Synopsis:
A haunted jukebox at an out-of-the-way dive bar not only lures patrons, but then doesn’t allow them to leave.
Review:
D7, the new novelette from Philip Fracassi, feels like a particularly menacing episode of Twilight Zone, as our generically yuppieish protagonists get lost on the backroads to find sanctuary in a roadside bar.
Inside, however, they find a strange scene: a room packed with silent, unwashed patrons who are distinctly unhappy to see the new arrivals. Attempting to retreat, they find the doors locked and begin to unravel the mystery of this haunting (and haunted) place.
D7 is a short, fast read, filled with Fracassi’s lean prose, but it also feels a bit slight. Boys in the Valley is a favorite for the way it tells a brutal story of religious horror and demonic possession with real heart and fully fleshed characters that we love and hate in equal measure.
And that’s what’s really missing here. I would have taken a tale of twice the length, if it had meant we had time to know something about our protagonists, had time to come to care about them in some real way. As it is, the characters are all rough sketches and types, there to deliver a mean little ghost story that builds to a sudden reveal.
Even the backstory is delivered in a rushed, paraphrased manner, whereas allowing this story to come out through dialogue would have offered a simple and effective way to built more distinct characters and a more solid sense of stakes.
I can’t fault anything found within D7, but I wish there was more. It’s a fun, spooky conceit that’s naturally cinematic in its delivery, but there’s just not quite enough there there to make the ride satisfying.
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