Ghost Music: Probably not a good introduction to Graham Masterton

I know I’ve read some of Graham Masterton's short stories; I just can’t remember which, where, or when.  I do know that Ghost Music is the first of his novels I’ve read, and it probably wasn't a good place to start.

Ghost Music’s protagonist, Gideon Lake, is a successful composer of advertising jingles, who moves into a Greenwich Village apartment and begins an affair with the mysterious Kate, his downstairs neighbor.  She has a crass and menacing real estate agent husband, Victor, is consistently described as cold and bony, shatters glass with her screams when she climaxes, and continually dodges Gideon’s questions.  Nonetheless, he’s infatuated; Masterton tells us this, but he doesn’t show us – there’s an odd lack of real emotion in the relationship. 

It’s hardly a spoiler to say that Kate’s a ghost, since Masterton makes it abundantly clear to the reader; this makes the reader want to smack the dull and unquestioning Gideon for having no clue until Ghost Music’s finale.  As Kate sends him tickets and keys to the houses of her friends in Stockholm, London, and Venice, Gideon very slowly begins to realize that he has a “resonance” that allows him to see dead people.  But what are they trying to tell him? And how are Kate and Victor involved?

Much like Gideon and Kate’s relationship, the whole novel seems lacking in emotion, hastily tacked together for the sake of convenience.  There’s nothing of the lyrical infatuation of, say, Richard Adams’ The Girl in the Swing, and there’s nothing to raise the short hairs on the back of your neck, either.  The dialogue is mostly flat and unconvincing, and, like Ramsey Campbell in The Grin of the Dark, Masterton seems to have trouble making his American characters sound American – Britishisms sneak in (Gideon repeatedly refers to his “beezer” after getting punched in the nose).  Add a stereotypical gangster henchman who says “dollface” sixty years too late, Gideon’s lovingly clichéd description of Kate’s “dew-soaked lily petals”, and a hastily tacked-on bit about shady organ transplants before the disappointed ending, and the whole thing ends up seeming weak and a little silly. 

Despite this disappointment, it’s too early to give up on Graham Masterton; he's a prolific writer and perhaps Ghost Music just wasn't his best effort.  I need to check out some of his earlier novels like The Manitou and see if they have more to offer.

Hidden Floor: Another Asian Hair Ghost Movie

Hidden Floor  (2006) is a Korean production which, while enjoyable, breaks no new ground in the genre of vengeful Asian female ghosts with long black hair covering their faces (onryō).  Apparently, the wild-haired nature of these ghosts comes from the fact that traditionally, Japanese women only let their hair down when being buried.  Hence, long hair, and usually a white funeral shroud, became synonymous with frightening spirits...  like this one:

 However, many Asian horror viewers have called for a little more variety after seeing onryō in Ju-on, the American remake, Dark Water, the American remake of that, Ringu, the American remake of that, and numerous others. 

Anyway, on to the film in question.  Hidden Floor is the story of single mother Min-young (Seo-hyeong Kim) and her six year old daughter Juhee (Yoo-jung Kim), who move into a new apartment in a recently renovated but underpopulated apartment building.  Juhee remarks that there is no fourth floor button in the elevator, and her mother explains that "four" sounds like "death" in Chinese; hence there is no fourth floor.  Or... is there?

Soon, strange noises from beneath the floor, the crazy-eyed neighbor with a bagful of syringes, mysterious deaths, and the onryō's appearance start wearing on Min-young's nerves.  Juhee, on the other hand, starts getting weird and proclaims that she never wants to leave.  One of the nice touches of the film is that it plays not only on traditional fears, but also the fears of working parents: child neglect, untrustworthy babysitters, and so on.

The concept of a hidden floor is also a nice one, and there are a few good scares.  There are also too many "boo!" moments, but the film does manage to sustain an atmosphere of dread for a while.  Some of the scenes and plot devices are a little reminiscent of The Shining, and the apartment building's florescent lights serve to make the shadows more scary.  However, the film turns into a typical vengeful ghost story, in which the hidden floor isn't really necessary.  It ends up being entertaining, but could easily be confused with many other films in the onryō genre.    

Heart-Shaped Box

I read a review of Heart-Shaped Box when it came out in 2007, thought it sounded interesting, and promptly forgot about it.  I was pleased to find the paperback edition in one of the two used bookstores within driving distance, the one that is so tiny browsing is almost impossible if there are any other customers.

In the novel, an aging rocker with a taste for the macabre and the unlikely stage name of Judas Coyne buys a purported ghost in a box from an online auction site.  He soon realizes that he's being targeted by vengeful relatives of his ex-girlfriend, who committed suicide, and that the ghost is real.  The rest of the novel depicts Coyne, along with his current girlfriend and faithful dogs, attempting to escape the vengeful ghost.

Heart-Shaped Box is an action-packed, inventive novel that is difficult to put down, as the hunted humans travel the south looking for a way to banish their pursuer.  There are some extremely scary sequences, and some of the best are some of the more subtle, such as when the ghost first appears in Coyne's darkened hallway.  Along with the horror, Hill writes with a great deal of humor and poignancy, as Coyne is forced to examine his life and relationships past and present, as he struggles to avoid losing them.  

My only (minor) quibbles are that the frantic pace of the action sometimes takes away from the horror, and that sometimes villains are more frightening when they're portrayed with dimensions, not just evil and crazy.  Still, this is an engrossing, well-written, and scary read.