Midnight's Lair (Richard Laymon)

[Ian Adams]

Midnight?s Lair by Richard Laymon (1988)

Gritty horror story involving a group of tourists exploring a cave system who become trapped. In their efforts to escape, they happen upon monstrous cannibalistic humanoid lifeforms which (quite obviously) seek to attack them.

In fact, these ?humanoids? are the victims of a hotel run by the same family for generations.  Unsuspectingly, they arrive for their pleasant stay and are subjected, instead, to a dosage of rape, sexual domination and (usually) murder. To hide the evidence, their corpses are tossed down a dis-used mine shaft. The trouble is, not all of them were quite dead ?.

It?s very easy to believe that the film ?Descent? could have been based around this story. In any event, to enjoy it, you really need an affinity with the underworld and a warped fantasy towards perversion.

Naturally, I enjoyed it. 



Ian

 

[Roger W]

Hmm...

Think I'll stick to reading Simon's accounts of his adventures in Mossdale.

 

[yrammy]

Sounds like a night in the TSG hut in the 80s.

 

[ZombieCake]

The books are going for a couple of pounds or so on eBay.
The bit about the dodgy hotel in the original post reminds me of that Eastern European travel documentary film series - 'Hostel' and its sequels I think it's called.

 

[Jenny P]

I have actually read this I think - or if not this particular one, one which was on the same theme.  Guess maybe it's standard "nasty cave" potboiler stuff.  We don't have a copy at BCL!

I'm also fairly sure this has been made into a film, which I seem to recall watching in the early hours on TV when I'd nothing better to do.

 

[yrammy]

We can offer you from the library the following ripping yarns all vaguely cave related! 


Fletcher, Major. Archibald. Lee. Boy Scouts in The Coal Caverns
Nixon, Henry Lewis                 The Caves They Sought Danger and Found it in Each Other
Saville, Malcolm                         Not Scarlet but Gold
Morris, Edward                         The Plume Of Smoke
and
Pocket Chiller Library                 The Potholers

 

[Alex]

I think it's almost identially to the descent, if you watch the second (far worse) film, which involves said disused mine shaft.

 

[yrammy]