Weird West Review 1: Pigeons from Hell

 And this - this horror. God, can such things be? I know not what to think. If it is she who roams the house at night, who fumbles at my door, who whistles so weirdly and sweetly - no, no, I must be going mad. If I stay here alone I shall die as hideously as my sisters must have died. Of that I am convinced.

Two friends travelling in the South decide to spend the night at the abandoned Blassenville Manor. However, things go very, very wrong when it turns out the house isn't as empty as it seemed...

We didn't know what to expect, but ended up being pleasantly surprised by it. Robert E Howard wrote good horror and we had forgotten how violent his descriptions could get. The fact that it takes place in the South and the presence of voodoo magic had us a little worried, wondering if it was something we could post about on social media without pissing anyone off, but it managed to stay on the acceptable side of dated sensibilities.

This was spooky from start to finish. The Blassenville Manor was sinister, and Griswell's fear when he's in the house was palpable. The past mystery of what happened to the last of the family wasn't as obviously bloody as the present storyline, which involved a very nasty head wound and a zombie attack. However, it wasn't any less scary, especially the snippets from Elizabeth's diary. By the way, she was refreshingly smart for a horror story character. Getting the hell out of there was the best way to deal with a creepy house of supernatural danger and death. The conversation Griswell and the surprisingly understanding Sheriff Buckner had with Jacob and the final reveal made us want to know more about Joan. In fact, we wished Howard had included a proper flashback from her and Elizabeth's respective POVs. We were disappointed with the titular pigeons being only a signal that the zuvembie was in a killing mood. The monster was a bit of a mess regarding looks and abilities, but Griswell's encounter with her was great. (We googled and this particular voodoo entity is an original creation of Howard's)

Pigeons from Hell was pretty good, and despite the expectations it generated and failed to meet, we're glad Howard gave it such a nutty title or we might’ve missed it.