Cinema of Shadows

By: Michael West

Narrated by: Nila Brereton Hagood

Welcome to the Woodfield Movie Palace. The night the Titanic sank, it opened for business...and its builder died in his chair. In the 1950s, there was a fire; a balcony full of people burned to death. And years later, when it became the scene of one of Harmony, Indiana's most notorious murders, it closed for good. Abandoned, sealed, locked up tight...until now. Tonight, Professor Geoffrey Burke and his Parapsychology students have come to the Woodfield in search of evidence, hoping to find irrefutable proof of a haunting. Instead, they will discover that, in this theater, the terrors are not confined to the screen.

Cinema of Shadows is one of the growing Harmony, Indiana collection of horror tales from Michael West that also includes Spook House, Goodnight, For the River is Wide and the Gods are Hungry, and The Wide Game.

©2011 Michael West (P)2019 Michael West

Welcome to harmony

Ghost hunters meets sixth sense
A group of college students with past paranormal experiences look for proof in a soon to be demolished Theatre
Lots of creep factor from the buildings history to little drown girls needing a ride home
A Well narrated ghost story any horror fan will enjoy
I received a free review audiobook and voluntarily left this review

A Solid, Edge of Your Seat Slice of Macabre

West's story feels like an homage to 80s horror with a more modern twist, utilizing the paranormal investigation craze to organically send our protagonists into harm's way. The characters themselves could fall into cliches if not for the added character depth the author skillfully stitches into their more personal moments. The climax is a sinister mix of danger, hellish imagery and heart stopping action.

The narration is performed with obvious experience by a skilled actress, however, her tonality and portrayal is mismatched to their source material. This causes more intense moments to fall short of their potential scares and intrigue. When dialogue is read the voice portrayals often sound like caricatures and stereotypes and some of the accents can be a bit uneven. Again, this narrator is very talented but is not the best fit for West's more mature work or horror beyond the YA genre.

Less of a horror audio, more of an endurance test

This is a prime example of why the preview feature is key. The story had promise with a nice mixture of pulp horror and gore, but suffers a lot from too much filler. By hour 6 of 9 the characters have FINALLY gotten to the whole point of the story; investigating the damn theater. But the path to get there is full of “just get on with it!”
But the real problem is the narrator. Her voices are awful, accents even worse (she says the professor is English, but keeps switching to Scottish?), and she just doesn’t have a voice for horror. It’s like listening to my grandma reading little women or those crappy paperbacks with half naked tan guys on horses.
Skip the audio, get the book if it’s on sale.

B-Movie Ghost Story

I received this book for free. I am voluntarily posting this review and all opinions expressed herein are my own.

I am probably more in the range of 3.5 stars for this book. I would describe it as watching a B-movie - the one where the effects are just not quite right and the dialogue is very cheesy at times but it's a decent show nonetheless. The abilities and the boundaries of the spirits are not explained so there are spirits who have the ability to speak coherently - carry on conversations; have self-awareness; and have empathy for others. For me, the story seemed to drag a bit - I think the story would have been better served if the characters got to the point of the premise - investigating the theater.

Cinema of Shadows

This was very good.I enjoyed it! Kim is part of a class on parapsychology...I think.The teacher wants people who have had unexplained events in their lives.They get more than they sign up for! Nila Brereton Hagood was a fine narrator. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.'