I have been in a very lazy mood taking the whole day to get one film watched for review. Luckily, I knew I was near the end of Stephen Kozeniewski's horror novella The Thing Under Your Bed, and so was at least able to finish reading that for a review. This one really brought to mind the short film Keith I had watched back in April, but where that one took a gentle comedic route, this one told a similar story, but one with a much darker outcome. The story may feature a child protagonist in a starring role, but this twisted tale doesn't allow this fact to reduce the horror inflicted.
It takes place one night in the bedroom of a little girl who discovers there is an actual monster living under her bed. The monster soon makes its intentions clear; that it wants to eat the girl and her family. She doesn't want to believe this to be true, but after her pet dog Freckle is effortlessly devoured by the creature she realises that if she leaves the apparent safety of her bed she will also be consumed. With just her stuffed rabbit Captain Bundrick for company (which has somehow became sentient), the girl must find a way to either defeat the monster, survive till morning, or escape her bedroom.
I didn't realise this was a novella when I began reading the story, but at around a hundred pages that is what this story was. It was a perfect length really for the story, seeing as the entire thing takes place not only in a small bedroom, but that it takes place entirely from a bed. I assumed the girl would have some type of plot armour that would prevent anything bad happening to her, so I was surprised to find out that she wasn't protected in that way, with her no only witnessing violent horror, but also able to be quite badly injured by the creature living under her bed. A minor early spoiler already mentioned is her dog getting killed. Kozeniewski doesn't shy away from describing in detail what happens to that poor creature, making for something that was nasty to read!
The novella is written in a third person perspective, with the protagonist character remaining unnamed throughout. From the situation described it is clear the girl comes from a troubled home, with an alcoholic mum who drinks herself unconscious every day. There are indications the girl has mental health issues, shown with her recalling how she would sneak out her room and listen to her parents argue about her strange behaviour. This created a fun notion that everything happening to her might not be as clear cut as the novella makes it out to be. Captain Bundrick is one fun example, even the creature under the bed thinks that the girl holding conversations with a stuffed toy seems a bit crazy, unable to hear it itself.
The creature was a great antagonist, one that is given reason why it is unable to leave its hiding spot. The creature is given great description by not being described really at all. At one point it is stated that there is something about it that means even when you are looking straight at it you are not able to see it, your eyes naturally looking around it. The creature was nasty and duplicitous, constantly trying to trick the girl to leave the safety of her bed so that it could grab her with its many tentacles. There was some neat explanation for the creature and its origins which was really interesting. My only real complaint I guess would be the somewhat abrupt ending.
The creature was a great antagonist, one that is given reason why it is unable to leave its hiding spot. The creature is given great description by not being described really at all. At one point it is stated that there is something about it that means even when you are looking straight at it you are not able to see it, your eyes naturally looking around it. The creature was nasty and duplicitous, constantly trying to trick the girl to leave the safety of her bed so that it could grab her with its many tentacles. There was some neat explanation for the creature and its origins which was really interesting. My only real complaint I guess would be the somewhat abrupt ending.
This was straight horror, but there was room for dark humour throughout, mainly with the interactions between the girl and the creature. As well as flashback memories the girl has, she also has a few bizarre dream sequences that the creature is able to infiltrate, featuring a posh British voiced duck called Quackers, I loved those parts.
With it never entirely clear if what was happening was real or part of the girl's madness, I found The Thing Under Your Bed a great read, I loved how deliciously dark this got, while I really rooted for the young protagonist to come out on top. With a clear ramping up of horror from beginning to end, this single location story managed to surprise with the imagination on display.
With it never entirely clear if what was happening was real or part of the girl's madness, I found The Thing Under Your Bed a great read, I loved how deliciously dark this got, while I really rooted for the young protagonist to come out on top. With a clear ramping up of horror from beginning to end, this single location story managed to surprise with the imagination on display.
SCORE:
No comments:
Post a Comment