Hey, Don’t Go Down There! Beware the Beast House
02/02/2007
Laymon, Richard. The Cellar. New York: Leisure Books, 2006, © 1980. 309 p.
Richard Laymon never ceases to sicken some readers, but more importantly, he is always able to excite and titillate as well, the mark of a good horror writer. Perhaps this is due to his addictive narrative style and rich character development; these traits make it virtually impossible to part with the recent reissue of his 1980 novel, The Cellar. From the moment the reader opens that wooden door, there is no doubt that whatever horrors dwell in the depths of the cellar would be best left unknown.
The star of The Cellar is The Beast House—a house that is more than the typical unsavory tourist-trap designed to drain the pockets of macabre thrill-seekers. Its bloody past is presented in vivid detail through wax figures of the beast’s victims, positioned in their death poses. The home’s unnatural inhabitant is neither legend nor myth, but rather, a ghastly reality in the small town of Malcasa Point.
The voyeurs who venture into the house during daylight to either take pleasure in the gore or to deride the owners for putting on such a show are able to leave the place completely unharmed. The others, however, who decide to trespass after the fall of darkness, will suffer an unspeakable fate. And The Beast House is an equal opportunity eviscerator: men, women, and children are equally vulnerable to the vicious attacks, because what lurks in the cellar is a lusty and merciless creature.
Despite the perfectly-crafted wickedness of the beast, Laymon would hardly disappoint his readers by creating only one antagonistic, soulless villain. Donna Hayes, who has lived for the past six years in subdued terror, receives the telephone call that she and her daughter have dreaded. Her ex-husband, Roy, has been released from prison. This human monster had sadistically and sexually tortured Donna and had been imprisoned for raping Sandy when she was just a six-year old girl. Without hesitation, Donna packs their possessions into the Maverick, and she and her daughter flee from their home. They fear that Roy will set out to find them, and with good reason. The man has vengeance on his mind. Unfortunately—and predictably—as the Hayes women take flight to escape their beast, they inadvertently head toward Malcasa Point.
Not far from the infamous spot, a man shrieks in the dead of night. Larry Maywood was one of the unlucky individuals who, as a child, had ventured into the Beast House under the cover of darkness. Unlike so many others, however, he had escaped and lived to tell about it. Now, a prematurely-aged adult man, he still has nightmares of what he saw that night. In light of the latest murders in that aptly-named house, Larry’s dread has been reborn. As he tells his new confidante, Jud, “The beast has claws…they’re sharp like nails. They shred the victim, his clothes, his flesh. They pierce him to hold him down while the beast…violates him.” Providentially, Judgment Rucker is in the business of killing beasts and they too set out for Malcasa Point.
To most, the Beast House would seem like just another desperate plea for attention in an unremarkable town otherwise devoid of tourism. Yet there is something more disturbing and unwholesome about this site. The owner of the so-called museum is Maggie Kutch, the last resident of the house and one whose family had been taken by the beast. She personally escorts patrons through her former home, remarking that she is willing to “take people through her home that was a scene of such personal grief” simply for the “m-o-n-e-y.” She is a thoroughly objectionable character who seems to invite the brutality of the beast. Maggie, her odd son with missing digits, and the repugnant male ticket-taker all reside together in the mysterious windowless house next door.
As fate brings Donna, Sandy, Jud, and Larry together in Malcasa Point’s small diner, and then again on a Beast House tour, Roy is quickly approaching. He has tortured Donna’s sister for information, and, just for his own twisted pleasure, has murdered an unrelated family and abducted their pre-pubescent daughter. His intentions are to use and abuse little Joni until he can reach his ex-wife and daughter, at which point he looks forward to raping, tormenting, and murdering them all. Little does he know what awaits him at the Beast House.
When reading any work by Richard Laymon, one must try to be prepared for absolutely anything. That, however, proves virtually impossible. The antagonists are so utterly repulsive that it is almost shocking to see their deeds in print. Roy’s criminal acts and the brutal sexual attacks inflicted by the enigmatic beast would be enough to make a squeamish reader put this book down. It seems that there is nothing that they won’t do. Nevertheless, a more hard-core horror fan will absorb every disturbing detail and continue on, anxiously waiting for these monsters to get their just deserts. Readers will find they can only hope for a happy ending because, with Laymon, there are no guarantees.