Product Description

Visitors flock to see the Beast House with its blood-soaked corridors and creaky doors. Armed with video camcorders, these poor sould enter the forbidden house, never to return. The deeper they go into the house, the darker their nightmares become. Don't even think about going into the cellar.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #142403 in Books
• Published on: 1990-03-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author
Richard Layman was born in Chicago in 1947. He grew up in California and has a BA in English Literature from Willamette University, Oregon, and an MA from Loyola University, Los Angeles. He has worked as a schoolteacher, a librarian, a mystery magazine editor and a report writer for a law firm. He now works full-time as a writer. His novel FLESH was shortlisted for the prestigious Bram Stoker Award, as were FUNLAND and his short story collection, A GOOD, SECRET PLACE. Richard Layman is the author of many acclaimed works of horror and suspense, including THE STAKE, SAVAGE, AFTER MIDNIGHT and the three novels in the Beast House Chronicles: THE CELLAR, THE BEAST HOUSE and THE MIDNIGHT TOUR. He lives in California with his wife and daughter.

Customer Reviews

Don't go into the cellar
Richard Laymon has the knack of turning what should be abhorrent into an entertaining literary feast and this is the case with The Cellar. The journey takes us through bestiality, paedophilia, torture and some of the most finely crafted suspense horror in a long, long time.

The Cellar is located in the only attraction in Malcasa Point, the infamous Beast House with its blood steeped history and the even stranger Kutch House with no windows and only one door. Running from her deranged husband who has recently been released from gaol Donna Hayes finds herself stranded in Malcasa Point after a car accident in the fog. At her daughter's insistence she takes the Beast House Tour and meets Jud Rucker who changes her life around, albeit temporarily.

What happens from here on in is bloodsoaked but so gripping you don't want to put the book down. Does the beast exist or is it one of the Kutch family playing dress-up? Will they all escape alive? Will they escape the clutches of the Beast House at all?

If you like your horror novels with gore dripping from the page onto your lap as you read this is definitely the book for you.

Curate's egg
Having read my first Laymon novel, Funland (Which I was informed in hindsight was one of his weaker novels) I decided to give Laymon one more chance with this one. My friend had repeatedly recommended it so I relented and was surprised by its short length.
I'd been alerted to Laymon based on the notion he was a horror writer. Well 2 books down the line and I'd have to strongly disagree. For me he's classed as a dark gothic fantasy writer, nothing more and nothing less.

The Cellar is the first in a trilogy of the Beast House stories. It focuses on Donna, Sandy and Jud as they investigate the legend of Beast House all the while aware Donna's psychotic husband Roy's been released from jail and is after her. The mother and daughter abandoned their home as soon as they heard the news of his release, and made their way out to a small town in the back of beyond. This is where they hook up with Jud and his 'partner' Larry.

Like Funland, Laymon does a decent job of painting a vivid picture of atmospheres. He doesn't particularly immerse the reader in a realistic description of places, but rather concentrates on the people in them and how they feel. He does this rather well. This is undeniably his main strength.

However, his weaknesses are numerous. I've only read 2 novels by him and his overuse of the word 'rump' is mildly comical.
Furthermore, he contrives situations out of nothing and doesn't make them believable. Several events have occurred in his books which I just couldn't swallow. Their suddenness thwarts any attempt the reader has at suspending their disbelief.

Moreover Laymon doesn't seem to be that sure what kind of novelist he actually is. There are dark themes such as rape, paedophilia, heavy violence and graphic sex, but these are mixed in amongst other more mundane situations and it's hard to balance up where the author's trying to go.

In this novel, there are so many themes which others might laud an author for incorporating. Instead, I find it mildly baffling.

As for his basic writing style, it's decent enough without being anything outstanding. Some moments are quite confusing, and certain details are unclear, to the point of apparent plot holes. You're never quite sure if you've missed something or Laymon made an error.

The Cellar gets a 3, just, because ultimately it is quite entertaining, and entertaining is exactly what a book is supposed to be. But certain aspects have it down at 2, while others, such as his main strength, push it up to 4.

If you want horror, look elsewhere. Koontz and King are both better and more effectively immersive and descriptive.

If you want a dark drama, well, you could probably do worse than Laymon.

brilliant
if you find detailed accounts of sex disturbing then i would probably say that this book is not for you!! besides all the sex i would have to say that i became extreamly involved with the characters (yet again) and even found myself feeling upset and worried about some of the characters!! very well written!!!