A fun creature feature novella full of 80s nostalgia and only available on VHS.
- Entertainment factor: ★★★★★
- Girl power: ★★★★★
- Gore factor: ★★★☆☆
- Monster factor: ★★★★★
- Folk horror factor: ★★★☆☆
- Found footage factor: ★★★★☆
Cicada is part of the Killer VHS series, a series with the nostalgic feel of VHS tapes and the eighties movies. Each novella can be read separately (except for part 2 and 5). This is the fourth part. It’s a fun creature feature that not only takes the main characters right back to the nostalgia of the eighties but the reader as well.
The first novella is Melon Head Mayhem by Alex Eberstein. The second novella is Candy Cain Kills by Brian McAuley. The third is Teleportasm by Joshua Millican. The fourth is Cicada by Tanya Pell. The fifth novella is Candy Cain Kills Again by Brian McAuley and the sixth is Night of the Witch-Hunter by Patrick Barb.
It consists of 192 pages.
Plot
Ash is on a roadtrip with her boyfriend Richie, which he suggested. It’s fun to drive to a festival, at least the idea is. In reality the roadtrip isn’t going very well. She is dying to break up with him or kill him. But for now they are stuck in the car and when they run into a traffic jam, Richie decides to go off the main road and take a little detour to avoid traffic. The alternative road however seems to lead to nowhere. Finally they come upon a small gas station with a woman who subtly and not very friendly warns Ash, that when she is getting into the car with Richie she is getting what she deserves. Ash minds the woman no heed and soon they are back on the road again.
They drive into a small town where a film festival is going on. The whole town is decorated and is dedicated to an old found footage film Cicada. Everywhere decorations about cicadas are found and the movie theater plays the old found footage film over and over. There are a lot of tourist present and Ash thinks it’s all a bit strange but is more concerned to get away from Richie and to civilization as soon as possible. When they had something to eat, and a fight and Ash ran into a tall dark and handsome man, they want to turn back. But the road is blocked and they have to go back to the little town.
Ash goes exploring the tour through the woods and encounters something strange that reminds her of a giant cicada. With the help of her new friend she tries to make sense of what she has seen. However she doesn’t have to wait too long before she gets an explanation and all hell breaks loose. With a couple of others she has to fight for survival in this nightmarish creature feature that appears to be very real.
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Short Review
The story takes its time. It slowly starts up with Ash who’s bored and annoyed with Richie and we learn she has every right to be because Richie is an absolute jerk. Together with Ash we take a look around the festival and the feeling that something is off, surfaces quite quickly, although the action doesn’t rear its monstrous head too quickly into the story.
First there’s a lot of time to get to know Ash and her situation. There’s also quite some time for a nice flirtation with a handsome man called Callum who is not only gorgeous but also very friendly and a firefighter. Then we learn more about the town until Ash realizes that they are being kept there for a reason. This leads to a very fun and original meta-storyline.
When all hell breaks loose and Ash finally learns what is happening, the story becomes really action packed. Ash wasn’t a helpless woman to begin with but now it’s her time to shine. She evolves into a kick ass boss with the help of Callum and some other survivors. With a lot of gory kills, thrilling scenes, near escapes, betrayal, folk horror cult townies, cool cosmic horror-like creatures and danger and romance this will keep you on the edge of your seat. You just have to wait a bit for it to happen and then you are in for a treat.
Cicada is a very entertaining story with a lot of girl power and an original found footage story that becomes real and deadly. It’s an ode to the creature features of the eighties, especially the direct-to-video ones.
SPOILERS:
Ash and her new friends are featuring in their own horror movie. The townspeople were even handing out little old videocameras for everybody to film the events and unknowably to them also their own inevitable gruesome demises. It’s a fun meta-storyline about VHS. The town still has a video store, with only VHS tapes, the tourists are handed out old cameras and the actual found footage of the movie Cicada is real, recorded over the years with poor tourist as the prey.
Read more review of the Killer VHS series:
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