Customer Reviews

The Devil's Night

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

You will enjoy this book. The first movie to feature the 'Big Three' monsters was 'House of Frankenstein' in which all the monsters appear all to briefly, and then die. This book takes us into the minds of the monsters to experience their thoughts and feelings in extended action sequences. If a sequel to those movies were made today, it would have to be more graphic and more violent than the originals. I enjoyed the bloodlust of the werewolf of London and the survival aptitude of the Frankenstein monster (I'm not sure if he could breath underwater, but if he could be drowned that easily he would have been killed long ago.) True, Dracula's daughter is no longer seeking a cure, but who wouldn't go through changes over sixty years? I only regret that a sequel hasn't been released yet.

One of the problems facing readers of Jacobs' work is that their expectations are rooted in an appreciation of the original Universal Monster films. Jacobs is writing from a different perspective. His monsters are modern, post-splatterpunk versions of the Universal classics. His novels evoke the mood of the old Eerie Publication magazine-covers of the '70's, which depicted werewolves, vampires, zombies and Frankenstein Monster type creatures in vicious bloody battle. Jacobs' versions of the Monsters EAT people! They rip them limb from limb! They drool and slaver. They do all the things that deep down, you KNOW the originals were doing--"off stage". In Jacobs' version, you get to see ALL the gore and horror that the monsters were always supposed to have caused, but this time it's stage center, instead of discretely hidden. His greatest achievement is in his depiction of the landscape of the original Universal films. His "Visaria", a fictional European micro-nation, contains all the towns and castles contained in the old movies. Visaria, in some ways, has more character and personality than many of the minor characters who gasp and bleed their way through the novel. Jacobs' novels are NOT for fans of the Universal Monster cycle who are looking to find that same classic atmosphere in print. (check Jeff Rovin's RETURN OF THE WOLFMAN instead for that) They are for modern fans who cut their teeth on FANGORIA more than FAMOUS MONSTERS and have always wondered how those old films would look updated with modern special effects and CGI. You probably know which type of fan YOU are.

I figure a great work of literature deserves 5 stars, a really good novel 4-that's what I gave all 3 installments in this series (so far). Here, Jacobs really matures from his first one in this series, and works out the bugs that were present in "Devil's Brood". You'd be lost if you started with this, so begin (if at all possible) with "Return of the Wolfman" by Jeff Rovin, after you've seen the movies. This book is almost as good as the best of the movies, I'm not kidding. Dracula is more realistic in this book, and again, this guy writes the Frankenstein monster better than anyone since Mary Shelly, without a doubt. I'll go out on a limb and say Jacobs has a very unique style of writing, and would get more respect if he wrote something other than "pulp". I get the impression this is his last installment in the series, and that's too bad if true. The complaints that he isn't true to the originals are half true-this is HIS vision, not theirs. Anyway, From "Dracula" to "Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein" there is a world of difference, so why shouldn't it be the same between the movies and the books that turned up 50 years later? I'm speaking as someone who prefers Famous Monsters to Fangoria any day-these are monsters who can put the fear into you in the 21st century. I like the new Mummy movies, but these stories are much better. Read all three installments, and be prepared to save the best for last.

I read parts of this aloud as examples of bad writing. This is HORRIBLE! The story is muddled. Cliches abound. The characters are poorly depicted. Where is the inner turmoil the vampire showed in the movie "Dracula's Daughter"? Why did he so strangely change the werewolf's shapeshifting nature to a method unrelated to that of the movies? Since when do Dracula and his daughter invoke Satan? If you're not going to stick to what has been established in the movies, then just write an original novel with your own material and characters. Bad, bad, bad, bad, BAD!!!

I read the triogy (starting with Jeff Roven's The Return of the Wolfman) for my science fiction and horror book club and enjoyed it so much that I was compelled to write this review. Roven's approach to the first book was very traditional and great fun, while Jacobs following books takes the monsters into uncharted grounds. At first some of the changes to the "beloved" monsters seem to be somewhat exploitive, but without giving away any spoilers, lets just say the series ends nicely.

With this book and its counterpart the author turns the Universal Monsters world on its head and completely reinvents a new age of fear and terror. My favorite character from the novels is the werewolf of London and it was a fresh idea to have the werewolf curse pass from one generation to another.

I never write reviews. So, with that in mind, I have to say that this book, along with "The Devil's Brood" and "Return of the Wolf Man" are some of the best reads I've had in a long time!

These books follow the formula of Universal Studio's classic monsters. If you enjoy the old Universal horror movies, then you will most assuredly enjoy these novels.

I highly recommend you seek out the first novel, "Return of the Wolf Man" then "The Devil's Brood" and finally this book! It's well worth reading.

The characters are one dimensional. They attempt to be evil but instead achieve only amorality. There are no heroes. The plot is uninspired: monster 'A' is captured, monster 'A' escapes. Monster 'B' is captured, monster 'B' escapes. Monster 'C' is captured . . . until finally there is a monster dumb-die-off in the end as each monster out dumbs the last. This die off takes place in a small country (very like Monaco) that for some reason the world tolerates. The wolfman is captured because of his knowledge of the moonray that will bring the bride of Frankenstein back to life and start a new super-race. Frankenstein is captured, evidently to be the male sire to this future super slave race. However, the reader is never told why Dracula is captured(except that he was there). A vampire was not needed since Marya, the mad woman scientist is also the daughter of Dracula. In regards to the main theme of the book--we are not that much different than the monsters. This reader would have to agree, people can be just as dumb as those monsters. After all, this reader bought this book--and read it from cover to cover--hoping that somewhere in the book that it would redeem itself. The writing isn't too bad, just the characterization, and the plot.

This was the worse book I have ever read! I cannot understand what prompted Universal to publish this? They can't be that hard up for stories, or could they? Why didn't Universal have Christopher Schildt, who wrote NIGHT OF DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN THE LEGACY write their next books. Schildt is fantastic!

The fur flies in this monster amack-down of a series that finds Frankenstein, the new werewolf of London, and Dracula (in a blob-like form) pitted against each other -and the world of man.