It's time to finally enter home plate with Screammates. A sports-themed horror novella series by Kieran Flynn. We saw magic cleats, alien mascots, and no doubt some kid's introduction to their Macrophilia fetish. This time, it's baseball and ghosts. And a title that also got used for Ghosts of Fear Street. Hey, when you need a title for a baseball-themed horror story, why not ape a Kevin Costner film? Will it be a home run, or one, two, three strikes, you're out? It's Field of Screams.
This really feels like the first proper horror cover we've gotten, and of course it comes at the very end of the series. I mean, Haunted Cleats gave us nothing, we got a creepy alien but not much else with Aliens in the Endzone and a solid horror scenario with our Monster Jam giantess. Here we actually have some creepy vibes with the skeleton baseball players grabbing at our protagonist Josh. Even one rising from the ground grabbing his leg. Why they're naked aside from wearing ball caps is beyond be, but who am I to judge corpses? Great shocked kid face expression and great use of color, especially with the green glow radiating off the skeletons. I approve.
Josh Thompson starts the story by being hit in the head with a baseball. Thankfully not a bat, or we'll find out this story is coming from a slime monster. Josh is new in Carterville and hasn't had a chance to make any new friends. This is the second time he's had to move on account of his dad's job, meaning that even if he made friends they wouldn't be around too long. Josh has got those Charlie Brown blues. As he recovers, he's being laughed at by all the kids who call him a Muldoon which maybe in Carterville is a slur, I dunno. One girl, Amanda, comes to Josh's aid and we get introduced to the eight kids.
Aside from Amanda there's Zack Flannigan, the kid who knocked Josh out with the ball, Turbo, a fat kid, another kid named buzzcut, A kid with glasses named Supersonic which, okay that's kind of a neat nickname. But given we've had nicknames like "Hat", it's not that high a bar. There's twins Timmy and Tammy, and a skinny girl named Twiggy. So the fat kid isn't named fatty, but we're gonna give the skinny kid a shit name? Eh, if it was Stine he'd do both and far worse. They're about to resume their ball game when Josh offers to play, because who knows, maybe he can redeem himself in the eyes of these kids he just met? The answer: He absolutely blows at it, unable to catch any ball Zack sends his way.
As the kids mock him and keep calling him Muldoon, Josh is undeterred and insists that they let him play and that he is good. Eventually Zack gives in and tells Josh to come to Carterville Stadium, an old stadium deep in the forest, later that night and they'll give him another shot. Although Amanda tries to warn Josh, Josh still accepts. Josh is a bit concerned as to why there's a baseball stadium in the middle of the woods. Sure enough, Josh goes through the woods and finds the old stadium, with a sign that says "Go Away Muldoon" written all over it. Oh so it's DEFINITELY a slur then. He then hears what sounds like crying noises coming from inside the stadium, but then gets scared by Amanda who was following him.
Amanda tells Josh that they should leave, since Zack and the others were likely never going to show up. But before Josh can be more down on himself, the two hear moaning noises and see a shadowy creature approaching them, which is the appropriate time for the two to make a run for it. As they run, Amanda reveals what the creature is. It's the ghost of Red Muldoon. See, Muldoon was the pitcher for the Carterville Cubs in 1927, and the team had made it to the finals against the Visalia Vultures. At the bottom of the ninth, Red pitched against Bugsy McGee, and unfortunately this wasn't a Casey Jones situation for Bugsy, he hit a homer and won the championship for the Vultures. Since that day, Red Muldoon became a pariah and his name became the go-to term for any loser in town. Shit I was joking about it being a slur but I guess I was right.
Since that day, everyone hated Red Muldoon and the Cubs, hence why the team folded and the stadium lay abandoned. But it's believed that Red still haunts the place, and, unfortunately for Josh, Amanda thinks that Muldoon might be after him. That night, Josh hits a few balls with his pitching machine that his dad bought, when he hears the moans again and sure enough is visited by Red Muldoon who asks the boy for his help. Josh says he can't help, which is the dumbest thing to say to a ghost other than maybe "Bustin' makes me feel good" and Muldoon makes the pitching machine throw balls faster and harder at Josh, and then the balls turn into bats. Like, not baseball bats, but the animal variety. Although that would have been funnier, not gonna lie. Josh tries to run to his bed, but he gets grabbed by Red who then shows him a vision of his bedroom on fire. Which, yeah, that's enough for Josh to pretty much agree to whatever the hell this ghost wants.
Red then transforms into his real form which is a little old man. Behold the ravages of age! He tells Josh that he isn't a loser and that he shouldn't have had his whole life ruined because of one bad pitch which, yeah that's fair, but this is like 1927 and most of those people hated everything. And you'd think "well it's been decades, can't you get over it?" Well it turns out that every ten years, the ghost of Bugsy McGee and the Visalia Vultures visit the Carterville Stadium to once again make Muldoon suffer the sins of that day once again. That's what Muldoon needs from Josh. Since he's unable to redeem himself, he needs a team of players to challenge the Vultures and defeat them in a baseball game. And it can help redeem Josh, given he's also a loser. Josh however doesn't know how he's going to convince anyone to form a team to play against ghosts, let alone in the name of the most hated man in town, but Muldoon promises to help him out.
The next day, Josh challenges Zack once again to let him play, saying that he accepted a challenge to a game at Carterville Stadium and they're all going to join him. Eventually Zack gives in and sends a ball at Josh who catches it thanks to the help of Muldoon. He throw the ball at Zack when Muldoon transforms into a freaking knife, forcing Zack to duck out of the way. Another fly ball goes to the twins who smash together and then merge into a two-headed being. Zack attacks Josh, but then Muldoon shows up, now in a skeleton form. The kids try to run, but Muldoon traps them, saying that they'll be his team whether they like it or not. They'll make a loser angry, and you don't want to make a loser angry.... He might just lose more?
Muldoon and the kids all arrive at Carterville Stadium where they await the 1927 Visalia Vultures who rise from the ground below and are all skeletal zombies. And the biggest of them being Bugsy McGee. Because even as a corpse, dude's swole as hell. Muldoon lays down the challenge of his team versus the Vultures to which Bugsy accepts. However, with one little stipulation. Should the Vultures win, the vultures get to feast on Josh and Zack. So Red Muldoon's already a loser, now a potential child murderer. Not exactly proving why you don't deserve your name to be shat upon. Oh, but they can't back out since Bugsy will eat the kids anyway, so they gotta play regardless.
The game goes on with Bugsy getting a big home run after about four innings. Red pitches and since this is all zombie rules, this means he can throw fireballs and lightning balls, and it all counts as an easy out. Despite good pitching, the team sure can't score on the Vultures as things continue to look more bleak by the inning and the game at 1-0. We reach the ninth and both Twiggy and Amanda get outs, leaving it up to Josh to either win the day or be about to die. No pressure. Zack advises him to bunt, which gets Josh a chance to run to first, which he succeeds at, even if Bugsy creates a quicksand pit to almost cost him. Zack is up next and the Vulture pitcher tries the knife ball trick, but Zack manages to hit the ball and Josh makes a run to home, giving them the lead. But there's still the bottom of the ninth, so don't appreciate keeping your flesh just yet.
So everything comes right back to where it was in 1927. Bugsy McGee at the plate and Red Muldoon pitching. Bugsy hits the ball again and Josh goes to catch it. However, he hears boos and jeers from a crowd of ghouls before he suddenly falls into a pit of snakes. However, it all fades away as Josh manages to catch the ball, winning the game for the team and getting Red Muldoon his redemption. The ghouls turn into a crowd from 1927 who cheer Josh and the others on. Red thanks Josh for his help before he and the crowd vanish.
But before Josh can celebrate, he hears the voice of Bugsy who vows revenge and will be seeing Josh again in ten years. Because baseball vendettas are super freaking serious.
Josh is an okay protagonist. You get his need to prove himself to the other kids and to get out of this loser mentality that he feels hangs over him. He's also someone who isn't one to cower or give up, namely against Zack. With Red, oh if he could have peaced out he would have. Red is a great supernatural character. You sympathize with his issues, and he gets some fun moments where he gets to use his powers to scare the kids. And I mean he can do a Hadouken. Upper echelon monster is what I'm getting at. Bugsy is a decent villain, though we don't get much of him. But it's enough to gauge that he's pretty horrible, and loves to torture Red. Amanda and Zack are fine side characters but don't get much to do really.
So Screammates finally starts to find itself on the final book and that kind of stinks. Though, it's not like there could be many other outlets for horror sports ideas that wouldn't just feel like the same concepts over and over again in some way. Though there could have been at least some ideas with maybe hockey, tennis, swimming, track and field. It's a series that could have gone a shade longer is all I'm getting at. But it was a fun, yet odd sidetrack in the world of GB-likes. And its final book is an easy recommend. Perhaps its biggest sin is being too short, but when I actually WANT a book to be longer, you must be doing something right. Casey didn't strike out! Field of Screams gets an A-.
SCREAMMATES RANKING
#1. Field of Screams
#2. Monster Jam
#3. Aliens in the Endzone
#4. Haunted Cleats
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.