Joey Leonard’s Last Horror Movie Marathon (2023) by Kevin Lucia

I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of the novella, Joey Leonard’s Last Horror Movie Marathon by Kevin Lucia for review. Little did I know that my commitment would cause me to read the entire 175-page tale in a single sitting (something I rarely do). I don’t say that as a begrudging by-product of compulsion to complete my review; I simply had to keep reading to find out the resolution to the central mystery of this propulsive page-turner.

Right off the bat, I knew I was exactly the intended audience for this short book. It starts with a dedication of sorts that reads: To all of us who thrived during the age of Be Kind, Rewind. That was certainly me as I lived for those Friday night VHS video rental runs to acquire movies that inevitably kept me and my friends up all night. And much like our protagonist, Joey Leonard, I also was first and foremost a horror movie aficionado and gleaner of useless trivia, learning all I could about the people both behind and in front of the cameras on these scary flicks.

We are introduced to Joey as he exchanges behind-the-scenes production trivia about the movie Phantasm II with a friend on his last day of work as manager of the recently shuttered Showbiz Video in Clifton Heights, NY. Joey has worked at Showbiz for the past 20 years, rising up the ranks and achieving a minor celebrity status locally for his film taste. 

However, despite the fact that the video rental store has eked out an existence and successfully outlasted most of its competition (the closest Blockbuster Video went out of business 11 years earlier), the recent death of its mysterious and reclusive owner has proven too big a hurdle for the fading business. Joey is devastated and increasingly depressed at the closing of the video store as it is simultaneously putting him out of work while also stripping away a large part of his personal identity. That melancholy is only exacerbated by the recent breakup with his long-suffering fiancé, Beth, who believes him capable of achieving so much more in life.

Once a month Joey holds a weekend-long horror movie marathon in his basement home theater where binge-drinking is an ever-growing component to the movie menu. This month’s movie marathon just happens to coincide with his last day at work. Adding further intrigue to the proceedings is the fact that the owner of Showbiz Video has bequeathed all of the store’s stock of horror movies to Joey. These various components crash into each other when a drunken Joey goes through the bins of VHS tapes he has been willed, only to discover a blank Memorex tape among all of the factory release titles. Could that tape be why the estate lawyers who handled the will of the deceased owner keep calling Joey?

The contents of the mystery videotape take the reader on an unexpected but effective detour into Lovecraftian multi-dimensional cosmic horror as Joey’s entire reality becomes corrupted by visions and horrors that begin to bleed into his everyday life. To tell much more would be a disservice that I won’t be responsible for spoiling, but suffice to say I found the resolution to everything both intriguing and satisfying. 

The pace of the entire book is lightning fast with hardly any downtime. Yet, there is careful attention to character and Joey is a believable flesh and blood person facing life crises on multiple fronts. His frank self-awareness of his growing drinking problem is realistic and tragic, as is the fallout of his relationship with Beth. Perhaps best of all, Joey’s internal monologue contains quite a bit of dark humor that really offsets the building dread and horror.

Kevin Lucia is the ebook and trade paperback editor at Cemetery Dance Publications, which makes sense as he’s clearly developed a strong and effortless prose style that engages early and then sticks the landing. And that is not always the case in any genre, but especially horror. Recommended!

Review by Steve Carroll