Creature features are all the rage right now in the horror market. Now many of them focus on crytozoology and that’s cool and all, but, for me, I find creatures that already exist a more plausible horror. Throw in the fact that these creatures are creepy, crawly bugs that are genetically engineered? Well, now I’m totally on board.
Violet Eyes had been on my TBR pile for a while now. I’ve read a few things from Bram Stoker Award winning author, John Everson, before. The man has talent. No doubt. But could he suspend my disbelief and take me on a wild ride with spiders from hell? For the most part, yes.
A government hired firm was doing some crazy genetic experiments on a small, uninhabited island in the Florida keys. That experiment went haywire and they had to pull the plug. Enter Billy, the former hard-partying, drug-running college kid that has been trying to clean up his act. Billy takes some friends to this island that he used to hide drugs on. You guessed it. The very same island. Billy’s friends are chewed to pieces by these crazy-ass damn spiders and flies, all have eyes that glow violet. Billy escapes with his life, but unfortunately he brings back some stowaways his small litttle hometown on the Everglades. Living next door is Rachel and her son Eric. Rachel has recently moved in after a messy divorce with her abusive and mainly psychotic ex-husband (Don’t we all have a psycho ex in our closets?). She thought her life was a nightmare before, just wait to see what awaits Rachel when Mother Nature is unleashed in a genetically modified fury.
Violet Eyes is a fun romp through a 1980’s-like government conspiratorial creature feature. Everson’ characters are likable enough that you invest in them. Usually, when an author hits the gas on the action and pacing, many times character development suffers. There’s some of that here, but no enough to turn you off. I’ve read some reviews where they complain about Everson periodically introducing characters throughout the story only to kill them off a page or two later. I’m actually okay with that. For me, it showed how ruthless these little arachnids could be. There were definitely places where I thought the plot could be tightened up or an idea expanded upon. Oddly enough, the constant obesession with sex by pretty much every adult character was the part that was hard for me to get over and actually dropped my rating by a half. Don’t get me wrong. Anyone that knows me knows that I’m an absolute horn dog, but if my friends and girlfriend had been eaten by a crazy swarm of killer spiders a week ago, and it appears that the little bastards hitched a ride back with me, I think the last thing I’d think about doing is banging the cute neighbor that just moved in next door. I could see maybe one character with an overactive libido, but all of them? I can’t believe I’m complaining about sex, but that’s my bitch about the story. All in all, a fast-paced thriller if you don’t think about it too much.
A solid 3 1/2 Spider Spewing Skulls out of 5
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