Barbie Wilde has maintained a noteworthy career in the entertainment industry for over three decades. While you may recognize her from her role as the Female Cenobite from 1988’s Hellbound: Hellraiser II, she’s also tackled a number of other jobs such as dancing, casting, miming, presenting, singing and, most recently, writing! Having previously authored 2012’s highly decorated dark-thriller, The Venus Complex, Wilde returned to the work of published works in 2015 with a collection of her original short stories; the anthology known pretty accurately as Voices of the Damned.
I think I would like to start off my review by saying Voices of the Damned is not your typical anthology. I wouldn’t recommend Voices of the Damned for the typical horror fan. This is not the type of material you want to read if you’re looking for a little dose of dark suspense to give your bookshelf some extra flavor. Voices of the Damned is cruel and unusual and full of gross out gore and erotica. Things get dark; and I mean crazy dark… so much so that I felt a panic attack at the edges of my psyche midway through the first short story. Voices of the Damned will successful evokes emotion from whoever read it, so you need to be prepared to be chilled and genuinely horrified.
Speaking to Ms. Wilde’s writing style… There’s a difference between an actor and a performer. There’s a difference between a singer and a vocalist. In turn, there’s a difference between a writer and an author. In all three categories, anyone can really fill the void of the first job, but very few can actually touch someone in a profound way with the second tier jobs. Reading a Barbie Wilde story is like reading and watching a movie at the same time; every story is almost completely cinematic. By this I mean she is so descriptive in her writing that you get every emotion the characters feel, you get to see every block of color in the room, and you experience all of the five senses as the characters experience them. It’s a truly remarkable feeling and an incredible gift to paint a picture that detailed with written word.
There’s some level of humor in all of this, because I’ve spoken to Barbie several times through social media and email and would like to think of her as an acquaintance. She is always so refined, so intelligent and so heartfelt and kind. It’s a complete clusterfuck to know such a beautiful person – inside and out – and then read stories like this and think, “Voices of the Damned, where did that come from?!” In the same token, all of the stories featured in this anthology – or at least nine out of eleven – are extremely sexual in nature, depraved, nasty sex that may ruin your sex life for a few days. I think it’s important to warn you that that’s in there, too. What I’m trying to say here is I think it’s cool that Barbie can turn on this light in her brain and become this creator of perversion and death and still maintain such a massive social media presence and elegant charm. But would you expect anything less?
To cap off my review, I’m going to give you a detail or two about each short story and a star rating for each one. I definitely had my favorites. When you purchase her book, make sure you come back here and tell me which ones were your favorites.
- Sister Cilice (artwork by Clive Barker) – the starting piece in a trilogy and some canon Hellraiser prequel material. Want to know how one might become a cenobite? Score: 10 out of 10
- Zulu Zombies (illustration by Nick Percival) – 80’s nostalgia and a crazy old witch. Man vs. Train Zombie in this throwback capable of being adapted into a feature film. Score: 10 out of 10
- American Mutant (illustration by Vincent Sammy – there’s a good and bad side to every gift. Imagine what happens when that comes into the life of a self absorbed televangelist. Score: 7 out of 10
- The Alpducke (illustration by Ben Baldwin) – this gave me some Leprechaun vibes, except the villain is looking to take more than his pot of gold… and tennis balls! Score: 10 out of 10
- Valeska (illustration by Daniele Serra) – my least favorite in the anthology. Felt it didn’t fit in with the tone or theme of the others. Score: 4 out of 10
- The Cilicium Pandoric (illustration by Eric Gross) – part two of the Hellraiser work. Further enforces that maybe the female cenobites are more sinister than their male counterparts. Score: 7 out of 10
- Gaia (artwork by Clive Barker) – a modern telling of a mythological story, as far as I could tell. my second to last favorite. Score: 4 out of 10
- Polyp (illustration by Steve McGinnis) – an otherworldly creature gets lose in a dingy hospital. A perfect throwback story for the creature feature lovers. Score: 9 out of 10
- Botophobia (illustration by Tara Bush) – classic story of a young woman returning to her childhood home after some time away. I assure you this has a twist to the subgenre that you won’t see coming. Score: 10 out of 10
- Writer’s Block (illustration by Daniele Serra) – what would you do for the perfect story? Who would you turn to? Is there some truth in here, Barbie? Score: 8 out of 10
- The Cilicium Rebellion (illustration by Eric Gross) – ending the anthology full circle, but also with a new beginning. Something tells me her story is not quite over yet. Score: 9 out of 10
Final Score of the entire book is 8.5 out of 10. A must read for a true horror fan! It features some amazing artwork and illustrations from incredible artists, which is an added bonus. It also contains a foreword from Christ Alexander and an afterword from The Soska Sisters and I know you’re dying to read what they have to say. Please visit the links below to purchase your copy of Barbie Wilde’s Voices of the Damned. It’s more than worth the price of purchase!
Voices of the Damned Amazon Paperback
Voices of the Damned Amazon Hardcover
Voices of the Damned Amazon Kindle
