Chopping Spree by Angela Sylvaine
Dark Matter INK (September 2024)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin
Angela Sylvaine has a knack for writing nostalgic horror. In her 2023 novel Frost Bite, Sylavine received praise for the nostalgia factor and her ability to create a horror story that reads like a B movie. It’s campy. I thought the same when reading the author’s 2024 novella Chopping Spree.
“Let’s go chopping!”
Eden Hills, Minnesota, is famous for its ’80s-inspired fashion mall and a mysterious string of disappearances, over two dozen over the last three years, that has stumped authorities. Some whisper of an elusive killer or monster. Some dismiss the missing kids as runaways, but the parents don’t believe it. They all suspect foul play. Penny aches for them. Her empathy and grief make her an emotionally intelligent character, and I loved her immediately.
Penny, a high school junior, works in a trendy mall store and keeps her theories about the disappearances to herself to “play it cool” with her co-workers. But their after-hours party soon turns deadly, and Penny and her friends must reveal the truth about the town’s dark history to survive the night in the mall and escape the wolf-masked killer.
Chopping Spree will thrill readers of R.L. Stine’s Fear Street series. The kills are creative, some comical, and others shocking and unforgettable. Like the Netflix Fear Street films directed by Leigh Janiak, Sylvaine utilizes music like “The Killing Moon” by Echo & The Bunnymen and “Hungry Like The Wolf” by Duran Duran to add tension to the atmosphere. This was effective and, at times, Sylvaine took otherwise happy songs and turned them on their heads, assembling an unsettling and disturbing vibe, which added to the overall cinematic slasher feel of the story. The complete playlist is included in the back of the book. Check it out once you pick up a copy to immerse yourself in the era.
Through music and all the hilarity of adolescence, Sylvaine always ensures a good time for readers. But, she never shies away from heavier topics such as mental illness, loss, and capitalism’s villainy and deadly scenes. I was impressed with Sylvaine’s commentary on consumerism and the ethics of the wealthy through an authentic teenage voice in this Young Adult novella. It’s digestible and will have readers rooting for Penny the whole way. And that’s the best part of slashers, the characters we readers/viewers get to champion.
There’s familiarity in Chopping Spree’s structure that fans of ’80s slashers and B-horror movies will eat up. I recommend this hilarious and hellish novella to readers who enjoyed You’re Not Supposed To Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron.
Angela Sylvaine has made her way to my list of auto-buy authors. The sequel to Sylvaine’s Frost Bite, titled Cold Snap, is coming from Dark Matter Ink this October.
