Most helpful customer reviews
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Night of the Mantises, Jul 9 2004
Tom Braun and his wife Susan aren't exactly a picturesque couple. Thus it comes as no surprise that Tom continually spends late evenings in bars and cheats on his wife. Unfortunately, their son Andy is caught in the middle of his parent's childish banter and family chaos. One life-altering evening turns this family's, along with most of New York's, perceptions on the nuclear family and male/female relationships upside down.When a tanker trunk with "Ladies Inc." emblazoned on the side crashes in a quiet area in New York, an area it doesn't have authorization to be in, it liberally spills its contents all over the road and into the surrounding atmosphere. The local authorities deem the contents of the spill to be safe, based merely on the assumption that products coming from a women's label are more than likely benign. Moreover, the smell emanating from the spill is one of sweet cherry, similar to lollipops, which must of course be harmless if not favorable. This aforementioned assumption proves fatally incorrect. The chemical load the truck was hauling procures a discomfiting, bestial effect in women, forcing them to savagely attack males in their vicinity. Be they former friend or foe. Tom, while at a local bar, absorbs the evening's strange turn of events with traumatizing clarity as he witnesses first hand the metamorphosis of surrounding women into gruesomely instinctual brutes and mantis-like predators. He must get home to his son Andy, who is currently alone with his wife Susan. Hopefully before it is too late. This concept is not entirely new in the horror genre. Ketchum weaves his plot in a very Romero-esque fashion, and even admits to drawing from the "Dead" trilogy for this particular tale. However, Ketchum chooses to give women the role of ruthless savage while the males run for their lives. Some unforeseen visceral instinct takes over, and the body count rises in true repulsive zombie fashion. I am certainly one to appreciate some well-placed gore and vivid descriptions. However, I felt as though Ketchum let the grotesque extravagance take precedence over the plot in this particular form of this novel. The extreme horror genre need not be a mere roller-coaster ride of bloodshed and carnage. In his forward, Ketchum states that this 164 page book was originally about 400 pages, and one of the longest books he'd ever written. Furthermore, he states that there was originally slightly more character development and a few additional side-plots woven into the now sparse and thin story line. I, for one, would love to see his original version find its way into print. In addition to the hackneyed, bare-boned plot, this book is fraught with typos and editing errors. Though they don't themselves detract from the plot, they do indeed become a nuisance. I have always been, and will continue to be, a fan of Jack Ketchum. However, this particular book is not his best work.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Bloodsoaked splatter extravaganza, Jun 7 2004
LADIES NIGHT might not be the most original horror novella, that's for sure, but undoubtable a highly enjoyable splatter epic for gore hounds.
Yes, the story is derivative. Author Jack KETCHUM himself admits it in the introduction and freely cites SHIVERS, Canadian horror auteur David CRONENBERG's first horror movie, as his main inspiration. Of course LADIES' NIGHT's thin plot also borrows heavily from other movies, mostly of the ever popular zombie genre (e.g. the ending in particular ripps off NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD). And yes, this is not great literature. If thís is what you are looking for, search elsewhere.
However this brief novella is hugely entertaining. Okay, the plot is thin - so what? Face it, most horror films or novels aren't that original or new, either. And as far as the poor style other reviewers bemoaned is concerned I actually think that the (intentionally) pulpy style works in the book's favour.
Set in New York (which is always a good thing) LADIES' NIGHT's story begins with an horrible traffic accident, which causes a tanker's biohazardous cargo (of course a chemical weapon developed by the military) to escape. A cherry flavoured lollipop smell wafts through the Big Apple's West Side, infecting most women, who turn into homicidal maniacs within hours, attacking every man at random. The book details the desperate attempts of a man to return home to his flat to save his son. Not an easy task, since streets and avenues are full of murderous crazy women, more than willing to kill...
While Tom tries to get home, his son has to defend himself against his mother...
LADIES' NIGHT is one hell of a gory read! It is no exaggeration when I tell you that after the set-up (around 50 pages) the blood never stops to flow. After the 50 page mark there is rarely a page, often not even a paragraph, without over the top violence and mayhem. A woman throws her baby out of the window, another one takes over an abandoned police car and runs over each man in sight, a black man meets a VERY nasty end at the grill of a fast food restaurant (a scene which will likely cause an aversion against hamburgers for squeamish readers), a female teenager douses her parents with lamp oil and sets them ablaze... The variety of things used to kill, maim, mutilate, and hurt is impressive: of course knives and blades of all kinds, guns, bottles, glasses, baseball bat, fire extinguisher, molotov cocktails, pans (!), cleavers, scalding water, poker, fireplace tongs, TV sets (!), bow and arrow, ice pick, axe,...
And in case characters run out of items they could use as weapons they use their bare hands and teeth! The various deaths and injuries are described in all their gory glory. You get the idea.
Despite the continous carnage however it never gets repetitive or boring. The story moves at a breakneck pace and the violence never stops. There is also some sex thrown in for good measure (...). There is an apocalyptic feel to LADIES' NIGHT like in the best zombie movies. The use of the New York setting is great and adds to that aforementioned large scale apocalyptic feel. All in all a clear recommendation for gore hounds and fans of extreme horror!
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Zombie Cat Fight gone wild, lock up your sons!, Sep 5 2003
I am a fan of the horror genre, and this is quite an extreme example; but with a refreshing approach. It is the women who are effected by a strange toxic spill, not only causing them to become violent but also loosing their real selves in the process. Kind of like horny, hungry female zombies. They begin to attack all of the men only because they are men, but also when they sense a woman has not changed with them, is not like them, they attack her too. The one thing I felt should have possibly been expanded on is the fact that it is the women who are violent beyond control, in a society where men are suppose to never strike a woman. I wonder how different it would have been in reverse; were the men effected I believe the women would have been even more violent in their defense. Very interesting subject.In a short 166 page story, Ketchum manages to bring his characters to life, and portrays one woman's transformation into something unknown even to her very well. The focus of the story is one man's journey from his neighborhood bar back to his apartment to save his son...from his wife.
This book does contain some very graphic gore and splatter, so be prepared. But it is a very fast read in that it moves like a movie through your head. I could see this becoming a horror movie very easily.
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