off, Rowan has disappeared, escaping with the newborn Lasher after he left Michael for dead. Suffering a dizzying mix of confused emotions, Rowan is imprisoned and raped by her demonic offspring, as he follows his warped desires to impregnate and pleasure her, while experiencing life in the flesh after centuries as a spirit. Meanwhile, Michael returns home from hospital, a lost and broken man, fearing what has become of Rowan and the abomination that was his newborn child.

We are also introduced to the fourteenth designee of the legacy, Mona, only thirteen years old. Intellectually, emotionally and sexually advanced beyond her years, Mona’s relationships are amongst the most controversial elements of the novel. No matter her power and ambition, she is undoubtedly another victim of the curse of the Mayfair legacy and its twisted, seductive darkness. This curse is manifesting in a series of brutal deaths befalling the Mayfair women, the result of rapes and miscarriages, further culmination of a legacy of abuse, incest and trauma. As Rowan manages to affect her escape, she is left comatose after giving birth to yet another unnatural creature.

An encounter with the spirit of Julien Mayfair deepens our understanding of Mayfair history. In the first novel, there was always the feeling there was more to learn from Julien, never regarded as an official designee of the legacy despite his immense power (as interesting reversal of our patriarchal society in that the lineage of witchcraft is a matriarchy) and his relationship with Lasher. We return to perhaps the most decadent period of the Mayfair family’s past, experiencing it from Julien’s perspective, learning of other critical events that occurred surrounding and enriching what we already know.

The mysterious organisation, the Talamasca, investigators of paranormal phenomena through the centuries, continues to be a lurking presence, and may not be as benign and neutrally observant as they claim, leading their own agents Aaron and Yuri to question their motives and turn their backs on them. Through Julien’s story and the involvement of the Talamasca, we unearth Lasher’s history and the mystery of his identity, escalating to a climatic confrontation when we finally hear his confession, which takes us back in British history to a time period that ties beautifully with its religious history and the witchcraft hysteria that will come to grip the country in the succeeding century, when the legacy of the Mayfair witches began and tied them inextricably with the prophecy of the Taltos.

Bewitching and enthralling, ‘Lasher’ is an intense second chapter in an epic gothic saga of witchcraft. I am eagerly anticipating discovering how the trilogy concludes in the final novel, ‘Taltos’.



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