Horror Books To Bring Camping

I'm more likely to read while camping than to sit in my trailer and watch a movie. And seeing as how Bloody Disgusting has already done a list of the top 10 movies to watch while camping, I thought I would do a list of the top books to read while camping.

Camping and scary stories just go together. I can remember telling scary stories around the campfire, or telling scary stories in my tent with a flashlight under my face. The following books all have a plot that revolves around camping. It's scarier to read something at the same time as you're experiencing it.

Dark Mountain by Richard Laymon

Two families go on a camping trip in the mountains. But they don't know that there's a witch living in the mountains. The standard fast-paced Laymon novel.

Also by Richard Laymon

No Sanctuary: There are two parts to this novel that almost feel like separate books. In one part, a couple goes camping in the woods and meet three guys who have plans to terrorize them. The other part is about a woman who likes to break into others' houses while they're gone and stay there until they get back. But she breaks into the wrong house.... Both of the stories are tied together in the end.

Off Season by Jack Ketchum

Three couples rent a cabin on the Maine coastline. But they don't know that there's a bunch of cannibals living in the caves. This is one of the goriest novels I've ever read. It reads like a B-movie, which makes for a really fun camping read. I don't understand how The Girl Next Door, The Lost and Red were all made into movies before this Ketchum novel.

Also by Jack Ketchum

Offspring: The sequel to Off Season.

Cover: A group goes camping in the woods and come across a crazed Vietnam vet.

The Mountain King by Rick Hautala

Two men are hiking in the mountains and one is taken by Bigfoot. The other man returns to the mountain to find his friend.

Deliverance by James Dickey

The book that the movie was based on. Four men go on a canoeing trip and encounter crazed backwoods hicks.



The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King

A young girl gets lost while hiking in the woods with her family. This book is about how she survives alone in the woods. One of my teachers read this book to my grade 8 class. Not scary and not really horror, but it's still a compelling read.

MOVIE REVIEW: Just Before Dawn

I got this movie on VHS from a library book sale. Pretty cheap too, all I had to give was a donation. So I gave $10 for a box of books and a couple movies. The bottom picture on the left is my VHS copy. I didn't expect much judging from the cover art, which is just a drawing of a man with a knife standing in front of a tent. But the description on the back sounded promising.

Just Before Dawn is about five teens heading up in the mountains to camp for a weekend. Although a forest ranger warns them not to go up there, naturally they ignore him, and discover there's a killer in the woods.

The film has a pretty slow pace. After the initial murder scene to grab viewers nothing else happens for awhile. But it's very atmospheric and has a creepy soundtrack.

Also, there's not really any gore. Just a few people stabbed and a little bit of blood. Just Before Dawn leads more towards Deliverance than say Friday the 13th. It relies more on the atmosphere to creep you out instead of a bunch of gory deaths.

The standard slasher cliched characters make an appearance in this movie. I liked a couple of them, but most of them got on my nerves.

Overall, Just Before Dawn is an okay slasher. It's a bit slow and doesn't have much gore, but it makes up for that with its creepy atmosphere.

Rating: 3/5

MOVIE REVIEW: Eden Lake

I'm going camping in one week and I'm pretty excited. So this week I'm going to dedicate all my posts to camping-related horror.

First up, Eden Lake.I saw this movie a few months ago and it has stuck with me since, especially its disturbing ending.

Eden Lake is about a couple who spend a romantic weekend at a secluded lake. However, the lake isn't too secluded. It's a hangout spot for a group of unruly teenagers. When the couple asks the teens to turn their music down, they refuse and slash the couple's tires in retaliation. The action keeps escalating, until the powerful conclusion.

This film's suspense didn't let up for a second. I was glued to the screen to see just how far these kids would go. And they go pretty far.... The film doesn't have a happy ending, but it will stick with you for a long time.

The plot is very believable, unlike other killer kid movies. I mean, kids aren't going to feed you to the monster in the corn fields or turn out to be the son of Satan. But kids nowadays are pretty messed up. They cave into peer pressure fairly easily, and just one rotten apple could spoil the bunch. Just like in this movie. It seems like most of the teens are essentially good kids, except for the leader of the group.

Occasionally the main characters' stupidity got on my nerves, just like most horror movies. First of all, none of this would've happened in the first place if the couple hadn't confronted the kids numerous times. Obviously they weren't going to turn the music down, so they should've just sucked it up or left. And I couldn't believe she spent the night in the forest after the teens take her boyfriend. Um how about going and getting some help?

Eden Lake was (mostly) a realistic film, making it that more disturbing. And it's different than most camping/lost in the woods films. Instead of having the usual monster, mutant hillbilly or masked killer, the monster is just a bunch of kids.

Hopefully irritating kids won't be at my campground next week. Well, even if there is I doubt this would happen to me...knock on wood.

Rating: 5/5