Whispers of what happened at the local church graveyard catch the attention of the new mortician in town. After a few suspicious deaths occur before Halloween, Justin is determined to help the small town he's grown to love. As he investigates, he dives into local legends and lore, which create more questions and possible secrets. Does he spiral into madness or discover the truth that has been buried for decades?
This was a fairly strong and enjoyable story. Among the better elements here comes from the solid setup that generates the kind of fun starting point for a genuinely unnerving atmosphere within this one. The small-town atmosphere, full of secrets and whispers about what happened in the graveyard in town, soon starts a series of interactions with a strange spirit that makes the fascination with the graveyard even more impactful. There’s a lot to like with how it slowly unfolds about the true origin of the haunted nature which helps generate a sense of dread with how he gets involved in a more intense and dark mystery, which comes together rather well once the action picks up towards the end when a sense of the occult takes centerstage as a reasoning for the hauntings in the area. With how in-depth and detailed it is when it all comes together, involving a genuine-sounding small-town story that gets revealed, this makes everything even more likable as it all builds to a logical conclusion.
That this one is such a slow-burning style, taking quite a while building up the atmosphere of the town, the secret connections with the local graveyard, and how he ties into everything, interpreting the visions he has along the way, might be the one lone issue here. The intention to build up the sense of atmosphere within here makes this one take a slightly off-putting approach, where it’s so light on action at this expense that it can be a bit of a struggle to get into, even at this brief length. The way it starts to build its mystery, from the visions and whispers trying to lead him away from the cemetery to the deep investigation that uncovers the truth about what’s going on, is immensely deliberate which does help unravel everything at the pace it does, but there’s also the fact that there’s always something being done to enhance the atmosphere which helps overcome that sense of dragged-out style to the writing that could easily be seen as too slow for some.
4.5/5
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