It’s that time of year again, yes, already! It’s the holiday season where we are treated to all manner of festive treats. This year the good people at Zenescope have pulled out all the stops to entertain those of us with a taste for the dark side with their Holiday Edition of Grimm Fairy Tales. This book is a collection of twisted tales that will terrorise and delight you in equal measure. Like all good ensemble stories, there is a main narrative story holding the book together. The main story in this book is called “Here comes Santa Claus”. The story starts with a bunch of teens visiting the local shopping mall to play out a cat and mouse game involving five-finger discounts. Each is given a list of items to grab without getting caught, either by security, cameras or by the mastermind behind the game. The teens pair off and go about their sinful business until they are confronted by an extremely unnerving Santa who recounts a different story to each group in an attempt to steer them from the dark path they are headed towards.
The first tale of wayward morality is called “Frosty the Snowman”. This is a really cool little short in which a man despatches his nagging wife and drives out into a snow filled field to dispose of her corpse. Let’s just say that the unexpected happens and he gets more than he bargained for! The artwork on offer is really nice. This could almost be a Disney Christmas scene is looks so beautiful. The outdoor sequences look particularly lovely and work surprisingly well with the dark story. It really sucks you in only to shock you later.
Santa’s next attempt at scaring the kids straight is called “I’ll be home for Christmas”. This story centers on a beautiful young woman who has recently lost her twin sister. She is so grief-stricken that she seeks out the only solution to her angst. To have a mad Gypsy reanimate her dead sister body of course, come on, we’ve all been there, right? Needless to say the surprise in store is gratifying indeed. Once again, super artwork and the scenes with the Gypsy are very unnerving.
Jolly old St Nic’s final attempt to save the kids souls is called “Twelve days of Christmas”. Of all the shorts on offer, this one perhaps has the biggest twist ending and is also the darkest. A young woman is sent the traditional gifts from the song, twelve days of Christmas. But are these gifts from her new lover of her jilted ex? The end will surprise and horrify you.
Once Santa has recounted his stories to the teens, he is keen to find out if they have made a difference. I guess you may want to know if they did, right? Well, you are going to have to buy the book to find out I’m afraid. The one thing I can tell you is that you will not regret it when you do. For those who like their Christmas with an edge and anyone that enjoys a good old-fashioned horror yarn, this book cannot come recommended highly enough. Don’t forget to visit the Zenescope website to check out all the other great titles on offer too. Happy Holidays!
Love that cover!