Casual Debris

For my full-length review, please visit Casual Debris.

The concept behind Re-Vamp is to challenge contemporary interpretations of traditional horror creatures by hearkening back to the tales of old. The stories in Re-Vamp feature classic approaches to creatures that go bump in the night, focusing in an orderly fashion on vampires, werewolves, ghosts, zombies and serial killers (oh my!). The project was a labour of love for editors Die Booth and L. C. Hu, who first met by sharing their admiration of classic horror in an online chat room. Begun online, they posted their own tales and invited readers to submit theirs. This anthology collects a number of those submitted.

While I don't normally review self-published fiction I was intrigued by this project. I too enjoy classic suspense tales, horrific and otherwise. My own concern with contemporary horror is that the genre has become a marketable commodity, and anything too blatantly mainstream conforms to an unthinking pattern. Just look at how Hollywood represents the genre.

But I digress.

I must admit I am confused about the title since "revamp" essentially means to thoroughly recreate something, whereas this anthology is by its nature ignoring the genre's evolution over the last several decades, and I am wondering if the project should not have been titled "Pre-Vamp!"