Nightmares, Shmightmares… thrown together by Allison
Filed under: mission
The Nightmare Factory
Editor in Chief: R. Eric Lieb
Editor: Heidi MacDonald
Designer: Symon Chow
Various Authors and Artists
I’m starting to think that maybe I have unreasonably high standards. At least, when it comes to the horror genre. I’m one of those people who never read normal books as a kid (I wasn’t a normal kid in general for that matter). In fact, I remember feeling super-accomplished when I was 12, after having spent an entire summer reading the uncut version of Stephen King’s The Stand. All 1000+ pages of apocalyptic glory.
Of course, some of us eventually branch away from obvious horror authors like King and Dean Koontz and end up delving a little deeper into horror culture. I started to go to concerts like GWAR where blood rains down on you from the stage. I made a point of seeing every zombie movie imaginable and loved every second of them (except for the really BAD zombie films like Land of the Dead, for shame George Romero. Firecrackers? Really???). So, that said, it’s safe to say I know my shit when it comes to horror. Unfortunately, The Nightmare Factory was anything but what I had expected/hoped for.
So check out the cover for a moment. Seems pretty creepy; looks pretty cool, right? Not exactly. Now, don’t get me wrong…the artwork is exceptional. I’ve no complaint there. My objection is in the stories themselves. This book is a monstrosity (no pun intended) of assembled short graphic stories and many are trying to create a very dream-like feel. Which is accomplished if you consider it one of those dreams where nothing really makes sense and you wake up feeling confused and unrested.
The stories bounce around from clowns that turn into metaphorical worms to a guy that’s in love with a mannequin who haunts peoples’ dreams. Anyways, the only real cohesive theme is that of a dream world, one from which the character either can’t escape or simply doesn’t know how to.
The other night, I had a dream like this. I was dreaming that something terrible happened right before my upcoming wedding ceremony, causing the actual act of the ceremony to be postponed indefinitely. As the dream progressed I couldn’t figure out what to do. I flipped out and screamed and bawled in the dream. I was so immersed in my dreamworld that it felt like it had been going on forever and I was getting more and more emotionally unstable until finally…I realized it was just a dream and some hidden light went off in my head. I realized that I just had to open my eyes to escape the terrible dreamscape. I woke up and saw my guy right next to me, passed out and snoring and relief washed over me, a blanket of instant calm. But the feeling of having to force yourself awake is always kinda scary. What if you just never woke up? Or simply forgot that you could?
Anyway, this book really only made me wonder the above questions and not a whole lot else. But still, it’s a creepy question…what if you just couldn’t wake up from a nightmare? Would you keep dreaming it forever? Hopefully you never fall into a coma in the middle of a nightmare. Then you just might be screwed.
Delving. What a freaking awesome word. Me being a Stephen King fan myself I just had to say something. I like horror movies and books, but my knowledge is limited when it comes to classifying something that will freak me out more then Carrie, Pet Sematary, or the Shining. I think expectations or standards can never be too high, although knowing where to set them in the first place is relatively easy. High or low, You have to be flexible and go both ways. Horror is complicated. No matter what kind it is or who it’s by, whether it be George Romero, Stephen King, or Thomas Ligotti, standards will be different for each one. By the way, The Stand was epic, and what does being a normal kid mean anyway?
P.S. I wouldn’t get too carried away with what questions emulate from your dreams. It’s not reality, and it will only become real if you make it that way.
Comment by Alex Guffey 08.23.08 @ 6:54 pmi dunno about standards being flexible. i mean, i think you can set your standards according to what you KNOW. for instance, my standards for what even qualifies as literature is going to be different than what you might qualify it as. that’s not becuz i’m a lit snob, it’s just because i’ve read vast amounts of literature and the kinds i’ve read are way different than what a normal person might read (ie, philosophy, poetry, canonized literature, prose, stream of consciousness, etc). i’ve had to dissect it according to the literary theory put forth by such people as Kant, Hume, etc. and therefore my standards are probably high. most people read a book, think about it, and then log it away in their memory. for me, i’ve had to dissect it analytically, theoretically, and personally. then i had to relate it to paper as a thesis. so my standards will naturally be different than someone who didn’t have a degree in lit. i guess i just think i’m too hard on some authors b/c of my background and what i was TAUGHT to think about it. i’m not saying king and koontz aren’t amazing horror authors, i’m just saying their plotlines, their characters can become played-out and you might crave more. and b/c i craved more, i sought out more “horror” related books, movies, concerts and culture.
as a result of seeking out more horror and craving it, i think i am way hard on books like Nightmare Factory. it’s not scary, it’s not even close. it’s just confusing and vague but not in a good way. also, i guess i wasn’t a “normal” kid for many reasons. one of them being that most of my friends who were reading the babysitters club books when they were 12, thought i was weird b/c i spent my time reading king. Salem’s Lot was another big accomplishment for me. most of my friends’ accomplishments included figuring out how to wear mascara when they were 12. that’s what i meant by that.
also, you SHOULD get carried away by the questions posited by dreams. any “reality” is only relative. reality alone can be displaced depending on who you are, where you live, whether you’re high, sober, alone, tired, sleeping, awake, etc.
that’s the beauty of dreams and wondering whether or not you’re awake or dreaming. no matter what, you can never say what is or isn’t reality. check out philosophers like Kant, he said that reality is only what we make of it and we can never know its true nature. i absolutely agree with this. Kant believed in “a recognition that the appearance of the external world depends in some measure upon the position and movement of its observers”. for instance, if you’re high on shrooms or LSD then that’s how you’ll view the world. that’s not the same as someone who’s not high. does that mean either reality is more or less correct? no, it just means that reality is simply what YOU make of it and YOU are unique, no one will have the exact same interpretation as you do.
anyways, i’m not saying you’re right and i’m wrong or vice versa. i’m just saying that isn’t it a novel and cool idea that each reality is what we make of it? dreams are what we make of them and if you never question them, you might be missing out on something!
if this is interesting to you i HIGHLY recommend you see the movie, Waking Life. it’s all about existentialism which to me, is infinitely interesting!
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