Now here's something you don't see every day. Back in 2005, a horror film named Tamara came and went without much notice. It was a solid little thing about a girl accidentally killed who comes back to enact revenge on her tormentors. It's a lot like the Japanese Tomei series, only without the regeneration aspect. Tamara comes back from the grave; Tomei can't die.
It's now 2014 and the original writer of Tamara, Jeffrey Reddick, and a new writer/collaborator, J.D. Matthews, are releasing a novelization of Tamara coming out in October.
It'll be interesting to see how close Reddick sticks to the story as presented in the film. The explanation I've seen says he was the original writer of Tamara, which would imply that the screenplay may have been altered by a script doctor or someone else during the shoot. Horror films also often have their endings changed to meet the expectations of the studios, so it really could have a brand new twist.
I can't for the life of me think of a recent slasher novel that I enjoyed. It's not an insult against the genre; I just don't read them much anymore. I've found that character and nuance is all too often lost just to describe more disgusting acts of violence. If the violence is balanced by story, character, theme, style--something of interest, I'm in.
A good example: Joe Hill's debut novel Heart-Shaped Box. That's very violent (trigger warning for dog lovers) but very well written. The characters are engaging and the source of the horror is interesting. Hill also has a beautiful cadence to his prose and doesn't linger just to linger.
A bad example: Stephen King's Pet Sematary. I can't tell you how many times I've tried to read that novel at this point. I can pinpoint the exact moment I stop reading it: the bike accident. The story stops dead in its tracks to describe just how disgusting a young man's brains pouring out on the concrete is and I just can't read on. It could be King's best novel and I'd never know because I can't get past the exploitative use of violence.
Maybe Tamara will find the right balance. Bullying narratives rely on character development to establish empathy and animosity for the important players. That could, in itself, create enough cover for the twisted revenge to come later on. This is a case where you want to cheer on the villain (because she was originally the victim).
You can follow more news about the Tamara novel at the official Facebook page.
