New Book Alert: Cinema 7 by Michael J. Moore; Nightmare Inducing Zombified Children Are The Ultimate Fear In This Dark Disturbing Supernatural Horror
By Julie Sara Porter
Bookworm Reviews
Spoilers: I really thought after all the psychological thrillers and supernatural horrors that I have read and reviewed over the past five years, I thought that surely nothing could scare me. Yes folks, I was immune from nightmares.
Clearly, Michael J. Moore was on a mission to prove me wrong.
Because no sooner than I began reading the first chapter of Moore's gruesome dark disturbing horror novel, Cinema 7 a chapter in which Kim, a little girl stabs her mother and mother's boyfriend at the behest of a monstrous figure in her room than my subconscious became severely affected.
Not only does that lovely image begin the book but three other children do the same to their families leaving six parents dead and four children self made orphans and missing. Oh and right before these not so adorable tykes commit these horrific murders, they go through a change that seems to be a composite of the evil monster sexually abusing them then eating them alive.
Not only do these kids become undead psychopaths but their bodies are altered to make them almost demonic with gravelly deep voices and orange lights in place of eyes. Ah yes, reading this book late at night with the lights off does wonders for an already fragile psyche that imagines killer demon children with glowing eyes. (The description does not do it justice. Trust me, Moore's writing style definitely makes the Reader shiver with unbridled terror.)
Unfortunately this attack is not an isolated incident. Kyle McIntosh, a local high school boy with a tenuous connection to where the murders take place (his former girlfriend, Claudia, lives in the same trailer park where they happened), runs into the children in their demonic glory. Terrified, he tells the police who surprisingly believe him (video camera footage also showed the kids). Unfortunately, attacks are starting to increase as this strange monster possesses more kids and more family members turn up violently murdered leaving Kyle, his friends, family, and his new girlfriend, Marie, to face this seemingly unstoppable army bent on violence, mayhem, and revenge.
The Nightmare Fuel is palpable throughout this book. It's the type of book where a seemingly happy family could one night fall prey to violence by their youngest child who barely understands what they are doing before they pick up a knife and slaughter their parents, older siblings, and pets.
There are some ghoulish images of small infants unable to walk, all of a sudden springing up to commit murder. A toddler whose neck is broken during an escape attempt has a conversation with his older brother with his head leaning over what remains of his neck. And those eyes, the glowing eyes burn from the page into the Reader's souls.
What also makes this situation more monstrous is how it starts and how it continues. I won't reveal too much but the monster is motivated by hatred at someone. Someone human did something horrible to begin this rampage and was never caught. Sometimes as horrible as the supernatural is, the natural, the human can be far worse.
There is also the fear over how unstoppable this attack is. The monster goes throughout the town attacking family after family. Even the protagonists' families are attacked. It is not understated how this attack traumatizes everyone involved. Almost a whole generation of an entire town's childrens are possessed and parents are violently killed. Those that survive are certain to have the worst kind of PTSD imaginable. All because one character did something horrible and another sought revenge by punishing everyone around them.
The fear factor of the monstrous children and their leader's motivations and origins are the most memorable parts of the book. It overshadows some of the downfalls of the book. Kyle's romance with Marie is the stuff of typical teen angst and brings down most of the plot, except when the attacks affect them personally. Also his earlier relationship with Claudia ends up being unnecessary, especially since she herself barely appears in the book and is mostly talked about barely shown. Kyle and Marie also make some questionable decisions that are probably meant to make the Reader suspicious, but since they are proven to not be important. They don't lead to anything except for the Reader's exasperated sighs over how foolish these characters act.
But what can't be forgotten is how terrifying the monsters in this book are. It is the type of book that is best read in the dark for a good scare but only after checking the hallways, through the windows, and the children's bedrooms for pairs of eerie glowing orange eyes.
