Dark Tide Book 21 - 24 Frames Per Second: Three Hollywood Horror Novellas by Tim Waggoner, Andrew Nadolny, and Gary A. Braunbeck

Step into the terrifying world of Hollywood horror, where the line between fiction and reality blurs, and the consequences of cinematic creation become all too real. In 24 Frames Per Second, three chilling novellas bring to life the darkest corners of the movie industry, where horror isn’t just confined to the screen.

"The Last Zombie Movie" by Tim Waggoner-A group of student filmmakers embark on a project to create a zombie holocaust script—but soon, their fictional nightmare begins to unfold in real life. As their imagined horrors come to life, they must face the terrifying reality of their creation. Overall, this was a fairly strong and enjoyable story. The initial story, offering a fun commentary on the nature of consumerism and the exploitation of the masses through the confines of a jungle cannibal film homage on school, causes this to be a fun starting point. The way this comes about through the filming of a special short film, trying to make fun of the whole subject involving the students being out in the jungle shooting, but being way too critical about the whole experience, not seeing what's going on. This offers the kind of behind-the-scenes interactions that provide the kind of antics familiar to most basic film-school interactions to help bring the story along with some fun scenarios.

It's when this goes into the second half that the experience turns into a psychological rumination on the experience that had taken place over the first half of the novel. Since there's some fun in-depth notice on how the desire to incorporate his childhood needs into his art and what it means to be an artist, this explores a rather fun idea where this takes him into the film itself to confront the characters in the novel as if he had to navigate through the film he was making to escape and leading into the discovery of what the experience is telling him about his life. This is strong and generally effective at what it's setting out to do, even though it comes off quite rushed and out of nowhere as if it could've been built up a little more smoothly compared to the rest of the story as the ambiguous ending seems to be at odds with the rest of the story. Still, it's what the main flaw here comes off as, this is a strong start.

"I Am the Rainbringer" by Andrew Nadolny-A woman is transformed into a serial killer by her father’s dying wish, and her husband turns her deadly past into a movie. But the ghosts of his parents—and her brutal history—soon rise to haunt them both, blurring the line between the living and the dead in a nightmare that can’t be escaped. Overall, this was a troubling and generally underwhelming story. The main setup, exploring her detailed backstory with her father, the relationship they share, and what they have that led to the mentality and lifestyle she exhibits, gives the whole thing a fantastic starting point to move along into more brutal, explicit territory when she starts to let her guard down to become more open with the guy she’s dating. That lets her feel incredibly human and relatable, far more than anything else in the story, but at least lets the horror develop from a grounded location that keeps the realistic features together rather nicely.

Beyond that, though, the story tends to meander along quite heavily with a bizarre approach to why the story is here. The connection to wanting this included in a package that honors old-school Hollywood and horrors from the screen is limited here to seemingly pretentious acknowledgments about situations or scenarios that remind a character of something from a classic movie, regardless of genre. Sometimes it sets up for a horror movie recognition, but others are based on underground arthouse features that make sense as to why it's being referenced or acknowledged, and it makes the characters unlikable due to making the reference solely for the sake of showing off film knowledge. Moreover, the idea of that being the gimmick of why it’s included here is a bit odd, where it doesn’t fit naturally into the collection, yet this bizarre real-world issue might not be genuinely bothersome or noticeable for some, so it might not even be a factor.

"This Is Not My Movie" by Gary A. Braunbeck-After a movie theater is consumed by fire, the charred ruins become a nexus for ghosts and alternate realities. A haunting tale of how a beloved movie theater's destruction births a dark, sentient force, trapping the souls of those killed in the blaze. This was a generally frustrating and barely worthwhile entry to the collection that makes for a challenging experience. The general air of pretentious attitude, film-school terminology, an avant-garde structure that’s trying to depict action as if it’s being observed through a screenplay, or the confusing philosophical musings that are in place, trying to ensure that the pseudo-intellectual material here makes any sense or forms any kind of storyline is a tough sell. It is immensely creative that it tries to include these elements together, especially when it becomes apparent that there’s a genuine plotline in the second half, but it’s such a hard immersion that it might not matter.

3/5