I Can Taste the Blood

“I can taste the blood.” Five words that inspired five different stories of darkness. I Can Taste the Blood is a horror anthology unlike many others, since it’s not style, topic, author, or substance that the stories have in common, just five little words. And yet, those five words led to five entirely unique interpretations, ranging from the Middle East to small town America, from an old movie theater to a secret house of horrors.

Fair warning to the reader: most of these stories are not for the squeamish, as they delve into body horror more often than not. Only the first story, a wonderful slow-burn narrative, is in the more classic scary-story vein. The others are exercises in grotesquery most unpleasant, even for a horror fan like me.

So I struggled in giving this book a star rating because one of the stories was outstanding on all accounts, while the others merely turned my stomach. But since that appeared to be the goal, that made those stories effective, however unenjoyable I might have found them.

I Can Taste the Blood might not be to my taste, but I’m sure some gorehounds will enjoy.