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| Short Story: “Mechanisms” |
I see a trend occurring in Hellbound Hearts. A good story seems to always be followed by a bad one. So, if you’ve read my review of the previous short story, “Hellbound Hollywood”, you can already guess what I’ll say about this short story, “Mechanisms” by Christopher Golden & Mike Mignola. I know my fellow readers just love to read my reviews though, so please read on…
Colin Radford, while studying at Oxford University, receives a note that his father has gone missing. He travels home to help in the search and finds out from his Grandmother, that his father in the last few days before he went missing, was engrossed in a strange machine that he was building in the basement. Colin doesn’t think too much of it, ’til one night, he awakes to hearing a faint voice (sounding very much like his father’s) calling out and a slight vibration/humming noise coming from the walls. He explores the noise and finds out that the strange sounds are coming from the basement, not from the strange machine, but from the actual walls of the house itself. Little does Colin know, but the further he explores the mysterious disappearance of his father, the more layers of the veil he’ll be peeling back. Pushing him one step closer to an eternity of pain and pleasure.
I enjoyed Mechanisms, even though there are no blatant in your face Hellraiser themes involved (much like Peter Atkins tale). The story holds enough mystery to keep you entertained throughout and the drawings by Mike Mignola only add to the overall enjoyment you’ll get when reading. This was a rare time where I think what we got in the plot was enough and I was happy with not knowing more. Let’s hope the trend I mentioned above is broken and the next story (“Every Wrong Turn”) is just as good.
Rating: 4/5