Escalofríos

by Douglas E. Winter (Editor), Stephen King (Contributor), Paul Hazel (Contributor)

He aquí un libro estremecedor que reúne a los maestros de la literatura de terror contemporánea. Desde el entusiasmo maníaco de Stephen King hasta el elegante ingenio de Paul Hazel, pasando por el simbolismo enigmático de M. John Harrison, el psicologismo inquietante de Clive Barker, el estilo implacable de Denis Etchison y el erotismo refinado de Thomas Tessier, esta obra recopila seis pequeñas joyas del horror universal. Se trata de seis largos relatos que, por distintos medios, logran un mismo resultado: sacudir las fibras íntimas del lector, hacerle partícipe de espeluznantes experiencias que bordean los imprecisos límites entre la realidad y la ficción. Una lectura imprescindible para conocer lo mejor de un género apasionante.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Fantasy, Thriller, Horror Thriller

246 pages, Paperback

First published June 23, 1988

About the author

Douglas E. Winter is an American writer, critic and lawyer. A life-long interest in horror has led him to develop a parallel career as horror writer and horror critic. Winter edited horror anthologies Prime Evil (1988), and Revelations (1997) as well as the interviews collection Faces of Fear (1985, revised 1990). He has also written biographies of Stephen King and Clive Barker. He is a member of the National Book Critics Circle.

Reviews

[Ash · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nightflier - Stephen King
2 - Didn't get good till the last couple pages. Sometimes King writes a ton of boring filler, this is one of those times

Having A Woman At Lunch - Paul Hazel
2.5 - Not sure why they cannibalized her, were they always cannibals?

The Blood Kiss - Dennis Etchison
2 - The script was better than the story

Coming to Grief - Clive Barker
1 - boring, then a cliff monster showed up? Wtf

Food - Thomas Tessier
2.5 - So the lady was a worm thing the entire time? Was she ever a human?

The Great God Pan - M John Harrison
1 - I have no idea what this was suppose to be about.

Orange is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity - David Morell
4 - The only story in this book worth reading

The Juniper Tree - Peter Straub
1 - The fuck is this? A kid getting molested. No thanks.

Spinning Tales with the Dead - Charles L Grant
1 - Sooo he murdered his family and now goes to a lake to talk with their ghosts?

Alice's Last Adventure - Thomas Ligotti
1 - Again I'm not quite sure what I was reading, does this woman suffer from mental illness? Is that what passed for Horror in the 80s?

Next Time You'll Know Me - Ramsey Campbell
1 - How is this horror? This has to be the worst collection of "horror" stories ever. Also boring just like every other story in this book.


The Pool - Whitley Strieber
2 - I don't know if I'm too dense to get what these stories mean? The boy made a radio and could contact... heaven? The afterlife and then wanted to die in the pool?

By Reason of Darkness - Jack Cady
At this point I stopped paying attention. Was three old war buddies and 1 of them calls the other 2 up to his house for some reason. Guy starts remembering about the war blah blah stopped reading it.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Night Flier by Stephen King - A sleazy journalist investigates a investigates a "vampire" with a private plane and a taste for blood. Fun, lightweight page-turner. 3.5 Stars

Having a Woman For Lunch by Paul E. Hazel - Cannibalism and gender politics mingle when a woman enter the male-dominated workforce. Bland, but gains points for the grisly ending. 2.5 Stars

The Blood Kiss by Dennis Etchison - Fun, fast-paced tale of showbiz, revenge, and death. 4 Stars

Coming to Grief by Clive Barker - A woman comes to terms with the death of her mother and confronts a very real monster threatening her own life. This low key story is touching, moving, and is a complete success outside of Barker's comfort zone. 5 Stars

Food by Thomas Tessier - An unlikely relationship forms between a bookish, lonely gentleman and a "grossly" overweight young lady. She hides a secret. Brief, weird, and very good. 4.5 Stars

The Great God Pan by M. John Harrison - A terrible "experiment between a group of young friends yields disturbing consequenses. Aims for mood and atmosphere, but generates only snores from me. 1.5 Stars

Orange is for Anguish, Blue is for Insanity by David Morrell - Two art students become obsessed with the depths of insanity of a brilliant deceased artist. But at what price? Haunting, Chilling, Best in the collection. 5 Stars

The Juniper Tree by Peter Straub - Unsettling examination of child abuse and the debilitating effect on a young mind. Difficult to stomach, but a powerful read. 4.5 Stars

Spinning Tales With The Dead by Charles L. Grant - Offbeat, moody yarn about the power of tall tales....and death. 3.5 Stars

Alice's last Adventure by Thomas Ligotti - A writer of children's books is confronted by a literal manifestation of the loss of her childlike innocence. Spooky and interesting. 3.5 Stars

Next time You'll Know Me by Ramsey Campbell - Amusing story of a young man who claims all his story ideas were stolen for bestselling novels. He decides to get revenge. 3 Stars

The Pool by Whitley Strieber - Surreal fever dream about soul taking and unwanted visitors. 5 Stars

By Reason of Darkness by Jack Cady - Vietnam Vets confront the ghosts of past sins. Indulgent and boring, the collection ends with a whimper and its worst story. 1.5 Stars

All in all, a fun anthology with a handful of great tales and only two real duds.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was some really good stuff and some other stuff I wasn't sure why it was here, because it seemed mostly fantasy.

However, stories by King, Etchison, Barker, Morrell, and Straub raised the level very high. Overall very good.

[DeAnna Knippling · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one quite a bit--but most of the stories had the same format: slow burn psychologically-based (if usually still supernatural) horror. Lots of ghosts. If that's the kind of thing you like, you'll find it here.

My standouts here were the Clive Barker story and the Jack Cady novella at the end. The Peter Straub story has been in several other anthologies I've read lately, and that's quite good, too.

[Michael Tildsley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, I didn't really like this collection. It doesn't really live up to the premise of the collection being a "horror" collection in my humble opinion. Some stories just feel like off-color odds and ends that wouldn't fit into an author's other anthologies. Others were just bad. There were a few good stories here, though not all of them were "horror" in my understanding of the genre.

My favorites from this set include:

"Coming to Grief" by Clive Barker ***
"Food" by Thomas Tessier ****
"Orange is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity" by David Morell ****
"The Juniper Tree" by Peter Straub ****

Yeah, four decent stories out of thirteen is not too good. I'm a pretty big Stephen King fan, and I didn't even really like "The Night Flyer." Sadly, the HBO low-budget movie has a better story arch and character development than the original short story. I guess I can't complain too much. The book was only $1.

[Michelle Plass · Rating 4 out of 5]

My top 3:

Having a woman for lunch-snappy, sick little twist at the end

Coming to Grief: A longer story that I just loved.

Orange is for Anguish, Blue is for Insanity: LOVED this story! I kind of had an idea where the story was going but I loved it all the same!

The rest were ok...usually I love Stephen King's stuff, but The Night Flyer has never been one of my favorites.

Side note: I thought the intro was VERY interesting and well worth a read!

[Mike (Hail Horror Hail) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool collection, some amazing, some great, and only a few that were less than that.

[Helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the first time I've read this book but the other time I only read three of the stories inside it and didn't read the rest. This time I read almost the entire thing (I didn't finish the last story, Jack Cady's, to the end).
A few of the stories in this compilation are definitely going to stick with me, they lingered in my mind after I read them.
Here's what I think about each now that I'm finished. Be warned, I do not explain what goes on in the stories, I only say what I felt of each, so if you're looking for a more in depth review, this ain't it honey.

The Night Flier by Stephen King: This is the story that got me hooked on Stephen King; read it way back in 2014 and as soon as I finished The Night Flier I wanted more . Been my favorite author ever since; this one is definitely worth a read. It has almost a crescendo of suspense and terror about it.

Having a Woman at Lunch by Paul Hazel: Felt very short. Kinda lackluster because the events just happened, no real build up towards them; felt like something was missing...

The Blood Kiss by Dennis Etchinson: Two short stories in one. Not bad but didn't like the fact one of the characters was making cliché decisions.

Coming to Grief by Clive Barker: I need to read more Clive Barker now. This story felt so terrifyingly real to me. Definitely one of my favorites in this book.

Food by Thomas Tessier: Another one I loved. Very eerie and kinda gross, but I could definitely imagine the scene in real life happening (if so was possible, of course). I was expecting the ending it had but not in the way it happened, so I was pleasantly surprised and liked it a lot. Another favorite.

The Great God Pan by M. John Harrison: What the hell did I just read... No seriously, what did I just read? I can't remember what I read here, I had to go back. Felt like I was reading an excerpt out of a book with a trilogy or something because it made little sense. Not my cup of tea.

Orange Is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity by David Morrell: LOVED this one. I had already read it, not sure if I read the whole thing, I don't think so, but I recalled part of it as I read. This one is another favorite and I definitely am interested in Morrell's work now; the story was very enticing and I was curious while reading to find out what happened to the characters.

The Juniper Tree by Peter Straub: This was another one I remembered from reading previously, but not entirely, so when I read it I kinda knew what was gonna happen, but not entirely. Another favorite. F'd me up, honestly, because it's not a supernatural threat, it's a very real one that many children are a victim of. I felt horror while reading what was happening... Horror and despair from the main character. Great one!

Spinning Tales with the Dead by Charles L. Grant and Alice's Last Adventure by Thomas Ligotti: Both not bad but not special either.

Next Time You'll Know Me by Ramsey Campbell: Nice one; the character narrating seemed to turn gradually insane as they "wrote". Liked it too.

The Pool by Whitley Strieber: Nice quick story. Don't know exactly what was happening to one of the characters but it didn't prevent me from understanding the main story.

By Reason of Darkness by Jack Cady: Can't talk about this one. Honestly after reading 10-15 pages I gave up. The story wasn't my cup of tea.

[Kevin Lucia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished this. WONDERFUL stories in here, by the masters. A must-read for horror fans and aspiring horror writers....

[Lupita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es una buena colección de historias cortas. Lo que me llamó la atención fue que me gustaron en orden descendente, empezaron fuerte y fueron bajando el ritmo.

[Román Hernández · Rating 3 out of 5]

Primera parte de la antología que reúne autores contemporáneos del género de terror. En el primer relato, King nos trae un aburrido relato de un vampiro que lo deja en ridículo con su narrativa a pesar de las descripciones, disculpen pero eso del vampiro aviador es de lo mas sonso.
El segundo relato explora el salvajismo que puede resultar en el mundo empresarial, dónde comerse a otro será tomado en cuenta.
En "El beso sangriento" el sentimiento de venganza puede conducir a ser presa de la venganza de otro.
Clive Barker trae el relato "La inminencia del desastre" que explora las relaciones del pasado que vuelven con los duelos y cómo el miedo nos conduce a repetir situaciones del pasado.
"Comida" aborda lo monstruoso que resultan los excesos como lo es la comida y el amor
Por último, "El gran Dios Pan" nos conduce a secretos del pasado que regresan en forma de figuras espectrales.

[Daphne Lomax · Rating 3 out of 5]

While some of the stories in this collection were fun to read, if I did not know that this was a collection of horror stories I would of never known. Personally most of the stories dragged on and had little to no "horror" or creep factors. I went into this book ready to feel creeped out and came back very dissapointed. I would not suggest this to someone who really likes to be scared from books but would to people who have just started to dabble in the world of horror.

[Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this when it was first released in the late 80s and considered it the best horror anthology I had encountered. Reading it again in 2022, it doesn't hold up as well as I hoped. As others have said, in many ways it no longer feels like horror.
I think that says more about the modern mindset than the quality of the stories - how inured we have become to horrors of all kinds when we can call up whatever we want to see with a few twitches of our fingers. So many of these tales require readers to engage their imaginations and find the shadows hiding there. Because the scariest things have always been just out of sight.
Whatever the reason, the readers here are right - what was so chilling and unsettling 35 years ago barely even tweaks the meter these days.
The good news is that the story that persuaded me to rebuy the book when it showed up in a used book bin still delivers in spades. If not yet considered a horror classic, "Orange is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity" really should be. Powerful, evocative, and strange. And some of the other stories remain strong - like M. John Harrison's "The Great God Pan."
Good horror stories do not need to wear their blood on their sleeve. In the end, it completely prove the point Winters makes in the introductions when he describes horror as "a progressive form of fiction that continually evolves to meet the fears and anxieties of its times."
It has evolved.

[Atef Attia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Du bon et du très très bon dans cette anthologie sortie en 1988 qui porte bien son nom, pour une fois! Promesse tenue par Douglas E. winter qui a su réunir 13 histoires d'une noirceur sans égale où la fantastique côtoie l'horreur, voir le gore. De très grands noms ici comme Stephen King, Clive Barker, David Morell et Peter Straub dont les nouvelles sont à lire absolument. ''Le genévrier'' de Peter Straub reste pour moi la plus grosse claque de ce recueil: une nouvelle sombre, dérangeante à souhait qui vous colle à la peau bien après la lecture. Quelques belles découvertes aussi comme l'oppressant ''Le Grand Dieu Pan'' de M. John Harrison et son atmosphère tendue à couper au couteau ainsi que ''la Piscine'' de Whitley Streiber, un texte court mais d'une fulgurance monstre.

Le clou reste cependant la toute dernière nouvelle (plutôt Novella) ''A cause des ténèbres'' de Jack Cady, une descente aux enfers d'anciens camarades de guerre qui se revoient des années après s'être perdu de vue et qui sont obligés de se faire face aux vieux démons de leur passé sanglant. Très inspirée de ''Au cœur des ténèbres'', cette novella est une pure merveille de maîtrise et d'imagination doublée d'une belle réflexion sur la condition humaine et son rapport à la guerre, la destruction et la mort.

Un recueil à lire absolument pour les amateurs du genre, surtout si vous êtes amoureux de la nouvelle comme moi.

[Ren · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Horror is not a genre [...] it is not a kind of fiction, meant to be confined to the ghetto of a special shelf in libraries or bookstores. Horror is an emotion. It can be found in all literature."

So spake Douglas E. Winter, editor of the 'Prime Evil' horror anthology.

I'm inclined to agree, which is indeed part of where my love of horror comes from; it is a limitless playground for the imagination since there are an infinite number of things that can scare us, and an infinite number of ways to dress them up.

That being said, because of its inherent lack of limitations when it comes to convention, it's really hard to hand a horror fan just any work falling into that broad categorization and expect them to enjoy it. What type of horror fan are they exactly? Do they gravitate towards monsters and ghosts, do they like gore, blood, decaying Gothic manors, violence, darkness, realism, fantasy? Do they want to battle death, social anxiety, PTSD, grief, existential dread?

This would definitely speak to why it was that reviews of this collection were so mixed. This wasn't a collection with a through line (e.g. 'Vampire anthology', 'Ghost Stories', etc.) -- it's a smorgasbord of all things horrific: ghost stories, body horror, child abuse, insanity, PTSD, vampires, nervous breakdowns, aliens. The gang's all here. But not everyone in the gang is for everyone.

From what I can gather, Winter certainly had the credentials to choose well-executed works from established authors, so I don't question the actual caliber of the stories, but I, like anyone presented with sundry options, liked some more than others; my final rating coming down to, really, how closely my taste aligned with Winter's.

Like any good 'Poe hoe', I like a good bit of cracked sanity in my horror, so I share the seemingly popular opinion that 'Orange is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity' by David Morrell was a standout, though I wish the ending had left a bit more to the imagination (like, did we need to have it spelled out where the madness came from? Did that not just knock some of the terror out of things?)

I also liked Thomas Ligotti's 'Alice's Last Adventure', which was on the more subtle side in terms of offering any sort of explanation for anything, though it also explored a bit of frayed sanity, perhaps a nervous breakdown of an aging writer of children's fiction, now haunted by her own creation.

Many of the others were fine. 'Food' was the expected value of body horror, but written well. 'The Night Flier' was the expected value of Stephen King, complete with the morally bankrupt protagonist pissing himself not once, but twice.

'The Juniper Tree' by Peter Straub was definitely the most polarizing of the bunch. Unsurprising, considering the subject matter of sexual abuse of a child described in pretty graphic detail from the perspective of that child having to reckon with that abuse as an adult. Everyone seems to agree that it was well-written (including me), but stories like that do raise questions about where the line is exactly (and if there should even be one) when it comes to gratuitous depictions of certain things (sexual abuse, violence, torture, sex, etc.). Honestly, that line will likely be in different places for different people. I don't like graphic torture scenes. For this reason, I'd never watch something like 'Martyrs.' But do I think it crosses a line just because I don't like it? Super hard to say.

I tend to be interested in the harm caused by the slant of the messaging of a text more than the degree of graphicness with which a text depicts distasteful things. A lot of the sex scenes in bodice rippers bother me more than, say, that scene in 'Lolita' where Humbert Humbert gets Dolores to unknowingly jerk him off with her foot, and it all comes down to framing. Bodice rippers tend to frame a lack of consent as just part of the ritual of sex--as sexy even, whereas Nabokov is careful to frame the sex in 'Lolita' as disgusting and horrific. And to what end? Bodice rippers aim to be titillating while 'Lolita' is meant (in part) to be an exploration of how easily charismatic people can spin a narrative in their own favor even if their monstrousness is out in the open.

'The Juniper Tree' doesn't romanticize what happens to its protagonist, but instead goes out of its way to criticize the culture that allows such disturbing things to happen; the ways in which a lack of sex education leads to children being more easily manipulated by adults with malevolent and predatory intentions. Given the publication date of 1988, this could also be seen as a retrospective critique of the parental neglect of the 'latchkey' generation.

There's stuff going on if you pop the hood is my point.

It's also definitely horror in the emotional sense that Winter describes in the introduction (the introduction, by the by, is definitely worth a read on its own), and so I agree with Winter that it belongs in a collection of 'modern horror' (as proclaimed by the book's subheading).

Definitely not for everyone, though, and one could argue that certain things could have been implied rather than shown without the story losing its sting.

Honestly, my biggest issue with many of the stories wasn't that they weren't to my taste, or explored themes I'm uninterested in, but more so that there was all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to most of them. Explore grief and PTSD and madness, yes, but (and maybe I'm just world-weary after all my years in the horror game) have some finesse, leave some mystery, some ambiguity. These are stories for adults, and I wish more of the authors involved in the project had trusted their readers a bit more.

In any event, 'Prime Evil' does what it sets out to do, I think; presenting horror as not a genre but a feeling that can come from many places, and it's a good introduction to popular and talented late 20th century writers for newer horror fans who may well only have heard of Stephen King. It's also a great collection for a budding horror fan still trying to feel out their taste.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this collection lo those many years ago (20 years ago, maybe???) because Stephen King was part of it. But then random things remind me of one of the most haunting and painful stories I have ever been put through. I always thought SK wrote the story.

Thanks to modern technology, I'm able to track the book down for GoodReads. "Prime Evil" is the title of the book of collected stories. SK's contribution was great. (I thought I was talking to a friend about his story, "The Night Flier," and she was talking to me about "Mile 81.)

But SK did NOT write the best and most haunting story in the collection after all.

"Orange Is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity" by David Morrell.

I have no clue what other stories are in the book, lol, other than SK's and DM's. :) It's enough, though.

Five stars.

[Octavio Villalpando · Rating 2 out of 5]

Francamente, es una antología muy mala. La selección no ha sido del todo afortunada, ya que, para el año en que fue presentada, había muchísimos escritores en activo haciendo cuentos mucho mejores, y sin olvidar lo principal en un relato de horror: buscar provocar miedo al lector.

Aquí no hay nada de eso. Se salva el relato de Clive Barker, "La inminencia del desastre" y hay alguno que otro chispazo en alguno que otro relato. Pero más parece que quisieron capitalizar lo tan en boga que estaba Stephen King en ese momento (bueno, eso no ha cambiado mucho que digamos) y la revolución que había supuesto Barker con sus "Libros de Sangre" para tratar de lograr un producto exitoso comercialmente hablando. No dudo que hayan cumplido con eso, sin embargo, en cuanto a contenido "horrorífico", si nos quedan mucho a deber.

[Tim Meechan · Rating 5 out of 5]

By far the best collection of short horror I’ve ever read. Besides the obvious kings of the genre, Straub, Campbell, Barker, and King himself, the second tier of authors are all exceptional as well.

Except for Etchison’s entry, all the stories are original. “Orange is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity” by David Morrell was my favorite and was super creepy. Excellent story and a surprise to me having read only his thrillers previously.

I easily convinced all my fellow readers to check this book out and received similar reactions. This anthology is worth tracking down if you haven’t already enjoyed it.

[Cyndi del Río · Rating 2 out of 5]

El segundo y cuarto cuento fueron los que me agradaron de esta pequeña antología. No le tengo nada en contra, creo que aquí el problema es que estoy tan acostumbrada al terror que mis expectativas fueron demasiado altas.

[Kurt Criscione · Rating 3 out of 5]

an ARC i found in a used book store. Got some good ones mixed in there.

[Petq · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only "The Night Flier","Popsy"qqqqqqqqqq

[PJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Exceptuando a Stephen King el resto no han conseguido gran cosa.

[Damian Herde · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very mixed bag of stories, some excellent and some just horrendous, with a number that have aged badly. The introduction is very good.

Stephen King’s, “The Night Flier”, follows a tabloid reporter trailing a serial killer who seems to think he’s a vampire, with the added twist that he travels by plane and kills at little airports. A popcorn, page turner, with some splashes of 80s misogyny/ablism. 4/5

Paul Hazel’s, “Having a Woman at Lunch”, looks at the ‘old boys club’ in business, and how much resistance there has been to gender equity. Indeed, a strong, capable woman might be eaten alive in the corporate world. Interesting allegory. 3.5/5

Dennis Etchison’s, “The Blood Kiss”, is a layered story of betrayal and self-service in the movie industry, with the industry story running parallel to a contested and stolen script of a zombie story. A bit of a frustrating, dissatisfying read with some poorer depictions of female characters. 2.5/5

Clive Barker’s, “Coming to Grief”, is about a woman returning home for her mother’s funeral, and facing her childhood fears of a creature that lived in the quarry. I enjoyed the setup and the writing; however, I was unsatisfied with the conclusion. 3/5

Thomas Tessier’s, “Food”, was the weird horror highlight that reengaged my waning interest in this collection. A retired man befriends his neighbour and is concerned by her escalating level of food consumption and inactivity. She refuses medical intervention and insists she’s fine. The story’s final act was delightfully horrific. 4.5/5

M. John Harrison’s, “The Great God Pan”, is a journey to try and understand some event 20 years in the past of the protagonist, where he, two friends and another guy took part in an experiment that they all can’t remember. They all hallucinated afterwards, but it seems that the visions may not have been imagined. With the same title as an excellent Machin story, where a woman is impregnated by a god, which then inspired Lovecraft’s ‘The Dunwich Horror’, what really did happen those 20 years ago? 3.5/5

David Morrell’s story, “Orange is For Anguish, Blue For Insanity”, is outstanding. An artist watched his art historian friend obsess over an obscure French painter who went insane and blinded himself. All those who get too close discover something that leads them to the same fate. The friend is sure there is a secret within the art, and he finds it. This story is a downward spiral into answers that cannot be returned from. 4.5/5

Peter Straub’s story, “The Juniper Tree”, is an exploration of child grooming and paedophilia that could come from a real-world case file. It took a long time to get to its point, I didn’t need to read a paedophile sex scene, and I didn’t care for the journey. 2/5

Charles L. Grant’s story, “Spinning Tales with the Dead”, is an atmospheric (if conventional) ghost story, with an old man spending the day fishing with a few people, telling tall stories, hiding from the townspeople who harass him. Events slowly make sense until it’s clear why they’re all there. 3/5

The ever-impressive Thomas Ligotti’s story, “Alice’s Last Adventure”, follows an aged author of a popular series of kids books, featuring a character that revelled in ‘stylish nightmares’. Experiencing a separation between her self-as-author and self-as-person, she sees disturbing imagery in the real world that could come from her character’s world. Very cool story. 4/5

Ramsey Campbell’s story, “Next Time You’ll Know Me’, follows a youth who wants to be a writer, but sees all his ideas being published. He wants them all to stop, and he knows what will happen next. 3.5/5

Whitley Strieber’s story, “The Pool”, takes a look at a weird spiritualism that says our souls are needed to join a battle in the hereafter, so we must vacate the flesh. More disturbing when a parent hears it from their young child. 3.5/5

Jack Cady’s story, “By Reason of Darkness”, is a ghost story following three US military people as they commit war crimes and atrocities in unnamed Asian countries, as if it’s no big deal, and actually to be expected, so just get over it. The revelling in US military supremacy runs on and on, including racial slurs. After one of them murders a monk for no reason, that is apparently the one murder that has a consequence. But not until many years in the future, and a Rambo-esque confrontation in a forest. With ghosts. 1.5/5

[Joseph Hirsch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's a better than average collection of horror heavyweights from the late 80s, mostly at or near their primes. Stephen King is already starting to show a little slippage in "The Night Flyer," and thinking man's horror writer Thomas Ligotti's house isn't quite in ascendancy, but you get the idea.

Rating these things is always subjective (my favorites might be your stinkers, and vice versa), but I'll give my opinion here and present it as if it were fact, as that's what the internet is for. (In my best Comic Book Guy voice): Dennis Etchison continues to be the rock on which such anthologies are built, and as ever, in "Blood Kiss," he turns in a quality tale. This one is about a horror film director who conspires to kill his scream queen on set while making a zombie pic. David Morrell's, "Orange is for Anguish, Blue is for Insanity," is really the crown jewel in this collection. It deals with a couple art students who start to develop an obsession with a famed impressionist. Since those who become too engrossed in the subject tend to gouge out their eyes with scissors, this poses some problems. In its way, it reminded me of a shorter (yet just as rich) version of Charles Willeford's masterful commentary on the art world, "The Burnt Orange Heresy." Last and not least would be another old trusty stalwart, Ramsey Campbell. His story, about an unreliable narrator convinced he has written every story he ever reads, is truly the stuff of nightmares. The idea that someone might read your work, accuse you of plagiarism, and then show up on your doorstep and put a bullet in your head is crazy, but the world is crazy, and thus the unsettling feeling this one evokes. Someone revoke Hinckley's parole!

In the minus column (again, pure scurrilous subjectivity here) would be, first and foremost, Peter Straub's "The Juniper Tree." It's a tale about a boy who likes to go to the moviehouse and there encounters a man who begins grooming him. Tragic sure, but more icky than frightening. Sexual abuse can obviously serve as grist for the horror mill, but something about this one is handled wrongly, and it feels more like a therapeutic confession than a piece of fiction. "Alice's Last Adventure" proves once again that Ligotti's rarified style of delicate and dread-laced horror just isn't for me. I like subtle and I like gothic, but I've yet to encounter anything of his I've liked. Last (both in terms of quality and literally in the book) has to be Jack Cady's "By Reason of Darkness." I want to give my fellow Ohio native a mulligan here just on general principal, but this Vietnam pastiche, with its half-baked war clichés, really got my goat for some reason. That it was by far the longest piece in the book (literally a short novel, according to curator Doug Winter) left a doubly bad taste in my mouth, and almost ruined what had heretofore been a bumpy ride, but one I could still in good conscience recommend.

Thankfully, I recovered from that PTSD-inducing bit of melodrama before writing this review. I'm better now. Recommended, with a couple reservations.

[Doc Harony]

Boy was THIS a time capsule of horror! That's not to say I didn't like it, but boy was I violently thrust back into the 80s, and whoever said the media there was better, is incorrect. The things you remember as being better are those that were good enough to stand the test.

Read if you like horror, skip if you don't, is my basic takeaway

Spoliers below

The story this collection is sort of hung upon is a Stephen King novella that's just sort of, classic Stephen, and I enjoyed the tense moments and the little humanities he put in, as I always do, but it's basically, fine.

Shocked the SHIT out myself by loving a Clive Barker story, as my favorite in the whole collection! usually his stuff is a little too, I guess I'll use the word intense, for me. Little blood, guts, and sex, from my sampler of him. But I think I'm going to give him another try! Coming To Grief was this really quiet horror story about grief, growing up, and how Liverpool* is a fucking sinkhole that might drag you down with it, but you can't hide that part of you, either**. Loved. Will absolutely pursue more of his work.

David Morrell's "orange for Anguish, Blue for Insanity" was something that I think might also be saying something, or was trying to, but I'm not QUITE sure it gets there. I'd have to reread it, but it takes a little hook at the end that might or might not take away what it could be saying. Actually, sitting here rethinking it, maybe it doesn't. Maybe I just think it's a tiny bit inelegant. Anyway, it's about obsession and drive.

The Juniper Tree wins a certain amount of award for being truly horrifying and in exploring the horrifying courage of children but I was not expecting a story about surviving molestation in this! i'm not complaining, I'm fine, but I thought it was a really interesting take on what horror is that I'm not sure would fly in present day? I sure wouldn't want to be the one to submit it, good as it is.

I almost really like "By reason of Darkness" by Jack Cady. It's about Vietnam war veterans, and the thing that keeps chasing them, and it's got so many really beautiful moments. I think it's saying something, maybe, about how at the end of the day, the Whites, Jews, Asians, and Blacks, were all expected to ship out to Vietnam, but back home, the Whites were happy to forget all that USA!USA! shit and go back to shitting on the rest of them. While rich people shit on all of them. Anyway, it's about a little group that was in Vietnam together, and what happens after, and like I said, it's almost really compelling. I want to take it back to CAdy and be like, "Take another pass at this! make it longer! It's almost really good!"

*There are three British authors in this collection, and two are from Liverpool, leading me to believe it is the center of horror in the Uk. (The other is from Rugby. Horror is in the North, it seems)

**I did not have to know that Barker grew up in Liverpool, to know he grew up in Liverpool, reading that. I recognize the tone and theme myself.

[Aaron Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, the majority of these stories are mediocre, including Stephen King's "The Night Flier," which is just okay. However, I absolutely loved the last 4 stories (along with Clive Barker's "Coming To Grief," which is uncharacteristically subtle but still has some original creepy images and witty insights). "Alice's Last Adventure" has now turned me on to the psychological prowess of Thomas Ligotti. I read up on him after and discovered the controversy of people thinking Matthew Mcconaughey's True Detective Season 1 dialogue was stolen from Thomas and his works. Brilliant. I'm excited to read more of him now for sure.
Ramsey Campbell's story was surprisingly funny and morbid with a strange narrator whose tone is not one I've encountered before. Whitley Strieber is able to get a lot of emotion out of such a short story, and I'm very impressed with him again after he was a highlight in the "Cutting Edge" anthology I read recently as well. I will need to dive into some more of his stuff.
Lastly, Jack Cady's "By Reason Of Darkness" is actually the most profound story relating to war I've ever read. I was blown away by his writing over and over again in this long, final story of the book. I found much of what he said to be revelatory, and it's been a long time since I was this impressed with a writer I hadn't known before. This story finally made it worth going through the slog of the beginning ones.
However, there is one story in here that I would truly encourage people to never read, and I mean that sincerely. I wholeheartedly believe no topic is off limits, but Peter Straub's "The Juniper Tree" has scenes of pedophilia and child abuse that are so unnecessarily graphic that I don't trust Straub or his intentions for a second. This is horror, and authors talk about "off-limits" things constantly of course (Jack Cady does it perfectly in the same book), but writing the overly specific way Straub does about child abuse serves no purpose to the story that has anything to do with his sham literature motives. I was disturbed for days and not in any kind of cool horror shock. It's disgusting and even shameful in my opinion. (I'm shocked by the Goodreads reviewers loving that story). I was originally going to give the book 2 stars until that story. Then it was going to be a 1 all the way to not recommend anyone having the misfortune of stumbling upon Straub (even with the Clive story delivering). But after the last 4 stories, I've brought it back up to a 2. You can seek out those 5 stories and authors in other places as they greatly deserve it, but you could be better off not reading this whole book. Especially not "The Juniper Tree." Gross. I worry it has a fan base of the worst kind. Read Clive Barker and Jack Cady instead...or anything else.

[Victor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not going to lie, I skimmed the last story in this book which was a contribution made by Jack Cady. Sorry, not sorry, but it really wasn’t holding my attention at all and I wasn’t about to trudge through a short novel that’s nearly three times the length of the other stories in this book.

Now that that’s out of the way, let me just say that for a book entitled “Prime Evil”, I was really expecting so much more. I mean come on, that cover is dope, there are some fairly big names being represented on this cover and even the blurb used phrases like “masters of macabre” and “tales that strike beyond sheer terror.” With all of that, this book was a HUGE disappointment.

13 stories in the whole collection and of those I have to say only two really stood out for good reason. The heavy hitters for me in this were Thomas Ligotti and David Morrell surprisingly. Both of their contributions to this anthology felt well paced, neatly crafted, and stuck with me. I wouldn’t call them perfect but amidst the rotten bouquet of the rest, these two are practically golden roses.

There were a few names in this that did catch my attention and while their stories felt a bit middle of the road shall we say? I’m curious to see how some of their long form writings hold up. In particular Thomas Tessier and Dennis Etchison. The biggest disappointments were honestly from Stephen King and Clive Barker. While their stories weren’t uniquely bad in comparison, I guess I was just expecting so much more. Peter Straub stood out but for all the wrong reasons IMO. Sure molestation is horrifying but that story just felt strange and not necessarily my cup of tea. Maybe that’s the point though, I’m sure. As for the rest? You’re really not missing much at all here. Scraping at the bottom of the barrel for ideas. You’ll be rolling your eyes and shaking your head wondering why you suffered through another few pages for a mediocre payoff.

Verdict: Pretty meh. I’d recommend it to someone who hasn’t read these things before. It feels like a somewhat unique one off collection have, but it’s not really that great of a read. At least it’ll look cool on a shelf.

[Raul Melendez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally, about thirty years ago, shortly after this collection was published, I bought it for the Stephen King and Clive Barker stories. I read those, then left the rest of the book unread until now. Overall, I was rather disappointed by the "evil" collection. The book is called Prime Evil, and suggests that we are getting new stories from the masters of modern horror. However, not many of these stories are actually horror or evil. One or two are certainly disturbing, but not necessarily evil or horrific. Do I recommend this book? Still, I would say yes. The good stories in it are really good and worth the read. This book might be a little difficult to find now, and perhaps a little on the pricey side, but definitely worth it. Here is the list of stories and how I rank them out of five stars.

Night Flier by Stephen King - 5
Having A Woman For Lunch by Paul Hazel - 4
The Blood Kiss by Dennis Etchison - 1
Coming to Grief by Clive Barker - 5
Food by Thomas Tessier - 4
The Great God Pan by John Harrison - 1
Orange is For Anguish, Blue For Insanity by David Morell - 4
The Juniper Tree by Peter Straub (trigger warning: deals with molestation) - 4
Spinning Tales with the Dead by Charles L. Grant - (2-4) I need to read it again, but am leaning toward a 4
Alice's Last Adventure by Thomas Ligotti - 0
Next Time You'll Know by Ramsey Campbell - 3
The Pool by Whitley Strieber - 4
By Reason of Darkness by Jack Cady - DNF (I just couldn't get into this story at all)

[Kaiju Reviews · Rating 2 out of 5]

I give this book one star just because of the writers it includes, and I give it a second star only for the stories by David Morrell and Peter Straub. Otherwise, this is without a doubt the worst collection of horror stories I have ever read. There is no consistent theme, not that there should be one, but a theme would have given Prime Evil at least something to separate it from all the other collections. The authors included, though famous and well respected, have seemingly selected from the bottom of the barrel. The Stephen King story, Night Flyers, is probably one of his worst and of the headliners, only Straub's The Juniper Tree had any value, and it is only a horror story by association, having no real place in a genre collection. As a whole, the book works better as a marketing campaign. Stories by Jack Cady, Thomas Tessier, and Charles Grant are amusing; otherwise - don't waste your time.

[Donald · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up to read "The Night Flier" by Stephen King, which was really pretty good! A bloody vampire story that gets pretty crazy! And as a treat for King fans, the story has a little tie-in with both "Salem's Lot" and "The Dead Zone"! Small, but fun!

The rest of this book is not my cup of tea. Only "Spinning Tales With the Dead" by Charles L. Grant, was decent. The other 11 were, in my opinion, not worth reading. And, in fact, Peter Straub's "The Juniper Tree" should not be read at all! The detailed description of a child's molestation made me sick. Disgust, not fear. Ugh.

So, I'd just read "The Night Flier" and move along!