Post by Dreadlocksmile on Aug 11, 2009 10:55:04 GMT
Dreadlocksmile review:
First published back in 1978, Guy N Smith’s pulp horror classic ‘Bats out of Hell’ is one of his early horror novels that eventually paved the way for an incredibly prolific career in horror writing.
The tale begins in the Midlands Biological Research Centre where Professor Brian Newman has accidently created a new and deadly virus on a number of his experimental bats. The virus seems similar to that of meningitis in many ways. However, the infected bat later develops what appears to be a state of abnormal madness, with its natural radar sense left completely useless.
The highly infectious virus then leaves the carrier in a paralysed state of rigor mortis until death finally takes hold of the poor victim. Later on that night, Newman’s laboratory helper and lover Susan Wylie catches Newman at a local bar with another young female. It appears that Newman is surprisingly a bit of a ladies man.
The following morning an argument breaks out between the two scientists, escalating until the glass cage that holds Newman’s test bats is broken, and the infected creatures escape from their prison.
Newman attempts to convince his superiors, Professor Haynes and Professor Rickers, that these escaped bats could mean an outbreak of a new deadly virus that could build into an epidemic of catastrophic proportions. Alas, after a number of tests are performed, the two Professors come to the mistaken conclusion that the deadly virus never really existed.
Soon enough, a local family are infected with the deadly virus when they encounter the bats sheltering in their horse’s stables. Next to fall victim to the erratic and lethal bats are the pupils of St Chad’s Cathedral School during a service held by their headmaster. Mayhem ensues, with the highly contagious bats infecting a large number of the boys.
By now the press has got hold of the story and a nationwide panic is underway. When a bat gets into the highly secure confines of the Bank’s Treasury, located in the heart of Birmingham city, the government moves in and declares Birmingham and its suburbs to be a quarantined area. No one is to enter or leave the whole of this area. The government enlists the help of the armed forces, the police forces along with employing a volunteer service named the BVF, to maintain this authority.
Before long riots are breaking out in the streets of Birmingham, with vigilante groups targeting those seen to be in authority. A number of thugs attempt to take their revenge on Newman, when word gets out that it was him and him alone who is responsible for this deadly outbreak.
With pandemonium everywhere, Newman has his work cut out for him if he is to either find a cure for the virus or find a way to kill off all of the infected bats. When mice and rats show signs of carrying the disease, drastic measures are needed to save the population of the UK.
The novel is relatively slow to start off with, as Smith lays down the premise for the storyline. Once the bats are finally loose and infecting those who come into contact with them, the novel takes up a non-stop fast pace, with one dramatic event proceeding another.
Each sighting that takes place takes on a greater and greater amount of victims, until the moment when the area of Birmingham is secured by the government. At this point the novel takes on a whole new angle, with an almost post-apocalyptic situation of urban rioting and warfare taking dominance of the storyline. Smith delivers pages of bloodthirsty violence and mob rule madness that will have you perched on the edge of your seat throughout.
With sheer chaos around every corner, the tale adds further weight to the desperation towards Newman’s work. The suspense builds as small but carefully intertwined sub stories bring a clever reality to the brutal streets of Birmingham.
Like within his classic novel ‘Nigh of the Crabs’, Smith almost back-headedly inserts a very helpful answer to the deadly virus that quite clearly should have been incorporated at an earlier stage within the storyline. Still, this somewhat weak development to the novel does not really detract from an otherwise well delivered ending.
The characters throughout the novel are clichéd in places, apart from Newman who is a peculiar mix of many character traits. Smith focuses more on the action packed sightings of the bats and the ensuing panic around them, rather than dwelling on the intricacies of the characters involved. This works well with such an action packed and unashamedly over-the-top tale.
From the moment of the first ‘bat attack’ Smith has delivered a truly incredible piece of pulp horror literature. The novel barely ever lets up from the fast paced action, mounting to the crescendo of pandemonium madness within the streets of Birmingham. This novel really is an absolute must for all fans of pulp horror or splatterpunk.
The novel runs for a total of 157 pages and was first published by New English Library.
www.amazon.co.uk/review/RB66J6D5UC45N/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm