We all love a good night at the cinema and The Cutting Room makes for perfect spooky October fare. The collection may not be perfect, but the most terrifying stories are well written masterpieces of horror. Using the backdrop of cinema as a theme, The Cutting Room says as much about terror as it does about our obsession with movies.

An experimental story by Peter Straub completely fails to do anything but here are a few words on the stories I absolutely enjoyed.

The Cutter - Edward Bryant
Shocking tale of a young boy who works in a classic silver screen cinema and the dark obsession of the cinema's owner/projectionist. Absolutely haunting. Perfect choice to set the mood for the rest of the stories.

The Hanging Man of Oz
Well written, creepy story of about the Hanging Munchkin urban legend. The writing is great but the dialogue is terrible.

Cuts - F. Paul Wilson
No words, just read this...READ IT!

Final girl theory - A.C. Wise
An obsessed fan meets the star of an odd and disturbing cult film. An amazing look at the dissolution of nostalgia when confronted with the reality of consequence.

The Thousand Cuts - Ian Watson
When time jumps forward randomly a group of people begin to suspect that their reality is merely a bunch of edits in a movie. My favourite of the bunch. Hilarious and brilliantly bleak.

Dead Image - David Morrell
Writer worms his way into the role of film director by casting an actor who resembles a classic actor long dead. I liked this one a lot. More of a thinky thriller story.

each thing I show you is a piece of my death - Gemma Files & Stephen J. Barringer
Really experimental piece. Clearly inspired by slender man and snuff films. Perhaps the darkest and goriest of the stories. written as emails and computer correspondence.

Cinder Images - Gary McMahon
Disturbing story of Holocaust and Succubus exposing us to the horror of violence. Very supernatural. Well written and scary.

The Pied Piper of Hammersmith - Nicholas Royle
Watching trains go by is like watching a filmstrip for a young man. The title of this is brilliant as well as the story within.

Recreation - Lucy A. Snyder
A poem. Love letter to film in the days of cold digital production.

Even the Pawn - Joel Lane
Murder mystery. Body in a dumpster. Really nice twist ending. And I mean cool twist ending.

The cinema is a medium of light, but it’s astounding the darkness that rises from the shadows. Whether behind the scenes or sitting in the seats this book will take you through the screen in a way rarely experienced in written fiction. ( )

DNF! In the end, I just couldn't finish another story. This collection just didn't suit me...

“The Cutter” by Edward Bryant - 2
“The Hanged Man of Oz” by Steve Nagy - 3
“Deadspace” by Dennis Etchison - 1
“Cuts” by F. Paul Wilson - 2,5
“Final Girl Theory” by A. C. Wise - 2,5
“Lapland, or Film Noir” by Peter Straub - 1
“The Thousand Cuts” by Ian Watson - 2
“Occam’s Ducks” by Howard Waldrop - 1
“Dead Image” by David Morrell - 2,5
“The Constantinople Archives” by Robert Shearman - 1
“Each thing I show you is a piece of my death” by Gemma Files & Stephen J. Barringer - 1
“Cinder Images” by Gary McMahon - 1
“The Pied Piper of Hammersmith” by Nicholas Royle - 1
“Filming the Making of the Film of the Making of Fitzcarraldo” by Garry Kilworth - 1
“Onlookers” by Gary A. Braunbeck - 2
“Recreation” by Lucy Snyder - 1
“Bright Lights, Big Zombie” by Douglas E. Winter - 1
“She Drives the Men to Crimes of Passion!” by Genevieve Valentine - 1
“Even the Pawn” by Joel Lane -
“Tenderizer” by Stephen Graham Jones -
“Ardor” by Laird Barron -
“Final Girl II: the Frame” by Daphne Gottlieb -
“Illimitable Dominion” by Kim Newman -

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy for an honest review! ( )

I was excited to find this anthology up for review at Net Galley. I'm still very new over there, and I figured that there couldn't possibly be a better pick for me to request. I have loved anthologies like this since I was a kid. I cut my teeth on the likes of Dennis Etchison, Graham Masterton, Harlan Ellison and Dougles E. Winter and I've read a number of anthologies edited by Ellen Datlow. Unfortunately, of the twenty three tales within, there were only 7 that rated 4 stars or above with me.

In this collection, the stories are loosely connected by film. To be clear, not all of these stories are horror or dark fiction, which was fine. It's just that a lot of them didn't resonate with me. I will briefly mention the tales that I thought worked well:

Cuts by F. Paul Wilson-Who doesn't like a fun voodoo story now and then?

each thing I show you is a piece of my death by Gemma Files and Stephen J. Barringer-A nice creepy piece about a guy showing up in films.

She Drives the Men to Crimes of Passion by Genevieve Valentine-It seems that I have a thing going for stories with birds lately, and this one was super cool.

The Onlookers by Gary Braunbeck-Perceive and be perceived.

Ardor by Laird Barron-There was a dreamy feel to this Alaskan tale.

Even the Pawn by Joel Lane-I thought this story kicked ass. It was a sad one though, about sex slaves.

The Tenderizer by Stephen Graham Jones-This story was a tough one to read, but it touched me.

Overall this was a jam packed collection, but it left me slightly disappointed. Perhaps it's because I expect a lot from any anthology edited by Ellen Datlow? Perhaps I wasn't quite in the right mood for most of these tales? I don't know for sure, I can only say how this collection made me feel. While the collection was no doubt full of well written tales, most of them just didn't work for me.


I received this eARC free from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. This is it!
Find this review and others like it at Horrorafterdark.com ( )

This is one of the most disappointing Ellen Datlow anthologies I've ever read. Usually her collections are solid, with maybe one or two duds in a book of great stories; this one is almost the opposite, a whole bunch of prosaic, grotesque, sexualized nonsense with a few outstanding stories in the latter half. (Those would be "each thing I show you is a piece of my death" by Gemma Files & Stephen J. Barringer, "Onlookers" by Gary A. Braunbeck, and "Tenderizer" by Stephen Graham Jones.) ( )

"The Cutting Room: Dark Reflections of the Silver Screen," edited by Ellen Datlow, is a collection of short stories of either the dark fantasy or outright horror variety; all but one (“Tenderizer,” by Stephen Graham Jones) are reprints of stories that were published anywhere between 1982 and 2012. As with any such anthology, I liked stories that others might not and vice versa; with that caveat, I enjoyed “The Hanged Man of Oz,” by Steve Nagy, in which our narrator learns of such an image in just one frame of the famous film; “Occam’s Duck,” by Howard Waldrop, which features celebrities of the silent screen who go missing while sailing in 1919; “Onlookers,” by Gary A. Braunbeck, in which aliens observe and then “fade away” certain humans; “Final Girl II: The Frame,” a poem about women-as-victims-in-film, by Daphne Gottlieb; and “Illimitable Dominion,” by Kim Newman, in which Poe takes over Hollywood, and the world, via the films of Roger Corman and AIP - this last is hand’s down my favourite of the lot. There are some stories here that are just too gross or horrifying for me; other readers might have more tolerance for them. Datlow is one of the best editors out there, however, and even though her tastes are, well, darker than mine for the most part, she always provides an interesting line-up of well-written, thought-provoking stories in her anthologies; on that basis, and on the strength of the Newman tale, recommended! ( )