Book Review: "Out There Screaming" ed. by Jordan Peele

“Know your place. Stay in your place. But if you build your place into something nice, they want to take it from you. All they needed was an excuse.”

If you are like me then you too are probably a fan of Jordan Peele's horror movies. The current trilogy of movies: Get Out, Us and Nope are testaments to great filmmaking on the critical aspect of the African American experience and how unique it can be. Fighting against stereotypes by overusing them purposefully, Jordan Peele uses all of his prowess to create a whole new subgenre is aptly named as 'Black Horror' in the anthology Out There Screaming. Peele's introduction may be better than many of the stories included, but I think that some of these might serve as inspirations for future movies.

The anthology opens with the story Reckless Eyeballing which, even though it has an annoying amount of pop culture references and every single minute or so something is 'going viral' and someone is using 'Instagram' - it is still a good story with a strong underlying message about the experiences of those who are not white. However, the uniqueness of the experience is still there under everything that seems okay and 'part of modern culture' - the way people feel things can often be horrific. This aligns with Jordan Peele's vision of individualism.

A story I thought stood out in the anthology because of the writing style was Eye and Tooth which was about people who are involved in helping others with supernatural situations. As the story twists and turns, the one thing I can say is the best thing about this story is the gory descriptions. They are horrific and often just disgusting. But they are always there because they are needed. From the eerie creepiness of being in economy class on a plane which may feel like nothing at first, but becomes something when a woman keeps getting shot at. All the way to a knitting needle protruding through skin and bone, half the thickness of a wrist.

Another really good story is called Wandering Devil which feels eerie like a Jordan Peele movie. It is about a man named Freddy who is kind of like a drifter and moves around a lot. He meets a woman named Delilah who wants him to settle down and he becomes torn between what he knows to be right and the thing he really wants to do which is actually the wrong thing. You might feel like there are no real 'horror' elements here but that's the whole point - it's supposed to be an experience of being unsettled. Jordan Peele movies are not all about the fright, they are about the discomfort of having someone's eyes on you, someone's depending on you, something's happening to you. It's all about the idea of it. That is what this story is about. The fingers, the movement, the sinking, all of it. The floor gives way and the ending might make no sense but it is a strangely familiar feeling.

Other stories including Invasion of the Baby Snatchers which is about alien pregnancy and The Other One by Violet Allen which deals with the strange abnormalities that plague our imposter syndromes day by day and how gruesome and strange it can really get when someone sends you a picture of a heart - a human heart. Lasirèn by Erin E. Adams which is a folklore style children's scary story which may surprise you as being one of your favourites from the book. I have heard it is the favourite of many people when it comes to this anthology.

Personally, my favourite from the whole anthology is The Other One by Violet Allen. I think this story was so well written and so simplistic. It builds on details, creates atmosphere, leaves the reader asking questions as it goes along about the whole idea of very literally stealing someone's heart (from their body). It is gruesome, psychologically disturbing and deals with the most incredible parts of not feeling like yourself, imposter syndrome and attachment issues.

All in all, though this is not a perfect anthology, it is definitely up there with things I should have read when they actually came out rather than waiting for ages.