Mister B. Gone - an unusual book for Clive Barker

Advantages: Easy to read
Disadvantages: A bit repetitive

...I have read most of Clive Barker's books which are often set in strange worlds (Weaveworld, Abarat) and have come to expect the unexpected from him. However, even bearing this in mind, this short book (only 248 pages in the paperback edition) still came as a bit of a surprise. It's unusual for Clive Barker to write such a short book, and to have so few major characters involved. It's also unusual for him to use one of the few major characters as a narrator. Jakabok Botch (the Mister B. of the title) speaks directly to the reader throughout, starting with explaining just how even for a demon he is hideously disfigured. After being tempted by a piece of steak and a can of beer on a line he is "fished" up through several "Circles" into our World circa the 14th/15th century. After escaping his captors quickly Mister B's narrative...

weaveab 09.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of Mister B. Gone - Clive Barker

Sex, Death and Hollywood

Advantages: An interesting mix of themes, dark and over the top
Disadvantages: Not one of Barker's most original books

...The main character Clive Barker's Coldheart Canyon is Todd Pickett, a fading Hollywood film star who undergoes a plastic surgery operation to improve his declining good looks only for the procedure to go horribly wrong, leaving him disfigured and his career in ruins. He buys a secluded house in a little-known place of Coldheart Canyon, hidden amongst the lavish estates of the Hollywood stars, and it is here that he becomes embroiled in a turbulent relationship with a dominatrix-like Romanian woman by the name of Katya, who appears to be the spitting image of a Burlesque-style, Hollywood film actress from the 1930s who was briefly famous but who disappeared into obscurity overnight, never to be seen or heard of again. Through Katya, Pickett discovers a strange basement room which appears to have magical properties, the walls coming to...

Burning_Darkness 01.08.2009 · Read review
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Review of Coldheart Canyon - Clive Barker

DON'T OPEN THE BOX FRANK!!

Advantages: A true horror - grusemoe & disgusting, to be read from behind a cushion.
Disadvantages: A true horror - grusemoe & disgusting, to be read from behind a cushion.

... The Hellbound Heart Clive Barker ABOUT THE BOOK This little book was originally published in 1986, by Dark Harvest as part of an anthology series called Night Visions. This review is for the paperback edition by Harper. It is probably most famous as being the book that the successful horror film, 'Hellraiser', is based on. The film is not completely the same as the book some of the additions were the depiction of the kingdom of Leviathan, and the woman who is torn to pieces with hooks in the beginning of the film. Most importantly the book describes feelings, relationships and thoughts, which the film could not portray. It is defiantly worth reading the book even if you have seen the film. This is a short, fast paced book of 140 pages. THE STORY Frank is an insatiable, debauched...

oldchem 09.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Hellbound Heart - Clive Barker

Archipelago and get this!

Advantages: Simplistically written, fantastical characters, relentless action.
Disadvantages: Billed as a children's novel, some situations seem implausible.

...Candy Quackenbush has one great fear, she fears that she will never leave her home of Chickentown, Minnesota. It is only when asked by her loathsome teacher to do a project on her dull town that she finds there is more to the place than meets the eye. Following the suicide of the towns original namesake Henry Murkitt, Candy is drawn into a world known as "Abarat" filled with wondrous sites and horrific visions. Her first encounter with a genial eight-headed creature known as John Mischief leads her on a adventure in which she is to become an unlikely heroine. Endlessly pursued by agents of evil who wish to unleash the "Requaix" hidden below the sea, how can this fourteen-year old hold the fate of the world in her hands? Clive Barker's "Abarat" is one of the strangest, most fantastical pieces of writing I have ever come across...

Shortsharpshock 07.01.2006 · Read review
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Review of Abarat - Clive Barker

An awesome next-gen hack and slash horror.

Advantages: Engrossing plot, vast array of weapons, Dark and visceral style, some cool backstories, innovative
Disadvantages: linear, easy in places.

...Available fror Xbox 360, PC and PS3: From the brilliant mind of horror genius Clive Barker comes this innovative and utterly playable supernatural survival-horror shooter. This dark and sinister game takes place over many different locations eras in history, including Nazi Germany, The Roman Empire and Ancient Sumeria. The player is part of the Jericho team, a top-secret government group of seven elite soldiers well-versed in occult warfare, all possessing some unique and creative magical, psychoactive and combat skills as well as individual weapons such as customizable pistols and a katana. Each member has a fascinating backstory, notes on which can be unlocked by completing certain levels on various difficulties and in certain ways. The games main protagonist is Captain Devin Ross, a Jericho soldier with the ability...

Mutalisk 05.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Clive Barker's Jericho (Xbox 360)

Beautiful fantasy

Advantages: Wonderful illustrations, breathtaking imagination
Disadvantages: Episodic plot

...themselves and reached a level of self-awareness that makes it feel as though they have undergone a journey in the course of the book's pages. Clive Barker's imagination is given free reign in this book and the settings and characters are delightfully inventive, with many wonderful concepts getting only throwaway mentions which are tantalising and intriguing. The world of the Abarat consists of 25 islands, one for each hour of the day and a mysterious extra hour which has great mythic power to the archipelago's inhabitants. Each island takes on characteristics of its own hour, thus midnight is a dark and scary place, while most of the daylight hours are far happier and much more pleasant. The inhabitants of the Abarat are as disparate as the islands they inhabit, and indeed some of them inhabit no island, but are sea-dwellers, such as...

DavidBedford 23.10.2005 · Read review
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Review of Abarat - Clive Barker

The ultimate horror

Advantages: graphics, horror, storyline, weapons and spells
Disadvantages: no multiplayer

...I have heard some people say that Doom 3 is the scariest game ever, and how much the game scared them. But when I told them about Undying, they said that they never heard of it. For some unknown reasons, Undying never got the popularity it deserved. For me, this is the scariest game to be released on PC till now, and even most of those scary horror movies should make way for this game. Simply from the name Clive Barker itself, almost every horror fan could have known how scary this game would be. If the game had atleast half the hype of Doom 3 around here, this one could have been the most popular game at that time as the requirements were very low compared to the third of the Doom series, and still the game isn't lagging anywhere except for the fact that there is no multiplayer. MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Computer: 100% IBM...

existtoinspire 13.09.2007 · Read review
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Review of Clive Barker's Undying (PC)

young or old, life or death

Advantages: it s still a Clive Barker movie although there are better ones out there to watch
Disadvantages: slow beginning of the story, never sucked me in like other works of Clive Barker

...The Plague was produced by horror guru Clive Barker and therefor I had some high expectations on this one. In the past Clive Barker took us beyond the borders of conventional horrormovies with H.R. Giger inspired creatures from hell, great special effects and superb storylines. The plague shows us the story of what happens when all the children of the world suddenly awake out of their coma and are out for revenge. Despite the good casting and the interesting starting point the movie to me is a bit disappointing. First of all the storyline is more conventional than other Clive Barker movies. It's almost like Clive Barker wanted to do a Stephen King movie. What do I mean with those words? - The concept of young versus old in order to survive isn't a new given idea. More than once while watching 'the plague' it made me think somehow...

sidhartha83 20.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of Clive Barker's The Plague (DVD)

A jolly warped read

Advantages: An excellent & imaginative story
Disadvantages: Waiting for the next book

...As a children's story this is some seriously dark writing and may not be suitable of younger readers, but for adults it's an exceptionally good read. The heroine of the story, Candy, finds herself pulled into a parallel world by a strange sea, a world that consists of 25 islands. 24 islands represent a particular hour of the day with the 25th a dark place of murder and madness. This initial volume sees Candy's travels around a selection of these islands, meeting weird and wonderful characters on the way whilst trying to stay out of arms reach of the dark servants of the Lord of the 25th hour. This is a place where friend and foe are never what they seem and many are out for the capture of Candy. The illustrations included in this book give it an extra and enjoyably warped depth. Clive Barkers visual take on his fantasy world is one...

DolphinWatcher30 22.11.2008 · Read review
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Review of Abarat - Clive Barker

A Wicked Collection

Advantages: Varied, creative, hugely atmospheric, darkly humerous
Disadvantages: A couple of weaker stories

..."Every body is a book of blood; Wherever we're opened, we're red" Penned in the 1980s, Clive Barker's 6-volume Books of Blood series consists of a total of twenty one short stories that show Barker at his darkest and most creative, and are availabe either in individual volumes or in two omnibus editions cosisiting of 3 volumes each. The stories all lean towards the gory and the grotesque, and are written in an accessable and engaging way that will likely appeal to fans of Steven King, although in my opinion Barker's writing is infinitely more varied than that of the enjoyable but frequently formulaic King. Some of the the better stores here include 'The Body Politic', in which people's hands and limbs suddenly and mysteriously develop minds of their own, leading to widespread chaos and destruction as wayward hands slit their...

Burning_Darkness 31.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of Books of Blood Omnibus - Clive Barker