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Horror Show
Murder Comes to Life and Other Stories
Presents four tales of the supernatural involving a haunted typewriter, a mysterious bicycle, an ancient curse, and a magic locket
- GenresHorrorParanormalMystery
95 pages, Library Binding
First published June 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 6, 2015
Las historias no son muy originales que digamos, son unas cuatro de trama simple, que siempre recuerdan a otras, mayormente de series del tipo "Escalofríos" y "¿Le temes a la oscuridad?". No es la gran cosa, pero tampoco es atroz, es aceptable, de esas que olvidas con facilidad. Y porque se me antoja contarles, a pesar de que ésto no influya en los relatos, la copia que adquirí es usada (hasta ahí todo normal, el 90% de mis libros lo son), pero tiene unas evidentes manchas de café en las hojas y en el interior de las tapas, y una de las páginas fue cortada. Me pregunto si su anterior dueño lo leyó o si simplemente lo usó como repasador para limpiar la mesa luego de la merienda. En fin...
March 22, 2009
My favorite story in this one was when the boy buys the locket that makes you tell the truth. The other stories that are included are a girl gets a type writer from her granfather and everything she writes comes true. I can't remember the rest of the stories. (Ages 9 and up)
October 10, 2018
This book says it's for ages 12 and up but I remember reading this in elementary school and loving it, though even at that time the only one of the four featured stories scared me: "Murder Comes to Life." Reading it again as an adult I still found this book altogether entertaining, if a bit dated (the use of a type writer instead of computers, bicycles instead of motor bikes, and a a dose of sexism that just wouldn't fly today...one would hope).
In the first, longest story, "Murder Comes to Life," a renowned traveler has passed away and left a trunk full of artifacts from around the world to his niece and her family. The trunk contains clothing, spears, and a variety of other items from primitive cultures he had encountered, but it also contains a typewriter. The niece gives it to her daughter, Pam, who is an aspiring writer. Pam quickly realizes that whatever she types on the typewriter, even if intended to be fiction, will come to pass. First there's a news story about a plane crash she made up. Then the local roller rink burns down because she wrote about a fictitious arsonist. For a hot minute she's afraid to use the typewriter anymore for fear of causing more tragedies. Then she gets the brilliant idea to bring a dead murderer to life at the local cemetery, to make him attack her father so she can write herself into the narrative as his rescuer. She just doesn't plan on her father being away from home with the zombie murderer shows up on her doorstep...
"The Haunted Bicycle" is a neat story about a boy who finds a bike at an abandoned house. The previous owner used that very bicycle to win local racing competitions and earned a lot of awards. The boy uses the bike to enter a competition himself, and suddenly the bike is coaching him to the finish line, even at one point taking the wheel and doing the pedaling for him. It's not clear whether the bike was haunted by its previous owner or if it's a magical, talking bike. When I was a kid I thought the bike was just special; as an adult reader, I'm more inclined to think it was haunted by its previous owner, who is taking over a coaching role for the bike's new user.
Next is "A Shrinking Experience." This story reads like something out of the mind of R.L. Stine. A victim of bullying is fed up with everyone at school who is being mean to him and responds to an ad in a magazine that offers a solution. For the bargain price of $5 he receives a magic phrase from ancient Egypt that will make his enemies shrink if he points at them and chants. I have remembered that chant for almost 30 years. lol! You'll have to read the book to learn it for yourself.
Finally, "The Truthful Locket" is laugh-out-loud funny. A boy has only $6 to spend on a birthday present for his mother so hits an antique shop for a bargain. The clerk tells him openly that everything in his shop is overpriced junk, but he'll give him a valuable gold and ivory locket for his $6. The boy takes the locket and then his life turns upside-down. He cannot release the locket; it's stuck to his hand, and it forces him to admit truths he doesn't want to voice. He tells on himself for reading comics instead of doing his homework; he tells his crush her new perm looks terrible; he tells his mother he's sick of her spaghetti dinners. It cracked me up! He has to find a way to get rid of the locket before it ruins his life, even at someone else's expense.
Really enjoyable read, even for an adult. It's not too terribly dated for today's kids, though I suppose you might have to explain what a typewriter is.
In the first, longest story, "Murder Comes to Life," a renowned traveler has passed away and left a trunk full of artifacts from around the world to his niece and her family. The trunk contains clothing, spears, and a variety of other items from primitive cultures he had encountered, but it also contains a typewriter. The niece gives it to her daughter, Pam, who is an aspiring writer. Pam quickly realizes that whatever she types on the typewriter, even if intended to be fiction, will come to pass. First there's a news story about a plane crash she made up. Then the local roller rink burns down because she wrote about a fictitious arsonist. For a hot minute she's afraid to use the typewriter anymore for fear of causing more tragedies. Then she gets the brilliant idea to bring a dead murderer to life at the local cemetery, to make him attack her father so she can write herself into the narrative as his rescuer. She just doesn't plan on her father being away from home with the zombie murderer shows up on her doorstep...
"The Haunted Bicycle" is a neat story about a boy who finds a bike at an abandoned house. The previous owner used that very bicycle to win local racing competitions and earned a lot of awards. The boy uses the bike to enter a competition himself, and suddenly the bike is coaching him to the finish line, even at one point taking the wheel and doing the pedaling for him. It's not clear whether the bike was haunted by its previous owner or if it's a magical, talking bike. When I was a kid I thought the bike was just special; as an adult reader, I'm more inclined to think it was haunted by its previous owner, who is taking over a coaching role for the bike's new user.
Next is "A Shrinking Experience." This story reads like something out of the mind of R.L. Stine. A victim of bullying is fed up with everyone at school who is being mean to him and responds to an ad in a magazine that offers a solution. For the bargain price of $5 he receives a magic phrase from ancient Egypt that will make his enemies shrink if he points at them and chants. I have remembered that chant for almost 30 years. lol! You'll have to read the book to learn it for yourself.
Finally, "The Truthful Locket" is laugh-out-loud funny. A boy has only $6 to spend on a birthday present for his mother so hits an antique shop for a bargain. The clerk tells him openly that everything in his shop is overpriced junk, but he'll give him a valuable gold and ivory locket for his $6. The boy takes the locket and then his life turns upside-down. He cannot release the locket; it's stuck to his hand, and it forces him to admit truths he doesn't want to voice. He tells on himself for reading comics instead of doing his homework; he tells his crush her new perm looks terrible; he tells his mother he's sick of her spaghetti dinners. It cracked me up! He has to find a way to get rid of the locket before it ruins his life, even at someone else's expense.
Really enjoyable read, even for an adult. It's not too terribly dated for today's kids, though I suppose you might have to explain what a typewriter is.
March 16, 2023
I wouldn't say they're horror shows. They are likely to be supernatural stories that happened to the characters. Very interesting to some extent. Among the four stories, the locket of truth was the most interesting to me, then the typewriter, the bike and shrinking thing. They were weird and pretty dated because this book was very old. Nevertheless, the writing style wasn't too old-fashioned.
March 21, 2025
Most of the stories here are not scary but supernatural i enjoyed the typewriter story most
and my least favourite was the shrinking experience i really didn't like it at all!!
The other stories were average but not bad, and the locket one was my second favourite.
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#VERDICT
(5.5/10)
and my least favourite was the shrinking experience i really didn't like it at all!!
The other stories were average but not bad, and the locket one was my second favourite.
**********************************************
#VERDICT
(5.5/10)
December 2, 2023
I loved the Horror Show books when I was younger and the magic (evil?) typewriter was one of my favorites. 5/5
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews