When I first picked up this book
I was a bit wary of reading it. I was
worried that it would read a little like Bram Stoker’s The Lair of the White Worm, an awful piece of work that I am
definitely not a fan of. Stuck for
something to read the other day I decided to give The House on the Borderland a go – and I couldn't put it down!
Published in 1908 it has
obviously served as inspiration to H P Lovecraft and the like and if I had read
this horror/sci-fi at the time of its publication I would have been terrified; as it was I was excited by it although the long sci-fi passages midway did
serve to bore me a little.
The story is told by way of a
manuscript which is found by two young men who are out camping and exploring in
the English countryside. They come upon
a strange garden and ruins of an isolated house, and are unnerved by the
unusual sounds in the area. When they
return to their camp they begin to read through the manuscript …… and as I was
reading it, two images came to mind – the ending to the Italian horror movie The Beyond:
and scenes
from the original movie The Time Machine:
It turns out that the original house was
inextricably linked to another house beyond known space and time, located on an
unending plain, and watched over by ancient evil beings. The attacks on this house by swine like
humanoids are also experienced on the earthbound house, which would have been a
very original idea at the time. During a
respite from the attacks the despairing writer of the manuscript, along with his
trusty dog Pepper, investigates a large pit in the garden and a cavernous cellar
under the house, from which strange chuckling noises are heard......
Many of H P Lovecraft’s stories
are written in the same vein as this one, with the story being told by the
protagonist who is, in the last pages of the novel, frantically scratching away
pen to paper telling us the story whilst the monster is at the door trying to
break in! But despite this device it really is quite a gripping tale - if just
a little dated now.
Maxine
