#carl dreadstone

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔘𝔫𝔦𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔰𝔞𝔩 ℌ𝔬𝔯𝔯𝔬𝔯 𝔏𝔦𝔟𝔯𝔞𝔯𝔶 (ℭ𝔞𝔯𝔩 𝔇𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔡𝔰𝔱𝔬𝔫𝔢 յգԴԴ)

[laukrskegg]

Just finished this book, whoa. Damn good and easy read. Dreadstone did good job. Book's certainly different from movie, that be expected, but I don't expect was how good it was. Both novel and film are part of my favourite list now. I felt sympathetic for Wilfrid more than Wilfred. Although, I rather like both nevertheless.

[tied-in]

CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON

Written by Carl Dreadstone

[laukrskegg]

Yay, Werewolf of London novel arrived today. Sadly, unlike description stated used novel but look like new, it's fucked up front cover and writes on back. At least no highlight or mark inside. Will blog review after I read it. If I have such time to read it, parent life....

[dirtyriver]

The Thirty-One Days of Halloween: Frankenstein and his creature

Carl Dradstone (Ramsay Campbell) - Frankensteins Braut (novelization of The Bride of Frankenstein), 1980, Vampir Horror-Roman 389

Ramsay Campbell wrote three of the six novelizations of classic Universal monster movies published in 1977 under the house name Carl Dreadstone (the other two being Dracula's Daughter and The Wolf Man).

[monsterman]

[monsterman]

Has anyone read any of these Carl Dreadstone - Universal Horror Library books?

[kooshmeister]

Dreadful Dreadstone Part 3!

They get in touch with, uh, someone, the novel stubbornly refuses to actually say who, but whoever it is, hey have the authority to send a torpedo boat to rescue them and deal with the giant monster. After concluding their conversation with the Brazilian Ministry of Plot Convenience, Gebhardt feels Kay up a bit, wishing to himself that Reed wasn't there so he really can bang her right there on the boat. So much for sharing.

Kay, for her part, has noticed the sole surviving two men are both passive aggressively competing over her, or at least Gebhardt is. David Reed may as well be a plank of wood for all that he seems to notice his colleague is interested in the late Dr. Thompson's assistant. It's a love triangle where one corner of the triangle is unaware there even is a triangle. At any rate, Kay momentarily compares herself to "a bone being fought over by two dogs," but, continuing to stubbornly be a person and not a prop and grow that personality she's lacked all of her life, reminds herself that bones are inanimate objects that don't care which dog it ends up with. She, however, does, and prefers David Reed to Bruno Gebhardt. Why, I have no idea, considering, as I said, Reed is a personality-less plank.

I mean, considering Gebhardt earlier broke a dude's arm and threw him into the lagoon to die, and the fact he may or may not be a former Nazi, I can see why she'd consider Reed the safer alternative. But I thought all good girls wanted bad boys? And besides, Gebhardt only did that because José wanted to murder Reed. And besides, being German, shouldn't this mean he's got that exotic foreign thing women are supposed to like? Why must she go instinctively for the white bread all-American boring guy and not the hot European? Oh, wait, it's because Gebhardt is doomed and we can't have Kay falling for a character who's going to be a pancake in a few pages. Right. Thanks, Mr. Harris.

Reed suddenly shows some personality too, but it's too little too late and a poor imitation of Gebhardt's own inner monologue. The same "God, I wanna bang Kay, but if only Bruno weren't here." I'm telling you people, threesome! Live a little!

Suddenly Gebhardt decides he wants to die. He never says or thinks as much, but there's no other explanation for the fact he suddenly decides they should go for a swim. At night. In the Black Lagoon. With a fifty foot abomination of nature running around. He invites the others, and they decline, and, determined to prove he isn't chicken, he hops in. Apparently he thrives on risk, but this seems like an ass-pull to justify why he's risking his neck for no good damn reason.

The inevitable happens, of course, and we get another monster attack. But noy before Reed and Kay take advantage of the fact Gebhardt is out dogpaddling to go below decks, and the Rita is described as "rocking with love." If this tramp steamer's a-rockin', don't come a-knockin'.

It's while they're fucking that our old friend AA attacks Gebhardt in the water, but unlike his counterpart in the film, our German friend survives. For now. He does piss himself in terror, though. The creature surfaces underneath him and he winds up clinging to the top of its head (wait, I thought it didn't wanna go back in the lagoon for fear of piranhas being attracted to its persistently bleeding mouth wound?). It heads ashore with Gebhardt piggybacking, and he manages to climb down off of it. He hides and waits until the critter heads off into the jungle to swim back out to the Rita.

It's decided they ought to abandon ship, and AA hastens this decision by returning suddenly, and Kay somehow knows it's coming for her. Heading into the water, it promptly bashes the Rita up real good. Reed's leg is badly injured in the process. Our trio safely makes it ashore, where Kay, crying, takes off her blouse to bandage Reed's leg.

The next morning, a plane arrives and tries to airdrop some weapons for our heroes. There's some time-wasting back and forth between the pilot and his navigator about how best to do it, and their first attempt fails, with the bundle parachuting into some trees. Oops. Their second attempt succeeds, fat lot of good the weapons actually do the main characters. Gebhardt manages to get one containing a spear gun and unpack it, but AA belly-flops onto him. He's crushed and his eyeballs fly out of their sockets. Welp, no threesome now. Unless, of course, AA can figure out a way to work its way in between Reed and Kay. Pun intended.

Reed gets his own bundle containing a rifle, but doesn't get it unwrapped before the monster attacks and badly injuries him. He very nearly bleeds out. He passes out and when he awakens he's aboard the torpedo boat they sent for, being tended to by a doctor and ranting and raving from blood loss. The ship's sublieutenant asks if there's anything to what he's saying, and the doctor just chides him for being superstitious and gullible. What? Now suddenly the issue of just randomly believing some raving loony about a giant monster in the Xingu comes up? Where was this guy back when Joaquim was doing this bit?

The chastened sublieutenant goes to report to his commanding officer, who is currently on the bridge talking to Kay, who they also rescued. Incidentally, I have no idea what military this ship is from. Earlier, Harris was emphatic that the DC-3 plane that flies Reed in to Manaus was from the Brazilian Air Force, piloted by a Colonel Alves. Here, though, the all-important torpedo boat that's about to save the day (spoiler) never has the military it hails from identified, nor are any of its crew named. Maybe if we'd known who the heck they radioed for help we'd have some clue. I mean, I'm guessing they're South Americans, too, Brazilians most likely, but does Brazil have a navy? I Googled and yes apparently they do. But Harris is being so coy with these guys and who they are and where they're from that it's rather infuriating, especially considering he went out of his way to identify Alves and what military he belonged to.

Up on the bridge, Kay is having an argument with the politely condescending captain. There was no sign of AA when they arrived (what? Didn't the pilots of the plane see it at all and radio in? Did their colleagues think they were cranks? Why is there sudden skepticism about AA's existence when it seemed like literally everyone believed in the thing before? I guess Reed and Kay had the misfortune to get rescued by the one boat in Brazil's military crewed by a bunch of skeptics.

Anyway, AA has made itself scarce since the navy men arrived, and the captain doesn't think it exists. Why it's being shy now I do not know. When asked if there's no monster, why does the area surrounding the Black Lagoon look so thoroughly trashed, the captain attributes the the destruction to someone having "gone mad with a bulldozer." Kay's efforts to convince him don't seem to be working. Reed for his part remains below decks in sick bay and apparently isn't mentioned again. Does he die? Does he survive? Harris apparently doesn't think we care (and he's right!). Apparently realizing it makes no sense for the heretofore brazen beastie to be hiding, Harris rushes to the end here. Kay's argument with the captain doesn't even get two pages before boom!, AA breaks the surface and decides it wants to eat itself some military men to wash those yummy natives and scientists down. Kay does the usual "Now do you believe me?!" spiel, and the stunned captain replies by ordering the ship to go on the attack.

The book basically runs out of pages here, and the battle between the creature and the ship lasts for all of two or three of them at most before a Polaris missile (!) succeeds in fatally wounding AA. 'Twas Lockheed killed the beast! Wait, did the Brazilian Navy have Polaris missiles? Wikipedia doesn't list them as one of the countries whose navy employed them. Oh, nevermind...

So the giant horny shemale expires. Kay is... kind of upset? Why? She and the torpedo boat crew go over to its corpse to examine it, and in particular she focuses on its dead eyes staring accusing at her. The eyes of a "betrayed friend."

The End.

~*~

Blech.

Sorry, Harris, you can't try and pull that Kong bullshit after the novel that preceded it painted the monster as such a violently evil, sadistic beast.