| Title | : | Lost Films |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1943720290 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781943720293 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 350 |
| Publication | : | First published August 21, 2018 |
Lost Films Reviews
-
A collection of horror stories based on VHS tapes and films. Most of the stories were pretty good. I recognized the majority of the writers and found a few new ones to follow. Overall, a good read.
🐱🐱🐱 -
A very solid anthology hosting a lot of talented writers. My favorites included The Church in the Mountains, A Festival of Fiends, Elephants that Aren't, The Thing in the Side Room, Archibald Leech, the Many-Storied Man, Stag, and The Fabulous Life of a Serial Extra. Good stuff in here!
-
https://www.signalhorizon.com/single-...
Click here to read my full review at Signal Horizon Easily one of the strongest horror anthologies of the year, Lost Films benefits from an excellent theme of technological horror and powerful storytelling from some of the best up and coming horror authors. A must read for fans of short horror and a great introduction for horror cinema fans who aren't yet familiar with the wonders of the short horror format. -
Can I resist an anthology that starts with a new Brian Evenson story? No.
The humorous title ("Lather of Flies", haha) hints that this might be a light-hearted affair. The familiar "looking for a lost film" frame (John Carpenter's Cigarette Burns, anyone?) is mostly an excuse for sly Evenson-ian scenes of social discomfort degenerating into dire outcomes. Highly entertaining.
Update: I can't recommend any of the other stories. -
4 stars--I really liked it. I love lost media in horror, so this story collection was right up my alley. I especially enjoyed the stories by Gemma Files (the queen of lost media horror), Leigh Harlen, Kev Harrison, and Kristi DeMeester.
Lather of Flies: Brian Evenson. Love this title. 3 stars.
The Church in the Mountains: Gemma Files. Gemma is so good at lost media fiction--one of my favorites. 4 stars.
Daddy's in a Snuff Film: Kelby Losack. I liked the backwards storytelling, but the "film" part seemed incidental, not important to the story. 2 stars.
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida on 8-Track: Bob Pastorella. Unusual use of filmtape. 3 stars.
A Festival of Fiends: Brian Asman. Never read anything like this! I liked the complete casual nature of the "audience." 4 stars.
I Hate All That is Mine: Leigh Harlen. Really sinister. 4 stars.
The Thing in the Side Room: Dustin Katz. I liked this, but it seemed unfinished. 3 stars.
This Cosmic Atrocity: Andrew Novak. Very dark, but not sure it belongs in this collection. 2 stars.
Elephants That Aren't: Betty Rocksteady. Cosmic horror cartoons. 3 stars.
Archibald Leech, the Many-Storied Man: John C. Foster. Shenanigans in the backwoods. 3 stars.
Teeth and Teeth and Teeth: Ashlee Scheuerman. A monster story. 2 stars.
Ghost Mapping: Eugenia Triantafyllou. A story about grief. 3 stars.
The Fourth Wall: Kev Harrison. Spooky conceit to this story. 4 stars.
Don't Turn Around: Thomas Joyce. YouTubers eaten by ghosts. 3 stars.
Things She Left in the Woods: Jessica McHugh. Nasty twist to this. 3 stars.
Stag: Kristi DeMeester. Love this tale of religious and sexual oppression (similar to the other DeMeester works I've read, actually). 4 stars.
Famous Last Words Izzy Lee. Another back-to-front story. 3 stars.
The Fabulous and Tormented Life of a Serial Extra: Chad Stroup. I've read this premise before. Maybe there are only so many movie-horror-story plots to go around? 3 stars.
The Fantastic Flying Eraser Heads: David James Keaton. I don't think I understood this fully, but I enjoyed the exploration of alternate worlds. 3 stars. -
Amazing collection of stories. My favorites being The Church in the Mountains, A Festival of Fiends, I Hate All That is Mine, This Cosmic Atrocity, The Fourth Wall, Don’t Turn Around, Things She Left in the Woods, but that last one… The Fantastic Flying Eraser Heads was the diamond in this book of gems. Really fed my Mandela Effect love SO much.
-
2.67 avg which mean my rating is actually a 2.5 but I did round up to 3 since Goodreads doesn't do half stars. Honestly would have DNFed this whole thing if I wasn't in a challenge right now but I felt like it had been ages since I'd done an anthology and decided to try this one out since the premise sounded intriguing. There were a few good stories in here but as with most short horror stories most of them are either utterly nonsensical or entirely too predictable.
★★☆☆☆ The Church in the Mountains Gemma Files
★★☆☆☆ Daddy’s in a Snuff Film Kelby Losack
★★☆☆☆ I Hate All That is Mine Leigh Harlen
★★☆☆☆ The Thing in the Side Room Dustin Katz
★★☆☆☆ This Cosmic Atrocity Andrew Novak
★★☆☆☆ Archibald Leech, the Many-Storied Man John C. Foster
★★☆☆☆ Teeth and Teeth and Teeth Ashlee Scheuerman
★★☆☆☆ Things She Left in the Woods Jessica McHugh
★★☆☆☆ Famous Last Words Izzy Lee
★★★☆☆ Lather of Flies Brian Evenson
★★★☆☆ Elephants That Aren’t Betty Rocksteady
★★★☆☆ Ghost Mapping Eugenia Triantafyllou
★★★☆☆ Don’t Turn Around Thomas Joyce
★★★☆☆ The Fabulous and Tormented Life of a Serial Extra Chad Stroup
★★★☆☆ The Fantastic Flying Eraser Heads David James Keaton
★★★★☆ In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida on 8track Bob Pastorella
★★★★☆ A Festival of Fiends Brian Asman
★★★★☆ Stag Kristi DeMeester
Skipped - The Fourth Wall Kev Harrison [I only skipped this because I wasn't really in a good head space to read something where the main character is a sex worker so don't take this as any indication of the quality of the story because I probably read about two paragraphs of it] -
A great anthology about haunted media. The stories compliment each other nicely, and there is a wide range of tone and style and what constitutes "lost film" -- if you like creepy and haunted films, videos, VHS tapes, streaming and more, you will probably enjoy a bunch of the stories in here.
(I posted some thoughts on individual stories in a twitter thread:
https://twitter.com/Merc_Wolfmoor/sta... ) -
Some very good stories in the first half but goes downhill rather sharply in the second with some exceptions. Worth it for the few that really work though.
-
I liked some stories a lot, some stories a bit, and some stories not at all. I was very into the concept regardless, though.
-
I loved this anthology! This is a perfect example of the great work coming out from Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing. Stellar fiction, all the time!
I’ve selected the ones that I liked the most:
LATHER OF FLIES by Brian Evenson. A great story to kick off this anthology. It really establishes the setting. With my appetite whetted, I'm ready to sink my teeth into this book.
THE CHURCH IN THE MOUNTAINS by Gemma Files. This was a rather long story but so worth it. I love Gemma's work. I want to see her work made into films. This story takes the premise of Lost Films and masters it. Bravo! Gemma Files is an amazing talent. I highly recommend reading her novel: EXPERIMENTAL FILM. It’s a novel length work that fits the premise of this anthology. Great stuff!
IN-A-GADDA-DA-VIDA ON 8TRACK by Bob Pastorella. This story is fantastic. Dude is an amazing writer! I actually first heard this when he read it at KillerCon Austin. I highly recommend reading his novel: MOJO RISING. Also from Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing.
A FESTIVAL OF FIENDS by Brian Asman. Another great addition to this book's theme. Brian delivers a story that would make a great episode of a Creepshow/Black Mirror hybrid. It was even extra special when I first heard this story during a live reading at KillerCon Austin. Things got intense with Max Booth III playing Brian's hype-man.
THIS COSMIC ATROCITY by Andrew Novak. OMFG! That was one F-ing scary story!
ELEPHANTS THAT AREN'T by Betty Rocksteady. This story sucked me in with its totally identifiable main character. I could relate to her experience. And then... Sh*t gets Weird.
ARCHIBALD LEECH, THE MANY-STORIED MAN by John C. Foster. When scientists break reality and things are starting to go insane, you send in someone who's just crazy enough to fix it.
DON'T TURN AROUND by Thomas Joyce. A fun short story that plays with the second person POV and the Reality TV/Found Footage trope.
THINGS SHE LEFT IN THE WOODS by Jessica McHugh. A very creepy tale.
STAG by Kristi DeMeester. All I can say is just, WOW! Kristi’s work never ceases to amaze me. If you haven’t read her novel BENEATH, you should.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS by Izzy Lee. A compelling Horror tale told in a similar style as Memento. Oh my god, that ending! Or, I mean, beginning! Good stuff.
THE FABULOUS AND TORMENTED LIFE OF A SERIAL EXTRA by Chad Stroup. A rare case of second person POV that manages to be captivating and compelling. Nicely done Weird Horror.
THE FANTASTIC FLYING ERASER HEADS by David James Keaton. A rather long story, probably considered a novelette. I can see why this came at the very end of the anthology. It's long and it sums up the theme's premise magnificently. It involves mindf**kery. I don't want to say any more than that. Read it! -
Lather of Flies by Brian Evenson - 5/5
A film student becomes obsessed with tracking down an obscure film. Evenson’s story maintains a creepy mood throughout. The story has that whole nightmare logic feel to it, where events happen in sequence but somehow things just don’t make one hundred percent sense. The ending is great.
The Church In The Mountains by Gemma Files - 5/5
A young woman with strange memories tries to write them down. She’s not sure if it’s a memory something she saw on tv a long time ago, or just something she dreamed up. This is definitely the standout tale in this anthology. The way Files writes is amazing. That fourth wall obliterating ending is amazing.
Daddy’s In A Snuff Film by Kelby Losack - 3/5
I liked that the progress of the story was structured like a VHS tape being rewound and fast-forwarded, but the ending just didn’t work for me. The concept of a weird surveillance video driving all the action is promising. The ending didn’t seem connected to the story at all. It was surprising not in a “I did not see that coming” way, but more like it came from a completely different story.
In A Gadda Da Vida On 8-Track by Bob Pastorella - 4/5
A story inspired by the real-life Budd Dwyer incident, this tale uses a VHS recording as the source of unnatural obsession and destruction. While I liked Pastorella’s writing, I thought the characters felt just a little underdeveloped. If you like found footage movies (like the Ring franchise for example), you’ll love this. Plus, you have to admit that the title is amazing.
A Festival Of Fiends by Brian Asman - 1/5
The whole premise (killers meeting in a remote location to screen films of their murders for a competition) is SO promising. The thing that doesn’t work is the writing style, it just feels very clunky to me. Almost every single character is given one defining characteristic and that is repeated over and over again to the audience (like one character having greasy hair, one having bad body odor, another one described as fat).
I Hate All That Is Mine by Leigh Harlen - 3/5
Centers around an amateur film maker, who has made a creepy short that has an effect on everyone who watches it (people see it once, and are compelled to watch it again and again). The story is great up until the very end. Without spoiling too much, I feel like the cliffhanger style ending was intended to be clever, but just felt unfinished.
The Thing in The Side Room by Dustin Katz - 1/5
A small group of YouTubers film their pranks, and use that for online exposure and fame. As the small company gets more successful, the pranks escalate. Except for some minor characters, no one in this story was likeable. Like in Kelby Losack’s story, I felt that the ending came out of nowhere and did not fit with the rest of the story. It’s like the author gave up at the end.
The Cosmic Atrocity by Andrew Novak - 3/5
A little boy sees a strange clown near his school playground, and becomes obsessed with telling this story to his friends, teachers, and parents. No one seems to believe him. This started out as a standard ‘no one believes a young kid when he sees creepy stuff’ story, but evolved to something more in scope. The escalation of events seemed uneven, with the last few paragraphs not matching the slow burn pace earlier.
Elephants That Aren’t by Betty Rocksteady - 5/5
A young artist is struggling with creating work that would match that of her mother. She compares herself to others in her art class, and is told she should find inspiration from within herself. Lines between dreams and reality blur, and…. well, don’t want to spoil that ending. I loved Rocksteady’s writing in this, it really keeps you reading to find out more.
Archibald Leech, The Many Storied Man by John C Foster - 1/5
A man gets sent to investigate strange goings on in a little town in the middle of nowhere. The closer he gets to the destination, the stranger his surroundings get (both the weather patterns and the people seem unnatural to him somehow). This felt a little like a detective noir movie mashed together with some cosmic horror, and I really wanted to like it. The ending was abrupt, like in a couple other stories in this anthology. That didn’t surprise or shock me as a reader, but felt more like the writer just stopped the story in a random place.
Teeth and Teeth and Teeth by Ashlee Scheuerman – 3/5
This story is structured around odd things seen on surveillance feeds, and focuses on a security guard who becomes more and more unnerved at what is happening around him. The end was a little disappointing (the build up to it was greater than the end result), and I thought the story would be more effective if it was just a little shorter (some sections felt like they dragged on).
Ghost Mapping by Eugenia Triantafyllou – 5/5
A story about loss and missed possibilities. And ghosts. I could say so much more, but really don’t want to spoil this for other readers. I was surprised by how much I loved this odd little story with its dreamlike writing.
The Fourth Wall by Kev Harrison – 4/5
Injuries start to cross over into the real world, and a cam girl tries desperately to understand what is going on. This story has a neat little mystery at the start, but I felt a little let down by the ending. Yes, it made sense within the context of what was happening, but it was so cliché! Plus, the title of the story is misleading. There is no fourth wall shattering in here.
Don’t Turn Around by Thomas Joyce – 4/5
A trio of amateur ghost hunters enter a creepy sanatorium (is there any other kind?), and quickly find themselves trapped. I liked this, and the humor was balanced well with the creepy stuff. Have to mention though, that this had a scene towards the end that was heavily inspired by one from the 1999 House on Haunted Hill movie (the part where a camcorder catches a ghostly operation).
Things She Left In The Woods by Jessica McHugh – 3/5
A lost boy, a failed search party. Two bickering siblings enter the wintry woods to try and find the child.
This had a very creepy atmosphere and used an urban legend to build tension between characters. I was kind of disappointed in the ending, which wasn’t very creepy to me (it just didn’t match the rest of the story in terms of scares).
Stag by Kristi Demeester – 5/5
A story of a girl obsessed with a mounted deer head in her family’s old house. The writing and world building in this is amazing, and there are some disturbing moments as the girl’s obsessiveness grows and grows. This was great, and the weird ending really worked.
Famous Last Words by Izzy Lee – 3/5
Told in reverse, this story feels like a mix of Blair Witch and The Descent. It’s about two film makers who go into a forest for some location scouting, and find something they didn’t expect. I think it could have been more effective with the scares if it was a little shorter. Some parts ran longer than they needed to be.
The Fabulous And Tormented Life Of A Serial Extra by Chad Stroup – 4/5
A man becomes obsessed with an extra in a movie, and starts to notice this strange man in the background of many other films. This story was very well written and there were plenty of fourth wall breaking moments. The ending was confusing, and I had no idea what actually happened to the main character.
The Fantastic Flying Eraser Heads by David James Keaton – 5/5
Two bored store clerks. A strange VHS tape. They start to slowly notice that memories are changing, events being rewritten. This was a heck of a way to close out the anthology. This is the strangest love letter to video stores, retro technology, and other such sources of nostalgia. -
Outstanding collection with some truly scary stories.
-
3.5
Overall, this is a pretty damned decent collection of short stories. I’m pleased I stumbled across it.
I loved the theme of lost films—it’s got so much potential and so many different directions to go in. I gotta give credit to a collection that brings inspiration along with it. The stories vary enough in levels of horror and weird that the balance is quite satisfying.
As with most collections, there are hits and misses—and those are going to vary from reader to reader. There were one or two that I was ultimately neutral about. One I thought was weak mostly because it relied on lazy stereotypes (automatic deduction for butterball as descriptor) and didn’t really hang together. A couple I don’t really remember.
My favorites:
Gemma Files’ “The Church in the Mountains” for character, atmosphere, and tension. Cool use of the theme.
“Elephants That Aren’t” by Betty Rocksteady. Wonderfully weird and unsettling with a great hook for the main character. Extra points for the illustration!
“Things She Left in the Woods” by Jessica McHugh kept me reading.
“The Fantastic Flying Eraser Heads” by David James Keaton got off to a slow start. It’s worth getting through the beginning because once it gets rolling it’s really satisfying. There are some excellent ideas and I enjoyed seeing them play out. Also, as a former video store clerk I have to applaud.
Bonus: The Introduction by Max Booth III was particularly well done. -
This book took me a little longer to read than other anthologies. The first two stories didn't draw me in well. Because I very much liked only about half of the stories presented, I am unable to give it higher than a 3/5. However, the ones I liked, I really liked.
The ones I liked:
"This Cosmic Atrocity" by Andrew Novak
"Elephants That Aren't" by Betty Rocksteady
"Archibald Leech, the Many-Storied Man" by John C. Foster
"The Fabulous and Tormented Life of a Serial Extra" by Chad Stroup
The ones I really liked:
"Festival of Fiends" by Brian Asman
"Ghost Mapping" by Eugenia Triantafyllou
"Things She Left in the Woods" by Jessica
McHugh
"Stag" by Kristi DeMeester
My favourites:
"The Fantastic Flying Eraser Heads" by David James Keaton
"In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida on 8Track" by Bob Pastorella -
Fantastic anthology
Man, this book is awesome. So many creative riffs on the theme that a lower review just doesn't do it justice. It's a real page-turner. There's a bunch of top authors in here and the stories are gripping as hell. Great stuff. -
This is a solid horror anthology. Each story deals with the film theme of the collection in its own original way. There isn't a bad story in the bunch.
Highlights for me were:
* In-a-godda-da-vida On 8Track - by Bob Pastorella
* A Festival of Fiends - by Brian Asman
* This Cosmic Atrocity - by Andrew Novak
* Teeth and Teeth and Teeth - by Ashlee Scheuerman
* The Fourth Wall - by Kev Harrison
* Things She Left in the Woods - by Jessica McHugh
* Stag - by Kristi DeMeester
* The Fantastic Flying Eraser Heads - by David James Keaton
Things She Left in the Woods was my very favorite of the entire collection. I did not see that ending coming!
There is something for every horror reader in here, so be sure to give it a try. -
I wanted to like it, I really did. I loved the concept and a couple of the stories were really good but overall it's kinda the embodiment of a shrug.
-
A decent collection of horror shorts all based on lost films.
-
Really great selection of stories! I enjoyed them all.
-
Scarier than late fees or popcorn prices
Dust off the VCR, present your ticket to the usher, and buckle in for some fun. The stories all center on film, cameras, and similar subjects. Several stories are mind-blowing. Very creative, great haunting imagery, and a well-compiled group of stories. -
I am, admittedly, a sucker for movie-themed horror stories and weird fiction. And yet, this collection exceeded my high expectations. There is a good chance that I will pick this one up again and read through the whole thing, because the tales are so varied and satisfying. Great work by the editors and authors!
-
A great concept gone wrong.. DNF at 60%
-
I bought the trilogy Lost Contact, Lost Signals, Lost Films after reading "We Have to do Something" by Max Booth (which I liked). I read the second 2, and won't even start the other one. First of all the juvenile drawings and stupid pictograms on every page are extremely annoying. On additional printings they should leave these out and then the books would be shorter, too. (But who am I kidding; there will be no additional printings.) These stories are like cheesy episodes of Tales from the Crypt or or anyone remember the old show "Night Gallery"? Skip these books.
-
A collection of spooky short stories by various authors. Each story has some element of video, be it security camera, movies or the act of recording on a phone, that unites them under the similar theme. Overall I enjoyed it, there were obviously some stellar pieces and one or two that fell short in my opinion. My only complaint is that some just abruptly end instead of wrapping the story up making it feel like the author just got bored of the story and walked away.
-
Average, but enjoyable
It's not that there aren't great stories in here. There are. But there is enough that didn't work for me. Whether by author style or story quality, about a third fell flat on me. -
3.75
Uneven, but satisfying entry into the cursed film canon. Not for the faint of heart—“Church in the Mountains,” “A Festival of Fiends,” “The Cosmic Atrocity,” Archibald Leech The Many Storied Man,” “Fantastic Flying Eraser Heads”= A+.
