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“Strange Flesh”
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“I’ll just get her warmed up for us.”
Imagine how it would feel to have plenty of wealth, fame, and the adoration of a significant other, but be completely incapable of feeling anything at all. For Beatrice Langley, that’s all a day in the life of a renowned artist who suddenly finds herself uninspired by drug fueled benders and her boyfriend’s sexual escapades. That is, until Beatrice remembers the feeling she got when she encountered that mysterious stranger at the Neon Dream nightclub. She becomes obsessed with him. She becomes possessed by the idea that she would do anything to capture that feeling again, even if it means losing touch with reality. Beatrice will discover the price she must pay in order to feel some type of way, in “Strange Flesh”.
Imagine how it would feel to have plenty of wealth, fame, and the adoration of a significant other, but be completely incapable of feeling anything at all. For Beatrice Langley, that’s all a day in the life of a renowned artist who suddenly finds herself uninspired by drug fueled benders and her boyfriend’s sexual escapades. That is, until Beatrice remembers the feeling she got when she encountered that mysterious stranger at the Neon Dream nightclub. She becomes obsessed with him. She becomes possessed by the idea that she would do anything to capture that feeling again, even if it means losing touch with reality. Beatrice will discover the price she must pay in order to feel some type of way, in “Strange Flesh”.
Readability
Beatrice Langley’s character narrates her firsthand experience with debauchery and nihilism in this novella by Sam West. The narrative follows a loose plot that kept me wondering if there was an overall theme of the story, but the elements within each scene seemed to revolve around the psychological aspects of Beatrice’s character. I found the structure a bit jarring for a character driven story, because the pacing didn’t allow much time for an arc to develop as her character quite abruptly descends into madness and then snaps out of it just as quick. It was as if Beatrice had a “bitch-switch” in that regard. Perhaps the whole story just takes place during her time of the month. The writing was very graphic in detail and left little upon the page for the reader’s imagination, which made for some mindless schlock that seemed to lean more towards gonzo eroticism than it did horror.
Creativity
West alludes to quite a few interesting concepts in “Strange Flesh”, for example the incubi myth and how that correlates with the main character’s psychotic break. There are aspects of various social disorders either symbolized or outwardly referenced throughout the novella, like depression, disassociation, bipolar and OCD to name a few. Some of the issues surrounding the main character’s psychological state of mind are illustrated in ways that tie in pretty well with the story (literally through her artwork/paintings). I think that was a clever way to save some time on plot development within the length of the novella.
In one scene, it’s implied that the character is suffering a schizophrenic hallucination, when an orange female figure from one of her paintings steps out of frame and proceeds to chase her down. I was thinking, forget an orange woman… I bet it could have been more terrifying if Beatrice was being chased by an orange man instead (not to mention how that would have made more sense within the context of her character most likely being a graduate of the liberal arts and clearly a staunch opponent of conservative values).
The idea of Beatrice’s flesh becoming physically numb was a gimmick that I think went underappreciated. Her character discovers that she has become impervious to pain, almost to reflect her own lack of empathy for others, as she continues to feel nothing even as her own body sustains physical injuries. I think this very well could have been the focus of the narrative, instead of trying to incorporate the psychic vampire character as well. The mystery man serving as an inciting incident went from being a physical person, to a paranormal apparition/vampire, to just a figment of her imagination in such a short amount of time that I didn’t really know what to make of him aside from being an alibis for Beatrice’s psychotic behavior (animus).
Delivery
Based on what I’ve read so far from the genre (at least a handful of titles), I have reached a theory about the differences between horror and “extreme” horror (or splatterpunk). From what I understand so far, the aim of horror is to horrify and reflect upon the darker side of the human condition whereas “extreme” horror aims to be horrible for the sake of shock and disgust. “Strange Flesh” is no exception to this theory. Even with the psychological undercurrent and the bastardization of vampire, incubus, and daemon lore, I’m afraid the narrative is still only skin deep.
In terms of shock and awe, “Strange Flesh” does deliver some strange scenarios involving flesh - in pretty erotic as well as downright ugly displays of gratuitous acts of depravity. The story blends the idea of psychological disorder and physical harm, and more specifically… sexualized abuse of genitalia.
The premise of the story is that Beatrice and her boyfriend (Leon) are like a power couple in the art scene, but they’re also a couple of real degenerates. I think the inciting incident is when Leon picks up a chick from the nightclub and that is when Beatrice discovers the ominous mystery man. Her psyche, along with her attitude towards Leon, begins to crumble from that point forward, as she begins to be influenced by this entity that turns out to be a figment of her imagination. Beatrice does some heinous shit, thinks some repulsive thoughts, and as the story goes, she literally loses the ability to feel anything (which drives her insane).
Leon’s character goes from sleazy to cheesy. I hated how he was willing to overlook all the signs that his girlfriend had become a total nut job. As soon as she threatened him with the police, he should have peaced-out on that bitch and never looked back, but nope. In the end he convinces Beatrice to snap out of it, but not before she snaps into his slim Jim like the late great Macho Man Randy Savage. While Leon bleeds out like a stuck pig, Beatrice breaks the demon’s curse by realizing how much her boyfriend actually cared about her (too bad the feeling wasn’t mutual), and then she has the audacity to call herself a “good person” as her sense of feeling comes rushing back to deliver a freight train full of pain until her consciousness fades to black. Blasé
Beatrice Langley’s character narrates her firsthand experience with debauchery and nihilism in this novella by Sam West. The narrative follows a loose plot that kept me wondering if there was an overall theme of the story, but the elements within each scene seemed to revolve around the psychological aspects of Beatrice’s character. I found the structure a bit jarring for a character driven story, because the pacing didn’t allow much time for an arc to develop as her character quite abruptly descends into madness and then snaps out of it just as quick. It was as if Beatrice had a “bitch-switch” in that regard. Perhaps the whole story just takes place during her time of the month. The writing was very graphic in detail and left little upon the page for the reader’s imagination, which made for some mindless schlock that seemed to lean more towards gonzo eroticism than it did horror.
Creativity
West alludes to quite a few interesting concepts in “Strange Flesh”, for example the incubi myth and how that correlates with the main character’s psychotic break. There are aspects of various social disorders either symbolized or outwardly referenced throughout the novella, like depression, disassociation, bipolar and OCD to name a few. Some of the issues surrounding the main character’s psychological state of mind are illustrated in ways that tie in pretty well with the story (literally through her artwork/paintings). I think that was a clever way to save some time on plot development within the length of the novella.
In one scene, it’s implied that the character is suffering a schizophrenic hallucination, when an orange female figure from one of her paintings steps out of frame and proceeds to chase her down. I was thinking, forget an orange woman… I bet it could have been more terrifying if Beatrice was being chased by an orange man instead (not to mention how that would have made more sense within the context of her character most likely being a graduate of the liberal arts and clearly a staunch opponent of conservative values).
The idea of Beatrice’s flesh becoming physically numb was a gimmick that I think went underappreciated. Her character discovers that she has become impervious to pain, almost to reflect her own lack of empathy for others, as she continues to feel nothing even as her own body sustains physical injuries. I think this very well could have been the focus of the narrative, instead of trying to incorporate the psychic vampire character as well. The mystery man serving as an inciting incident went from being a physical person, to a paranormal apparition/vampire, to just a figment of her imagination in such a short amount of time that I didn’t really know what to make of him aside from being an alibis for Beatrice’s psychotic behavior (animus).
Delivery
Based on what I’ve read so far from the genre (at least a handful of titles), I have reached a theory about the differences between horror and “extreme” horror (or splatterpunk). From what I understand so far, the aim of horror is to horrify and reflect upon the darker side of the human condition whereas “extreme” horror aims to be horrible for the sake of shock and disgust. “Strange Flesh” is no exception to this theory. Even with the psychological undercurrent and the bastardization of vampire, incubus, and daemon lore, I’m afraid the narrative is still only skin deep.
In terms of shock and awe, “Strange Flesh” does deliver some strange scenarios involving flesh - in pretty erotic as well as downright ugly displays of gratuitous acts of depravity. The story blends the idea of psychological disorder and physical harm, and more specifically… sexualized abuse of genitalia.
The premise of the story is that Beatrice and her boyfriend (Leon) are like a power couple in the art scene, but they’re also a couple of real degenerates. I think the inciting incident is when Leon picks up a chick from the nightclub and that is when Beatrice discovers the ominous mystery man. Her psyche, along with her attitude towards Leon, begins to crumble from that point forward, as she begins to be influenced by this entity that turns out to be a figment of her imagination. Beatrice does some heinous shit, thinks some repulsive thoughts, and as the story goes, she literally loses the ability to feel anything (which drives her insane).
Leon’s character goes from sleazy to cheesy. I hated how he was willing to overlook all the signs that his girlfriend had become a total nut job. As soon as she threatened him with the police, he should have peaced-out on that bitch and never looked back, but nope. In the end he convinces Beatrice to snap out of it, but not before she snaps into his slim Jim like the late great Macho Man Randy Savage. While Leon bleeds out like a stuck pig, Beatrice breaks the demon’s curse by realizing how much her boyfriend actually cared about her (too bad the feeling wasn’t mutual), and then she has the audacity to call herself a “good person” as her sense of feeling comes rushing back to deliver a freight train full of pain until her consciousness fades to black. Blasé
#LFLR Indie Rating: 5/10
“Strange Flesh” touched upon some creative ideas that I would have liked to have seen fleshed out and some that were too much for the length of this story. In terms of being “extreme”, that refers to the acts of grotesque sexual abuse and self-harm (which were in vivid detail), but as far as horror goes – Beatrice is one psycho bitch. Sam West is no stranger to the world of extreme horror. With over forty titles under her name, Sam West has amassed quite a disturbing catalog of works dedicated to the profane and perverse.
“Strange Flesh” touched upon some creative ideas that I would have liked to have seen fleshed out and some that were too much for the length of this story. In terms of being “extreme”, that refers to the acts of grotesque sexual abuse and self-harm (which were in vivid detail), but as far as horror goes – Beatrice is one psycho bitch. Sam West is no stranger to the world of extreme horror. With over forty titles under her name, Sam West has amassed quite a disturbing catalog of works dedicated to the profane and perverse.
THIS BREAKDOWN IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE #LFLR NETWORK.
