Comedy of Terrors

By: Darren Blake

Narrated by: Jessica Hazard

Camp Wannaslayem promised a unique experience: 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 unfortunate participants will learn what a true Comedy of Terrors looks like.

©2020 Darren Blake (P)2020 Darren Blake

Interesting concept, extremely bland execution

This was a disappointment. I really liked the concept (slasher themed getaway camp turns into real slasher movie) but the execution was really weak. I kept holding on, waiting for it to get good but it just never did. It stayed generic, tropey, and lazily written. And then…then it just ended. And I mean abruptly. It builds to an underwhelming climax, then boom…over. No epilogue, No closing thought. Just boom, this happened, the end

On top of that, no big reveal, no motive, no closure, no mystery, no revelation. Just a bunch of people died, the end. Meanwhile comments are constantly made through the book wondering who the killer is. Is it so and so, or a copycat? Or someone else with some other motive, etc… Don’t expect that to be answered, the writer literally didn’t bother. There are also several asides where characters openly question how the killer can be so resilient, so unstoppable, so everywhere at once, to the point that you are also wondering this and expecting it to be revealed. Nope. He just…is, I guess?

Also, no idea why this is called “Comedy of Terrors” because there is zero comedy in this. Nothing. No funny situations, no comical interactions, nothing. To be frank, it’s a combination of a lot of very generic, high school level relationship drama (played out by adults) that has zero impact on the actual plot, extremely generic dialogue, and extremely basic, surface level slayer tropes. Without a hint of cleverness, or subversion of those tropes

Just a very bland, mid slasher story with underwhelming payoff