Ten years after the release of Tales for the Midnight Hour, J.B. Stamper returned to the series with another installment. We previously talked about the first book which had interesting horror concepts and even some dark implications, but the stories themselves lacked much in terms of any real oomph on account of being rushed with so few pages. I guess Stamper noticed this as there are no more 4 page stories and each of the now thirteen (as opposed to the first's seventeen) stories are all within 7-9 pages in length. But does this mean improvement in the stories themselves? Well, let's see if the extra decade was kind as we talk about More Tales For the Midnight Hour.
-THE SHORTCUT: Our protagonist tells the reader why they're no longer as carefree and fun as they used to. The summer prior, they were at their uncle's cabin for their summer vacation, even enjoying swimming with the other kids at the nearby pond. When it starts to get dark, the protagonist bikes for the cabin, but the wooded path reaches a split. One side the long way to the uncle's house, the other, a shortcut that may have some unsettling things about it. The protagonist takes the shortcut and their bike soon loses air and stops by a cemetery. As the protagonist pumps the tires, they hear a rattling noise and something pointed caress their neck, like some sort of branch. The protagonist drives off in a panic, still hearing the rattling. When they arrive at their uncle's, both the protagonist and uncle see what was causing the rattling. Latched to the bike seat is the arm of a skeleton.
Okay, first story off the bat and already I feel a marked improvement. Enough time is given to build the tension, the scenario is generally creepy, the atmosphere is detailed enough that the horror works. And the end twist works in conjunction with the story to make for a genuinely scary story. No unexplained time loop, no gorilla on a boat, something that feels like it fits more to make the horror work. It also feels like the type of story in which you can do all of that in seven pages and not rush too much or feel like something got lost in the shuffle. Good stuff. Hoping this is a positive sign of things to come.
-TRICK-OR-TREAT: Martin loves Halloween. Especially trick-or-treating. This year however, he's not at home with his friends but stuck at his grandmother's house while his parents vacationed without him. Real Evan Ross vibes here, but at least no Monster Blood or Andy. His grandmother finds him a large Dracula cape and Martin rushes off, finishing his costume along the way. He's in a town he doesn't know, but he doesn't care. For Martin, the night isn't about candy, but scares, as he loves to pop out of bushes and scare kids, or disturb the people giving candy.
However, he goes too far and scares the kids of a large man who chases after him. Martin ducks into the forest but ends up getting lost. That is until a strange man in black arrives to help him get out of the woods. There's a creepy vibe to the guy and he somehow knows Martin's name, but Martin's too scared to just bail. Eventually, the man brings Martin to a cul-de-sac with a nearby house. He knocks on the door and out comes the man again who is also a vampire.
Again, another story with a decent pace. Enough happens through the story, the plot never strays as it is about a kid being lost somewhere they aren't familiar with and the vampire stuff isn't left field since it fits with what Martin was wearing. Add in some good creepy atmosphere and a protagonist that you don't want to see die but don't particularly like either for how much of a troublemaker he is and you have two for two in decent tales.
-THE HEARSE: Tim's bored of the beach. Mostly all the dead crabs nearby. So he heads off to the nearby sand dunes. While atop one, he sees a hearse park nearby, with the driver pointing to him, saying it's his turn next. Also, a girl in the hearse trying to tell Tim to run away. Some time passes and Tim snaps out of the wave of fear he had from the hearse and returns to his family who head off to the carnival. Despite most of the rides being in disrepair, Tim and his sister Sheila are excited to ride the rollercoaster "The Tornado". Before they can get on, the driver shows up, again gesturing that it's Tim's turn. That's enough for Tim to grab Sheila and make a run for it.
The first one that I feel is weak, but again, compared to the last book, still flows well. Though I would have thought the twist would be that maybe Tim and Sheila ride the rollercoaster, Tim sees the driver below, and then suddenly the rollercoaster breaks down and causes Tim and the other riders to die. That indeed it was Tim's turn to die. And I think that's where the book was going before the pivot. The hearse driver being the specter of death. Just wish it had a more punchy end. Still solid.
-AT MIDNIGHT: Isabel starts the story running through the forest (wait, this is the third story to feature a forest at night so far? It's becoming this book's decapitations) to meet with her lover Thomas. Thomas is a highwayman, often robbing the stagecoaches of the rich. He arrives on horseback, telling Isabel that he is no longer a highwayman after his most recent score. He promises to leave with her the next evening and the two will marry. It seems a perfect plan, except Isabel's dad puts a spanner on those plans by sending Isabel to be with her Aunt Charlotte.
But despite being told not to run off, Isabel does so anyway and meets with Thomas again. However his body is deathly cold. She gives him her scarf, but he then tells her goodbye and leaves. Isabel wakes up and is told that Thomas was hung the previous night and is to be burned at the stake. Isabel is confused given she saw him the other night, but when she runs to the crypt, she sees Thomas' corpse with her scarf around his neck.
Another really good story. While it doesn't do much to buck the trends of these sort of horror stories, everything it does it does very well. You can kind of piece what happened. Thomas tried for a big score when robbing a coach and the night prior believed himself to finally be on easy street. All it would take was escaping. However, that wasn't the case and he was ultimately caught, yet somehow despite already being killed, his spirit still met with Isabel one more time. You could also question if Isabel not making it in time was what killed him. If the intervening by her father and Aunt Charlotte rescued her from suffering the same fate as Thomas. This is the positive so far for me with this. Far more things to consider and decipher and far less confusing time loop plantations and "oh, there's also a gorilla on the boat".
-THE BLACK MARE: Brothers Luke and Michael Paxton are racing their horse in, yep, the forest at night. Michael gets the lead ahead, heading into the hollow. Luke follows, but soon sees Michael's horse run off on its own. He then sees Michael, or to be more precise, Michael's corpse. Trampled by the horse. Oddly, Michael's death sets off a chain of events. More people being killed, some also trampled by the same black horse, which leads everyone to believe that witchcraft is back in style, baby. Hey ma, get out the good torches!
But Luke wants revenge on the horse, which his sister believes could be a witch in disguise. He prepares four heavy horseshoes and a potion strong enough to subdue the horse. He returns to the hollow and faces off with the black mare. The potion works, subduing the beast long enough for Luke to bring it back to the stable. Because why kill the prone witch when you can just... not do that? He starts to put the heavy horseshoes on, but the black mare escapes before the fourth can be put. He returns to the hollow and sees the mare's path led to the rich Widow Harding. At first Luke thinks the widow was attacked by the horse, then notices she has three horseshoes on her hands and feet.
Okay, this is the first one that I'm really mixed on. Definite feel of trying to add something in the end and it just not landing. It's no gorilla on the boat, and at least the concept of witchcraft and shapeshifting is at least hinted at earlier so it's not as much of a shock. But it's also silly that the big twist is this random old rich widow was actually a horse witch. Which is a shame because the pacing and story were all solid. Ah well. If that's my biggest complaint than it's not that damning a complaint I guess.
-THE LOVE CHARM: Kate Allen is on her way to the witch's house in the woods at night (Oh now you're just taking the piss). She is a servant at the nearby manor. But more importantly, she needs a man! One particular man, but we'll get to that shortly. So she meets with the witch and her black cat. Kate pays for one of her love potions. The witch makes one for her and gives her two warnings. Whoever drinks it will fall in love with her and if the bottle is broken, the spell will wear off. Put the bottle under her pillow, dream of her perfect man and he will appear, ready for the ol' bottle-me-do.
So, Kate isn't just dreaming of any man, but her master. She wakes up, first thinking nothing's happened, only to learn that the master's wife died overnight. What a bizarrely fortuitous turn of events! Now, Kate's at least respectful, giving her master two months to grieve, but soon puts the potion in his brandy. It works and soon enough the two marry. A year passes with Kate now being the master's wife and rich as hell. But, given we need a reason for a character to be dumb, Kate wants to take a look at the potion bottle that made this all happen. She had put it in a safe and wore the key as a necklace. She opens the safe and checks it out. Just then, her husband surprises her and woopsy-doodle, she drops and breaks the bottle. Her husband immediately breaks free and has no idea who she is. Kate returns to the witch, but she says "well, sucks to be you I guess. You can't undo this one." And Kate just walks off into the night.
Definitely the meatiest story so far and one which works well in terms of a story. Not so much scary in the main horror sense, but the concept of mind control and using a potion to manipulate someone's feelings still works in a horror sense. It's tricky. Do you want Kate to succeed? She gets what she wants but it's hollow. Or do you not want her to succeed as she's again playing god? The only issue I have is the convoluted reason for the twist. I was expecting maybe the witch's cat would be the one to break it. Adding a final twist to the knife to Kate's plans. What we get still works and it's a good case of hubris getting what's deserved, but I don't know. Again, mildest complaints I can give.
-THE MASK: Daniel Clarke is at a marketplace in Africa, looking for something to take home with him to help with his book as he's also a writer. He comes across a house where the man inside is about to close. Daniel then spots a copper mask with real hair on it and asks to buy it, but the man says it's not for sale on account that it's evil. Only a man of power, a witch doctor, can truly wear it. When the man leaves to tend to his child, Daniel snatches the mask and leaves a bunch of money on the table before running off into the night. He returns to New York, mask in tow. He hangs the mask on his wall as he tries to work on his book, but he feels the mask compel him to wear it. He finally gives in and wears it in front of his wife. But when he takes the mask off, his face is turned into the twisted face from the mask, while the mask is now his old face.
Another decent one. Definitely feels the most rushed, though I guess there isn't as much you can do with this story, at least in this format. And, it's been shown that this could be a story with more weight on it to work as a longer form story. It's the rare case where I can say that R.L. Stine's version of the story works better as The Haunted Mask is the most obvious comparison. With the twist in many ways feeling the same with the concept of the mask becoming one's real face. Overall, not bad.
-RIGHT INN: Philip Mason is a man who tries to keep everything organized. Be it what tie he wears or what hotel he goes to, the Like-Home motel. Essentially OCD before we really started calling it OCD. He's also an author, having written a self-help book on organizing your life. This all works well for him until one night where he headed to Maine to sell his books to a bookstore. A sudden blizzard hits, making it hard for him to drive. Philip tries to drive to the nearest Like-Home, but can't, instead finding another motel called the "Right Inn". Going inside, he notes that it looks less like a motel and more like an old abandoned mansion. He meets the head of the hotel, a gaunt man with black hair named Mortimer who tells Philip that there are no other guests due to the storm, so Philip has the mansion to himself, then gives him the key for room thirteen. In room thirteen is a dark room with only a candelabrum to light it up, a bed, and a TV with a VCR. Not exactly stuff that's too concerning yet, but already bothering Philip.
He goes to have dinner, but notices his meal consists of red soup with weird meaty chunks as well as a serving of brain. That freaks Philip out and he heads back to the room, not before being told that there's a tape in the VCR to watch. Philip watches and sees it's first footage of him entering the motel then changed to another eerie figure arriving at the door of room thirteen. A vampire. The vampire knocks on the door on the tape, then a real knock comes at Philip's door. He passes out with fright as Mortimer enters and the tape mentions that this is actually the FRIGHT INN, a horror themed hotel. Mortimer takes the catatonic Philip to the hospital, not before noticing the F on the motel sign is broken.
Another one I really liked. The twist works quite well, right down to the sign being busted. And while Philip's OCD feels like an early gimmick and nothing more, it works here in making him paranoid even before he enters the motel. So, already not comfortable, being put in a horror setting that he's not even aware of is of course going to work way too well. And given the short story format, it all works well here as well, balancing the story just long enough without dragging or losing something in the overall picture. Eight stories in and so far there's definitely more positives to give. But there's still five stories, so best to hold my tongue.
-THE COLLECTOR: Obsessed with moths? That's putting it mildly. Toby is so fascinated with moths, he has a tack board to collect them. He draws them near with a light, then puts them in a jar where the poison inside kills them. Until one night, after collecting another moth, a swarm of them try to attack him. The next day, he heads to a nearby old woman's place to get answers as to why the moths are attacking, while still having his moth collection. What's a moth lover to do when the moths start freaking him out? The next night, Toby gets attacked by more of the moths that drive him deep into the swamp. No one ever saw Toby again, as the moths have him pinned down in their giant human collection board.
Okay, so this predates Go Eat Worms! from Stine and it kind of made my point about how that book would have worked better as a short story as opposed to a standard length Goosebumps book. Toby, much like Todd, is obsessed with a bug and ultimately their actions finally go too far that the bugs strike back. Though I love this twist here more when I consider the twist of Go Eat Worms! was a giant butterfly with a pin. This story gives us more of the payoff we didn't get there. One of the strongest in the book for how it uses its horror.
-A GHOST STORY: It's the night before Halloween and Dana is reading a ghost story involving a ghost looking for its home. She gets scared by a knock at the door. A boy named Jason is trying to sell copies of a magazine, but instead Dana tells him to come inside to keep her safe from the ghost that haunts the house. A ghost of a Union soldier in the Civil War. Suddenly, the Civil War ghost enters the house and scares Jason so bad that he runs off. It's Dana's dad in costume for a Halloween party.
Super quick and simple, but does exactly what's needed. Definitely the best of the far shorter stories I've read in these books so far. Unfortunately it does its job so well that there's not much to say. I guess I like that it's not just going down the road of being supernatural like the others and it's not another "everything's happening just like in the story" stories. Also there's really no remaining threads to the book, leaving anything feeling lacking. Makes its point and leaves. Can't ask for anything better honestly.
-IN THE LANTERN'S LIGHT: Ben has commandeered a boxcar on his way to Nebraska when the train stops in a strange looking area. But more concerning is a man further down the tracks with a lantern looking through the boxcars. Fearing being caught, Ben jumps out long enough for the man to pass. However it's too long and the train leaves without him. He wanders the rails for a while until running into a man also holding a lantern moaning, his back turned to Ben. When Ben goes to look at him, the man raises the lantern to his face. Or to be more precise, his lack of a face. A weird smooth egg of a head with no features. Ben runs to town and tries to find someone to help him, but runs into the man again.
Not bad, but probably the weakest of the book as it feels like something's lost in translation. What's exactly up with the faceless man? Why was he looking through the train? Does he want someone's face to steal? Did he end up stealing Ben's? I think this one could have been expanded more to give us more reason to be concerned. Otherwise, it's a neat story with a cool scenario, but missing some key details to make the scenario matter.
-FOOTSTEPS: Laurie and her family have moved to an old Victorian home. It's creepy, especially to Laurie, especially the attic, which she notices the door ajar when it wasn't before. That night as she tries to sleep, Laurie hears footsteps above her ceiling. Footsteps in the attic, and the sound of something heading out of the attic. She screams and has to have her parents calm her down. The next day, she heads up to the attic with her father as they're still unpacking and decorating the place. She notices a worn out pair of shoes. That night, she hears the footsteps again. Her parents don't believe her, having somehow not heard any noises in the attic. The next day, she sees the shoes have moved from one area in the attic to another. That night, she hears the footsteps again, this time in her room. She screams, which brings her parents into her room. They all then see the old shoes in Laurie's room.
So, this is either just a pair of haunted shoes, or more likely a ghost. What the ghost wants is uncertain, but clearly its intent is to frighten Laurie. Messing with her head with the loud footsteps, driving her to madness. So what we get is a story that works well in pacing, in tension and building to its horror, though not exactly having the hardest twist ever. But for your average haunting story, it does just fine as the penultimate tale for this book.
-A NIGHT IN THE WOODS: Hey, at least this time we know the book's going to focus on a forest at night. Five boys are waiting in the parking lot waiting for their leader Mr. Robinson, or Robbie as they call him, to take them on a camping trip. Ty, Paul, Brad, Nick and Ron. Mr. Robinson arrives and the kids head off. He tells the boys they'll be camping at Wolf Ridge, the nearby state park. He did it when he was kid. There's also some stories about the park, but too early to get into those. They make it to the park and Mr. Robinson drives off to "park the van", while the boys meet the ranger, Harris. A rather hairy looking man which is concerning, but not just yet. When Mr. Robinson doesn't show up to camp, Harris takes Brad with him first. Then Ron, Nick and Paul all leave. Ty remains as Harris arrives and the sound of a werewolf can be heard in the woods.
Well, at least we know why it's called Wolf Ridge. With some of the premise and even some reused character names like Ty, this does feel like a weaker version of The Gooney Birds. A lot of build in this, but the ending is super rushed, lacking much in terms of tension until we get to the inevitable reveal. Though, if this were Stine, he'd call the place Wolf Ridge and have the villain be a vampire or something. Overall, it's just an okay story. Not exactly the weakest final story of a book I've read, but not as strong as I'd have hoped.
BOOK 2 CONCLUSION
After feeling so mixed on the first book, I came out of this one really liking it. This book was ten years after the original and you could tell there's definitely a feeling of evolution and improvement to Stamper's work. More focus on building the horror and keeping the story on track. Far less twists that feel lackluster. Far less rushed conclusions, though there are a couple. Less "oh, there's a gorilla on the boat". The tension, build, and even at times the horror itself all work far better, creating scary short stories that feel like good scary short stories. Granted, there was redundancy, lots of books in forests with witches and vampires. Far less attempts at psychological horror which is a shame, but isn't a problem when the problem I had before, the more straightforward horror tales, have improved significantly.
So improved is the work, that we've reached the point where it's hard to say what the best story in the batch is. Even trickier when I finally rank them. For now, best story is probably Right Inn as the execution and twist both land, while weakest to me is In The Lantern's Light without a doubt. Well, two down, two to go. Stamper wouldn't take another decade to get to continue the series. Two years later, it turned out that there were Still More Tales to talk about. But that's for next time. More Tales For the Midnight Hour gets an A-.
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