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Comedy of Terrors
Camp Wannaslayem promised a unique A camp-style adventure themed toward fans of slashers, particularly Camp Death Massacre . Archery, bonfires, swimming, volleyball, fishing, screaming, running for your life... everything you could possibly want in a summer camp slasher movie, without all that pesky dying getting in the way.Only... someone forgot to tell the killer it was all in the name of fun.When the bodies start dropping for real, the barely-selling author of Seeing Red shows you what a true Comedy of Terrors looks like.
158 pages, Paperback
Published March 31, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 3, 2024
Rating: 3.5*
What I liked: setting, premise, the bloody murders and the creative ways that characters were killed - it was pretty fun and the constant action kept me turning pages. The character of Alyssa and the way she took charge was amazing, she was the most/only relatable character.
What I disliked: there were so many characters in so little pages that I immediately gave up on trying to remember who was who. Dialogues and sex scenes were not that well written and all the relationship drama got on my nerves and frankly was not necessary. Also, what is up with that ending? It feels like an epilogue of some sorts was needed and I don't like how we didn't get to know who the killer was or what his motive was.
All in all, pretty fun read, feels exactly like watching an 80s slasher
What I liked: setting, premise, the bloody murders and the creative ways that characters were killed - it was pretty fun and the constant action kept me turning pages. The character of Alyssa and the way she took charge was amazing, she was the most/only relatable character.
What I disliked: there were so many characters in so little pages that I immediately gave up on trying to remember who was who. Dialogues and sex scenes were not that well written and all the relationship drama got on my nerves and frankly was not necessary. Also, what is up with that ending? It feels like an epilogue of some sorts was needed and I don't like how we didn't get to know who the killer was or what his motive was.
All in all, pretty fun read, feels exactly like watching an 80s slasher
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 29, 2021
Blodig hyllning till 80-talets slashers.
November 20, 2024
Listened to the audiobook version. 5:23:20 listen time.
Trigger warnings:
Explicit sexual scenes both straight and gay/lesbian
Extreme graphic language and cussing
Extreme gore and brutality/mutilation killings. Death scenes are very graphic, gory, detailed and explicit
Traumatic brain injury
Backstory touches on murder of children at summer camp
Incorrect title, there is no comedy in this aside from the very bland attempts at jokes in the camp owners opening presentation to campers.
The Narration
The narration was really good. The narrator did a really good job and had a wide range of voices for everyone. I did feel like she kept getting slower in her speech as the story went along for Mark, the young guy with a TBE who loves to fish. She wasn’t consistent with him. The Bethany character was beyond annoying with the constant whiny voice, but this was the character and the narrator did portray it well. Opal was also inconsistent in portrayal. Otherwise, her pace, pronunciation, portrayal of emotion, and clear, concise reading was superb.
There are spoilers below, but save yourself 5.5 hrs and read on. You really won’t have anything spoiled worth reading/listening to.
The Story
This portion is not as glowing as the narration. The story is definitely a recreation of the Jason movie franchise with some death scenes resembling the Halloween franchise but in more graphic description. The plot however is nowhere close to these classics. Aside from a homicidal maniac attacking people at an old, reinvented summer camp location, there is no explanation of the backstory of why the original murders happened, only to discuss a bunch of kids being murdered and odd references to not knowing what happened to the guy other than he went to prison, his whereabouts and status unknown.
So plot hole 1, we have no history why this guy did what he did to hint at why things are happening now.
2, this is a modern day story with wifi, smartphones, the works. It made zero sense that no one knew what happened to the guy after he went to prison or who his relatives were.
3, it is harped on there is no cell service because it’s so remote, yet they repeatedly state it’s very close to town and there’s WiFi access.
There really isn’t a plot to this story. It is just various scenes of straight and same sex couples talking about having sex or having sex and very graphic, gory murders taking place. I felt this was really underdeveloped in terms of plot and a central story and seemed to just take all the gory/sex scenes from the classic 80s horror films and try to make them even more gruesome and graphic and sexually explicit while also checking the box to include same sex relationships. Literally. We have a lesbian couple, a gay couple, and a man who comes out the first day there to create a love triangle. It didn’t feel authentic for either straight or same sex relationships and rather just ensuring it checked a box. The sex scenes were also way over done. We get it. We’ve all seen the 80s movies. Everyone’s all about sex in them. This multiplied that by about 25. The first half of the book is literally just descriptive sex scenes. The last plot hole that really made this more of a low budge horror filmish story was the fact there is absolutely no explanation or resolution at the end and it just abruptly ends after you spend nearly 5.5 hours wondering who the killer is and why he’s killing these people. There’s a final few minutes of ridiculous dialogue, an even more ridiculous fight scene (and that’s saying something after all the ridiculousness leading up to it) and then suddenly it’s over and literally says “The End.” There really wasn’t an end here. Again, it felt very undeveloped and like a rough idea for a story that had potential, but the author didn’t follow through with writing it beyond the outline and the “gore or whore” scenes. Yes I mean whore not horror. I really never felt like this was a horror story or have the creeps for any of it. I just got bored with the sex, dialogue, box checking, and grossed out with the graphic mutilation. The synopsis sounded great and the idea of this story was very interesting, unfortunately, the story itself or lack there of, just fell flat and many opportunities were missed to make this a really good story and ode to the horror classics it was trying to recreate.
The Writing
The writing was very choppy and the dialogue wholly unrealistic and unbelievable. Even compared to the acting/dialogue to those 80s greats, this made those scripts look like Oscar winners. The interactions felt childish and forced. Nothing flowed as you would expect realistic conversations would. Had I read this I don’t think I would’ve felt any emotion from the characters or scenes. The setting wasn’t even all that eerie to me. That may have been because the constant discrepancies in whether this was just outside of town or middle of nowhere. I also kept feeling like I was being told to be scared and how creepy this camp is when in reality nothing described was remotely creepy. The narrator’s voice and reading style helped show some emotion. As for the characters, none felt truly terrified or in distress in word choice for the “setting.”
The characters are very much one dimensional and clunky. They were all stereotypes and felt flat and unlikable. There are way too many to keep up with and they are all too similar to really distinguish. There’s at least 20 “campers” and at least 5 known employees with references to others, just unknown amount. I found myself not knowing who was who or who was a couple or friends. Half of them I don’t even know how or when they died (that’s not counting the ones who you’re supposed to just assume have died). No one stands out aside from Mark. It wasn’t until the last hour maybe little over I realized there was a person named Kim. It felt as if she really appeared out of nowhere since she hadn’t been highlighted before they barricaded in the dining hall towards the final hour. I can’t remember her having a single line in the story before this and all the sudden she’s this take charge, super smart, lead woman. It was weird. A couple of the worst characters to me that I kept hoping would die sooner were the last to go which also contributed to me not caring about them or investing in them. There were several characters that were never even explained if they died, when or how. It’s just assumed because everyone seems to be dying. The only character I liked and cared about was Mark. He was the only decent one out of the 25+ something characters. His death started the truly downhill spiral for ridiculous and absurdly graphic deaths. It’s also the part the story really fell apart and became too over the top and boring to me.
The constant junior high drama and bickering between the characters was way over done. It got boring and annoying very quickly. They hadn’t even made it off the bus to go to the opening presentation and I was over it. Again, it felt forced and clunky, but it was just harped on too much. You wouldn’t have people sitting down eating a calm, quiet oatmeal breakfast talking about their sexual exploits, love triangles or gossip when they just found mutilated bodies everywhere, saw someone get brutally murdered with a fishing rod down his throat 5 min before, and have a deranged killer throwing machetes at the dining hall door. This was just cringy ridiculous and dumb. Another ridiculously dumb and overplayed card was the stupid decisions made card. Even compared to those silly classic. Other than maybe a very small handful of the deaths, the character decisions were unrealistic even for horror flick standards that got them killed.
Lastly, the title. This is another example of a questionable title that really has nothing to do with the book. It’s not even listed in the comedy genre. Just fiction, horror. There isn’t anything comical in this book. The rough attempts at jokes between 3 of the owners in the opening lines feels so fake and forced they aren’t even worth calling bad jokes. There’s a vague reference to the main owner making bad jokes in his opening presentation and how no one laughs (trying to come across like he just told bad dad jokes and eyes rolled), but he really didn’t even make any. Not even to say oh ha ha lame. I’m just as confused why this is called Comedy of Terrors as I am over what the point was, who the killer was, and why any of it happened.
Overall this one was a bust for me. I don’t recommend it unless you just want to read/listen to wildly gross and ridiculous death scenes and worse sex scenes and have nothing better to read or do. Even then, listen to the first half hour and you’ll be set.
Trigger warnings:
Explicit sexual scenes both straight and gay/lesbian
Extreme graphic language and cussing
Extreme gore and brutality/mutilation killings. Death scenes are very graphic, gory, detailed and explicit
Traumatic brain injury
Backstory touches on murder of children at summer camp
Incorrect title, there is no comedy in this aside from the very bland attempts at jokes in the camp owners opening presentation to campers.
The Narration
The narration was really good. The narrator did a really good job and had a wide range of voices for everyone. I did feel like she kept getting slower in her speech as the story went along for Mark, the young guy with a TBE who loves to fish. She wasn’t consistent with him. The Bethany character was beyond annoying with the constant whiny voice, but this was the character and the narrator did portray it well. Opal was also inconsistent in portrayal. Otherwise, her pace, pronunciation, portrayal of emotion, and clear, concise reading was superb.
There are spoilers below, but save yourself 5.5 hrs and read on. You really won’t have anything spoiled worth reading/listening to.
The Story
This portion is not as glowing as the narration. The story is definitely a recreation of the Jason movie franchise with some death scenes resembling the Halloween franchise but in more graphic description. The plot however is nowhere close to these classics. Aside from a homicidal maniac attacking people at an old, reinvented summer camp location, there is no explanation of the backstory of why the original murders happened, only to discuss a bunch of kids being murdered and odd references to not knowing what happened to the guy other than he went to prison, his whereabouts and status unknown.
So plot hole 1, we have no history why this guy did what he did to hint at why things are happening now.
2, this is a modern day story with wifi, smartphones, the works. It made zero sense that no one knew what happened to the guy after he went to prison or who his relatives were.
3, it is harped on there is no cell service because it’s so remote, yet they repeatedly state it’s very close to town and there’s WiFi access.
There really isn’t a plot to this story. It is just various scenes of straight and same sex couples talking about having sex or having sex and very graphic, gory murders taking place. I felt this was really underdeveloped in terms of plot and a central story and seemed to just take all the gory/sex scenes from the classic 80s horror films and try to make them even more gruesome and graphic and sexually explicit while also checking the box to include same sex relationships. Literally. We have a lesbian couple, a gay couple, and a man who comes out the first day there to create a love triangle. It didn’t feel authentic for either straight or same sex relationships and rather just ensuring it checked a box. The sex scenes were also way over done. We get it. We’ve all seen the 80s movies. Everyone’s all about sex in them. This multiplied that by about 25. The first half of the book is literally just descriptive sex scenes. The last plot hole that really made this more of a low budge horror filmish story was the fact there is absolutely no explanation or resolution at the end and it just abruptly ends after you spend nearly 5.5 hours wondering who the killer is and why he’s killing these people. There’s a final few minutes of ridiculous dialogue, an even more ridiculous fight scene (and that’s saying something after all the ridiculousness leading up to it) and then suddenly it’s over and literally says “The End.” There really wasn’t an end here. Again, it felt very undeveloped and like a rough idea for a story that had potential, but the author didn’t follow through with writing it beyond the outline and the “gore or whore” scenes. Yes I mean whore not horror. I really never felt like this was a horror story or have the creeps for any of it. I just got bored with the sex, dialogue, box checking, and grossed out with the graphic mutilation. The synopsis sounded great and the idea of this story was very interesting, unfortunately, the story itself or lack there of, just fell flat and many opportunities were missed to make this a really good story and ode to the horror classics it was trying to recreate.
The Writing
The writing was very choppy and the dialogue wholly unrealistic and unbelievable. Even compared to the acting/dialogue to those 80s greats, this made those scripts look like Oscar winners. The interactions felt childish and forced. Nothing flowed as you would expect realistic conversations would. Had I read this I don’t think I would’ve felt any emotion from the characters or scenes. The setting wasn’t even all that eerie to me. That may have been because the constant discrepancies in whether this was just outside of town or middle of nowhere. I also kept feeling like I was being told to be scared and how creepy this camp is when in reality nothing described was remotely creepy. The narrator’s voice and reading style helped show some emotion. As for the characters, none felt truly terrified or in distress in word choice for the “setting.”
The characters are very much one dimensional and clunky. They were all stereotypes and felt flat and unlikable. There are way too many to keep up with and they are all too similar to really distinguish. There’s at least 20 “campers” and at least 5 known employees with references to others, just unknown amount. I found myself not knowing who was who or who was a couple or friends. Half of them I don’t even know how or when they died (that’s not counting the ones who you’re supposed to just assume have died). No one stands out aside from Mark. It wasn’t until the last hour maybe little over I realized there was a person named Kim. It felt as if she really appeared out of nowhere since she hadn’t been highlighted before they barricaded in the dining hall towards the final hour. I can’t remember her having a single line in the story before this and all the sudden she’s this take charge, super smart, lead woman. It was weird. A couple of the worst characters to me that I kept hoping would die sooner were the last to go which also contributed to me not caring about them or investing in them. There were several characters that were never even explained if they died, when or how. It’s just assumed because everyone seems to be dying. The only character I liked and cared about was Mark. He was the only decent one out of the 25+ something characters. His death started the truly downhill spiral for ridiculous and absurdly graphic deaths. It’s also the part the story really fell apart and became too over the top and boring to me.
The constant junior high drama and bickering between the characters was way over done. It got boring and annoying very quickly. They hadn’t even made it off the bus to go to the opening presentation and I was over it. Again, it felt forced and clunky, but it was just harped on too much. You wouldn’t have people sitting down eating a calm, quiet oatmeal breakfast talking about their sexual exploits, love triangles or gossip when they just found mutilated bodies everywhere, saw someone get brutally murdered with a fishing rod down his throat 5 min before, and have a deranged killer throwing machetes at the dining hall door. This was just cringy ridiculous and dumb. Another ridiculously dumb and overplayed card was the stupid decisions made card. Even compared to those silly classic. Other than maybe a very small handful of the deaths, the character decisions were unrealistic even for horror flick standards that got them killed.
Lastly, the title. This is another example of a questionable title that really has nothing to do with the book. It’s not even listed in the comedy genre. Just fiction, horror. There isn’t anything comical in this book. The rough attempts at jokes between 3 of the owners in the opening lines feels so fake and forced they aren’t even worth calling bad jokes. There’s a vague reference to the main owner making bad jokes in his opening presentation and how no one laughs (trying to come across like he just told bad dad jokes and eyes rolled), but he really didn’t even make any. Not even to say oh ha ha lame. I’m just as confused why this is called Comedy of Terrors as I am over what the point was, who the killer was, and why any of it happened.
Overall this one was a bust for me. I don’t recommend it unless you just want to read/listen to wildly gross and ridiculous death scenes and worse sex scenes and have nothing better to read or do. Even then, listen to the first half hour and you’ll be set.
February 14, 2024
I thought it was nice however I could not keep up with who was who and it could have been because I was listing to it instead of having the book. and at the same time how did the killer not die after getting shot then getting stab in the head. the killer is supposed to be just a human not like Jason even if he looked like him. also, all the people who were killed where being so stupid like most of them could have stay alive for a longer time. however, I did really like the very begging of it however after they killed the guy that loves to fish It just went down from there.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 29, 2020
This book kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I love the concept of the slasher movies as a campground experience. That going as wrong as it did in this book is a bit terrifying. And of course I was yelling at the characters what they needed to do to survive just like we do watching slasher movies. I need a sequel! Who was Zeke? What happened to Alyssa? Did the police believe her or did they suspect her instead?
April 27, 2023
3.75 stars. This was a fun spoof of slasher films; it read like a horror flick. It was a little bit ridiculous and made me laugh. My biggest complaint was that I had a hard time keeping most of the characters straight. The ending was a bit, meh. But I did enjoy the book. The narrator was very good.
June 13, 2023
I wanted to like this book. The premise is good. The relentless killer and detailed deaths are good, and some of the character drama is okay, but the dialogue and reactions aren't credible. There was almost no humor in the book, making me question the title. While there is some hinting at what caused the events, there is no true resolution, leading to a disappointing ending.
June 29, 2025
Misleading title. Was not a comedy.
Sad, uncreative, and boring. Mainly focused on the interpersonal relationships of too many characters. It's short, so only a few of the characters get a detailed story before they're murdered in a typical slasher fashion.
I would not call this extreme horror, but it is borderline. It ended up being a bit hopeless, which isn't my favorite.
Sad, uncreative, and boring. Mainly focused on the interpersonal relationships of too many characters. It's short, so only a few of the characters get a detailed story before they're murdered in a typical slasher fashion.
I would not call this extreme horror, but it is borderline. It ended up being a bit hopeless, which isn't my favorite.
October 7, 2021
This was a really good book. It surprised me actually. I was skeptical at first but it really drew me in. It truly was like watching one of the older scary slasher movies I grew up watching lol. I could vividly see it all happening in my head. It actually would make a great movie!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews