{"id":8226,"date":"2015-07-27T13:27:32","date_gmt":"2015-07-27T17:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cemeterydanceonline.com\/?p=6594"},"modified":"2015-07-27T13:27:32","modified_gmt":"2015-07-27T17:27:32","slug":"review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: &#039;The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City&#039; edited by Jason Blum"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Blumhouse-Book-Nightmares-Haunted-City\/dp\/0385539991\/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1437170758&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=the+blumhouse+book+of+nightmares\" target=\"_blank\"><strong><em>The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City<\/em> edited by Jason Blum<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<strong> Doubleday (July 2015)<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>384 pages, e-book $5.99, hardcover $18.33, paperback $10.32, Audible $29.95<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><strong>Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington<\/strong><\/strong><\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-6596\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/blumhouse-198x300.jpg?resize=198%2C300\" alt=\"blumhouse\" width=\"198\" height=\"300\" \/><em>The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City<\/em> is a stunning anthology from some of the biggest names in horror film and literature.<\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>First a bit about the editor. Jason Blum has worked as an executive producer for Bob and Harvey Weinstein. In 2000 he founded Blumhouse Productions, which specializes in micro-budget movies. For example, <em>Paranormal Activity<\/em>, which was produced for $15,000 and has earned nearly $200 million. Blum also produced <em>Insidious<\/em>, <em>Sinister<\/em>, <em>The Purge<\/em>, and the soon-to-be-released, <em>The Gallows<\/em>. I&#8217;d say he knows a thing or two about horror.<\/div>\n<div>For <em>The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City<\/em>, Blum has gathered some of the biggest names in modern horror films and literature and given them two guidelines &#8211; let the story take place in a city and enjoy no other creative constraints whatsoever. The result is an impressive volume of some of the best horror I&#8217;ve read this year.The collection gets off to a helluva start with &#8220;Hellhole&#8221; by writer\/director Christopher Denham. Sam and Martha Rathbone purchase a fixer-upper in Crown Heights, New York and move in with their six-year-old son, Max.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<div>&#8220;Behind a wall of cobwebs and dusty canned goods, Max found a doll about his size. Its body made of sticks tied together with twine and its head was a burlap bag filled with twigs. It didn&#8217;t have hair and it didn&#8217;t have clothes. Nothing cute about it. Which was fine by Max. He hated cute toys.&#8221;<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>What follows is a beautifully written short with more horror than many full-length novels.Another story worth mentioning is &#8220;Golden Hour&#8221; by screenwriter Jeremy Slater, whose credits include <em>The Lazarus Effect<\/em> and the reboot of <em>The Fantastic Four<\/em>. This one left me wondering if the protagonist was really a monster hunter or just a paranoid schizophrenic; either way there&#8217;s some extreme monster stuff here.<\/p>\n<p>The collection closes just as strong as it begins with &#8220;Procedure&#8221; from screenwriter\/director\/producer James DeMonaco, best known for his work on <em>The Purge<\/em> movies. New York City\u00a0has a new serial killer on the loose:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<div>&#8220;I refocus on the victim&#8217;s chest, which bears the same foot-long crudely stitched incision as the four others who were on this table recently. Infected, swollen, oozing multicolored pus and bile. It&#8217;s as if JD went in for a heart bypass at the world&#8217;s worst hospital, with the world&#8217;s most incompetent doc, had his skin scalpeled with a rusty steak knife, his breastbone rent asunder with a chain saw, and was then stitched back up by handicapped kids using Pixy Stix and a ball of yarn.&#8221;<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The truth of what is happening in this story went far beyond my wildest expectations.Overall, this is a high quality anthology where every story hits the mark. My highest recommendation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City edited by Jason Blum Doubleday (July 2015) 384 pages, e-book $5.99, hardcover $18.33, paperback $10.32, Audible $29.95 Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington \u00a0The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City is a stunning anthology from some of the biggest names in horror film and literature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[80],"tags":[312,344,345,346,79,347],"class_list":["post-8226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-frank-michaels-errington","tag-anthology","tag-doubleday","tag-jason-blum","tag-reviews","tag-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review: &#039;The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City&#039; edited by Jason Blum - Cemetery Dance Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cemetery Dance Online\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61\"},\"headline\":\"Review: &#039;The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City&#039; edited by Jason Blum\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-27T17:27:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":503,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/cemeterydanceonline.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/blumhouse-198x300.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"- Frank Michaels Errington\",\"Anthology\",\"Doubleday\",\"Jason Blum\",\"Reviews\",\"The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\\\/\",\"name\":\"Review: &#039;The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City&#039; edited by Jason Blum - Cemetery Dance Online\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/cemeterydanceonline.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/blumhouse-198x300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-27T17:27:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/cemeterydanceonline.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/blumhouse-198x300.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/cemeterydanceonline.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/blumhouse-198x300.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Reviews\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/reviews\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Review: &#039;The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City&#039; edited by Jason Blum\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\",\"description\":\"Free Horror Reads, News, Interviews, Comics, and More!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61\",\"name\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Review: &#039;The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City&#039; edited by Jason Blum - Cemetery Dance Online","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cemetery Dance Online","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\/"},"author":{"name":"Cemetery Dance Online","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#\/schema\/person\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61"},"headline":"Review: &#039;The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City&#039; edited by Jason Blum","datePublished":"2015-07-27T17:27:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\/"},"wordCount":503,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/cemeterydanceonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/blumhouse-198x300.jpg","keywords":["- Frank Michaels Errington","Anthology","Doubleday","Jason Blum","Reviews","The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City"],"articleSection":["Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\/","url":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\/","name":"Review: &#039;The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City&#039; edited by Jason Blum - Cemetery Dance Online","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/cemeterydanceonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/blumhouse-198x300.jpg","datePublished":"2015-07-27T17:27:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#\/schema\/person\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/cemeterydanceonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/blumhouse-198x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/cemeterydanceonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/blumhouse-198x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-the-blumhouse-book-of-nightmares-the-haunted-city-edited-by-jason-blum\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Reviews","item":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/reviews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Review: &#039;The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City&#039; edited by Jason Blum"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/","name":"Cemetery Dance Online","description":"Free Horror Reads, News, Interviews, Comics, and More!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#\/schema\/person\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61","name":"Cemetery Dance Online","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"Cemetery Dance Online"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/"]}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p81cXa-28G","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8226\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}