Neon Phantoms: A Tale of Movie Obsession

By Sean McCloy

"An exciting debut that will provide hours of entertainment for both aspiring film buffs and cinematic masters." - Kirkus Reviews "Very entertaining and erudite!" - director Alex Cox (Repo Man, Sid and Nancy). Hal Underwood is the manager of a video store who has watched too many movies. When he discovers a VHS copy of a forgotten horror film from the 1970s called 'The Jack-o-Lantern Man', he feels compelled to watch the movie repeatedly in the days that follow. He also researches the short-lived career of the Italian director of the film, Giacomo Nero. As Hal learns more about the movie, he experiences a vivid, recurring dream. In the dream, he is transported to an empty cinema auditorium where unidentified screams can be heard coming from somewhere beyond the EXIT sign. Hal struggles to escape the influence of 'The Jack-o-Lantern Man', but when he senses the spectral presence of a character from the film entering his own reality, he fears his mind may be unravelling. And why can't he stop that line of dialogue from the film - "The moon is his aperture!" - echoing through his head? Soon, the line between reality and fantasy, between a life of dead end employment and a world that suddenly appears more cinematic, becomes hopelessly blurred for Hal... Bursting with cinematic allusions (particularly to the Italian horror movies of Mario Bava, Dario Argento and others) 'Neon Phantoms' skillfully blends a supernatural plot with elements of film history and black humour.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1482508400
• ISBN13: 9781482508406
• Release Date: September 2014
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 372 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.8" x 0.8" x 5.1"