Twentieth Anniversary Screening by Jeff Strand – 5/5
I’m all about horror. I would say that 99% of all the books in my library are horror. But I have a confession to make. I don’t care for slasher flicks. You know, all the killing spree horror movies of the 80s that maintain a cult following to this day. Freddy. Jason. I have never watched a single one.
This is probably why Strand’s TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY SCREENING didn’t stand out to me at the time of first publication in 2022 ( I think?). I remember reading about it and how it was a nod to those old movies. That is the only excuse I can come up with to answer why I never read it. I did myself wrong. Not to mention this is the story that earned him the coveted Bram Stoker Award.
Written in the format of a lengthy website article, it weaves a story about a low-budget slasher flick that ended its short-lived theater run with someone who watched it over and over again and decided to recreate as many of the murders as possible during its last showing by killing audience members in the same manner as the murders on screen – and at the same time. Our antagonist in the movie is a roofer, who snaps and kills victims with the tools (mostly) available to someone in the roofing trade.
Obviously, this ends the run of the movie right there. Flash forward 20 years later and the same theater is showing the movie again during its twentieth anniversary. All precautions are taken to mitigate any violence, but that would make for a boring story wouldn’t it? You know someone (some two, or some more?), somehow, is going to try it again.
As a shorter story, it quickly runs through to the ending where a huge twist will turn you on a dime, twice, with plenty of laughs along the way.
Money Quote
Speaking about the original killer, when buying the implementations to carry out his sadistic plan, “What is not up for debate is that he went to a hardware store and purchased a number of tools that led the cashier to believe he was about to do some roof repair.”
Disclaimer: no popcorn was wasted during the creation of the featured image.