Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Valancourt Books (2014), Edition: Illustrated, 230 pages
Description
"The finest writer of paperback originals in America." - Stephen King "Surely one of the most terrifying novels ever written." - Poppy Z. Brite "Beyond any trace of doubt, one of the best writers of horror in this or any other country." - Peter Straub "Readers of weak constitution should beware " - Publishers Weekly "McDowell has a flair for the gruesome." - Washington Post After a bizarre and disturbing incident at the funeral of matriarch Marian Savage, the McCray and Savage families look forward to a restful and relaxing summer at Beldame, on Alabama's Gulf Coast, where three Victorian houses loom over the shimmering beach. Two of the houses are habitable, while the third is slowly and mysteriously being buried beneath an enormous dune of blindingly white sand. But though long uninhabited, the third house is not empty. Inside, something deadly lies in wait. Something that has terrified Dauphin Savage and Luker McCray since they were boys and which still haunts their nightmares. Something horrific that may be responsible for several terrible and unexplained deaths years earlier - and is now ready to kill again . . . A haunted house story unlike any other, Michael McDowell's The Elementals (1981) was one of the finest novels to come out of the horror publishing explosion of the 1970s and '80s. Though best known for his screenplays for Tim Burton's Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas, McDowell is now being rediscovered as one of the best modern horror writers and a master of Southern Gothic literature. This edition of McDowell's masterpiece of terror features a new introduction by award-winning horror author Michael Rowe. McDowell's first novel, the grisly and darkly comic The Amulet (1979), is also available from Valancourt Books.… (more)
Media reviews
The tone McDowell takes for The Elementals is, at first glance, anachronistically slow and courtly for its time-period, relying on creepy misdirection and a sort of black comedy of manners rather than short, sharp shocks for its overall impact. As the book continues, however, its atmosphere builds
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to a close, hot pitch of febrile discomfort; McDowell never sets a foot wrong, choosing each word with nasty care and maintaining a cruel distance from his protagonists throughout, which allows them to cocoon themselves within a self-defeating shell of disbelief and indifference, then watches the consequences of their inaction evolve without comment, let alone sympathy. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member sturlington
On an isolated spit of land on the Gulf of Mexico, cut off from the mainland at high tide, three identical Victorian mansions sit. Two families vacation there in the stultifying hot Alabama summers. The third house is being subsumed by a gigantic sand dune, and something else altogether resides
This book was first published as an original mass-market paperback during the heyday of paperback horror, the late 1970s and early 1980s. The author--probably better known as a screenwriter of such films as Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas--is certainly a cut better than a lot of the horror writers who flooded the market at that time, riding on the coat tails of Stephen King's success. The setting here is both unusual and incredibly atmospheric, a brilliant contradiction of gothic mansions and oppressive heat--the steadily encroaching sand is unexpectedly unnerving. The build-up of the story is suspenseful and disturbing, only marred by the an overreliance on treacly thick Southern accents and the use of the cliched "magical" black character, Odessa, who instinctively understands the supernatural and who is gratingly referred to as the "black woman." As in a lot of horror, though, the promising story falls apart at the end, relying on unnecessary gross-outs and random deaths than on real terror. (All horror writers could learn quite a bit from studying Shirley Jackson.) However, the unusual and memorable setting and the tense build-up are more than enough to make this novel stand out.
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there.This book was first published as an original mass-market paperback during the heyday of paperback horror, the late 1970s and early 1980s. The author--probably better known as a screenwriter of such films as Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas--is certainly a cut better than a lot of the horror writers who flooded the market at that time, riding on the coat tails of Stephen King's success. The setting here is both unusual and incredibly atmospheric, a brilliant contradiction of gothic mansions and oppressive heat--the steadily encroaching sand is unexpectedly unnerving. The build-up of the story is suspenseful and disturbing, only marred by the an overreliance on treacly thick Southern accents and the use of the cliched "magical" black character, Odessa, who instinctively understands the supernatural and who is gratingly referred to as the "black woman." As in a lot of horror, though, the promising story falls apart at the end, relying on unnecessary gross-outs and random deaths than on real terror. (All horror writers could learn quite a bit from studying Shirley Jackson.) However, the unusual and memorable setting and the tense build-up are more than enough to make this novel stand out.
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LibraryThing member Unkletom
Alabama native and horror writer Michael McDowell knew Southern Gothic. This creepy masterpiece from the golden age of horror blends the indolence of a steamy southern summer with the horror of unknown things that lurk on the fringes of the imagination. The setting, three Victorian mansions set on
I want to thank the folks at the Literary Darkness group in Goodreads for introducing me to this stellar author. It's a shame that he was taken from us too soon.
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a tiny island on Alabama's gulf coast is an ideal setting for a tale that will leave you chilled even in the hot summer sun.I want to thank the folks at the Literary Darkness group in Goodreads for introducing me to this stellar author. It's a shame that he was taken from us too soon.
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LibraryThing member mrgan
It’s interesting how obvious it is that this is McDowell’s first book. It’s got a lot of what makes his later work great—an ear for casual dialog, a great sense of family dynamics—but it’s also loaded with needless nonsense like cartoonishly potty-mouthed characters and a supernatural
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mythology so vague and confusing, it’s bound to make you squint rather than shiver. Show Less
LibraryThing member sprainedbrain
Not as scary as I had expected, but it did have some creepy parts. I enjoyed the writing style and absolutely loved Luker and India... and I liked the other characters just fine, too. Easy to read, entertaining horror that's not overly disgusting.
LibraryThing member caanderson
Love the story of the two families and the scary house that binds them to the land. Suspenseful and creepy, loved it!
LibraryThing member Paul-the-well-read
I read this as a buddy read with my good friend Daniel. It is from a genre I do not usually select because the entire genre is dominated by superficial stories and poor writing atheism book, however, is well written and tells an engaging story. From its opening pages, I was hooked. The creepy
There were three story elements that the author introduced but did not weave into the story to give them meaning (I won’t give specifics so as not to have to label them as spoilers), but these three elements did not subtract from the effectiveness of what the author did include.
I originally gave it 5 stars, but the three elements which in the end did not matter caused me to refine my judgment.
Overall,the book was chilling enough to keep a skeptic like me interested and I am very happy my buddy suggested it.
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elements of the story were genuinely creepy, the characters seemed genuine, the supernatural elements fit within the storyline and did not have the kind of “blood and gore” just for the sake of blood and gore that so many novels within this genre so regularly have. There were three story elements that the author introduced but did not weave into the story to give them meaning (I won’t give specifics so as not to have to label them as spoilers), but these three elements did not subtract from the effectiveness of what the author did include.
I originally gave it 5 stars, but the three elements which in the end did not matter caused me to refine my judgment.
Overall,the book was chilling enough to keep a skeptic like me interested and I am very happy my buddy suggested it.
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LibraryThing member EmpressReece
Bedlam at Beldame -4.5 stars...
Beldame - the home of three secluded houses on the Alabama coast and the summer retreat of the dysfunctional Savage and McCray families.
After the death of the matriarch Marian Savage, the families retreat to Beldame for a little peace and relaxation but what they
I wasn't sure what to expect with this book but I've always had a soft spot for gothic fiction so I was looking forward to delving into it. It's also set in my current home state of Alabama so I was really curious to see how McDowell portrayed the state and it's residents. : ) Let me tell you, he did not dissapoint! Really what I enjoyed most about the book, was how realistic the character's personalities and the family dynamics came across in the story. He did a fantastic job of recreating a dysfunctional Southern family. My two favorite characters though were the only two family members that lived outside the State of Alabama; Luker McCray and his precocious 13 year old daughter, India. They reside in New York City and there was never a dull moment between the two. Some of the dialogue between them and the family in general was just hilarious! : )
The only reason I didn't rate it 5 stars is because the author never gave us a reason for the evil presence existing in the third house in the first place or a motive for its intentions to harm the family. Great story though otherwise; definitely recommend to all the Southern gothic fans out there.
Beldame - the home of three secluded houses on the Alabama coast and the summer retreat of the dysfunctional Savage and McCray families.
After the death of the matriarch Marian Savage, the families retreat to Beldame for a little peace and relaxation but what they
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get instead is far from it. The third house which has sat empty for years and has always had a sinister aura to it has other plans for the family. Can they root out the evil, manifested as sand, in the house before the evil and sand overtakes them, literally?I wasn't sure what to expect with this book but I've always had a soft spot for gothic fiction so I was looking forward to delving into it. It's also set in my current home state of Alabama so I was really curious to see how McDowell portrayed the state and it's residents. : ) Let me tell you, he did not dissapoint! Really what I enjoyed most about the book, was how realistic the character's personalities and the family dynamics came across in the story. He did a fantastic job of recreating a dysfunctional Southern family. My two favorite characters though were the only two family members that lived outside the State of Alabama; Luker McCray and his precocious 13 year old daughter, India. They reside in New York City and there was never a dull moment between the two. Some of the dialogue between them and the family in general was just hilarious! : )
The only reason I didn't rate it 5 stars is because the author never gave us a reason for the evil presence existing in the third house in the first place or a motive for its intentions to harm the family. Great story though otherwise; definitely recommend to all the Southern gothic fans out there.
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LibraryThing member Jadedog13
I love the way the author introduces the characters and gradually gets you invested in them. He brings you into their world and the little quirks in their relationships. Then the supernatural gradually creeps up on you and bam!
LibraryThing member Bookmarque
Slow moving and oddly not scary. Creepy and a bit gross in spots. The family relations are all strange and canted. I wanted more resolution though - where the elementals came from, what they were doing...why there, why that family? Too many loose ends.
LibraryThing member Kristelh
This book was written in 1981 and is sent on the gulf coast of Alabama. It involves a family who have summer Victorian homes on the beach, two are occupied by family, the third is empty and is being engulfed by sand. This is a Southern family who have money. It starts out with a funeral that is
Is this a ghost story, not really. But there is a saying, "Savage mothers eat their children up!"
Characters;
Marian Savage -- the deceased mother
Dauphin Savage son of Marian and his wife Leigh
McCrays (Leigh's fmaily) - mother Big Barbara, brother Luker, and his 13-year-old daughter India -Odessa Red, black, employed servant
The family goes down to the homes on the coast to get away, it is hot and isolated. This is considered horror and specifically Gothic horror with a whole lot of surreal. Fits the "evil house" category. The author, Michael McDowell (1950-1999) is perhaps best-known for writing the screenplays for Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas!
Could have had more development of what the Elementals were. I listened to the audio of this one.
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sparsely attended and concluded by a son stabbing the corpse (his mother) with a knife and we come to find out this is tradition that started to assure that the dead are truly dead. Is this a ghost story, not really. But there is a saying, "Savage mothers eat their children up!"
Characters;
Marian Savage -- the deceased mother
Dauphin Savage son of Marian and his wife Leigh
McCrays (Leigh's fmaily) - mother Big Barbara, brother Luker, and his 13-year-old daughter India -Odessa Red, black, employed servant
The family goes down to the homes on the coast to get away, it is hot and isolated. This is considered horror and specifically Gothic horror with a whole lot of surreal. Fits the "evil house" category. The author, Michael McDowell (1950-1999) is perhaps best-known for writing the screenplays for Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas!
Could have had more development of what the Elementals were. I listened to the audio of this one.
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LibraryThing member WingedWolf
Well-written, tremendously creepy--one of the best 'ghost stories' of all time.
LibraryThing member Charrlygirl
This book was a total pleasure, from start to finish. To enhance that pleasure, I read it with a group of horror lovers over at Goodreads and we had a ball!
Written back in the 80's a lot of my fellow book loving friends have recommended THE ELEMENTALS to me over the last few years. Problem was it
Anyway, this book ROCKED. A southern family vacations at their family's spit of land in southern Alabama, which they call Beldame. There are three houses, but only two families. Something is wrong with that third house and they all feel it.
The characters are crazy and memorable. Big Barbara-southern matriarch and drunk. India-a young girl from NYC trying to reconcile herself to a beach home in the south. Her father, Luker, with whom she has a very strange relationship. These are just a few of the fascinating characters that Mr. McDowell brings alive. He also brings Beldame alive with his descriptions of life on the gulf, the sweltering heat, the shifting dunes. I felt like I was there.
Another thing that I, (and a few others reading the book with me), enjoyed was the way the author would write a smooth paragraph where everything is cool and then WHAM: one chilling sentence that rocked the world of the reader. Over and over this technique was employed and I loved it. I truly loved it.
That's all I'm going to say about the plot. This book comes with an intro from Michael Rowe, author of the most excellent book, Enter, Night. I avoided reading the intro until I had finished the book, because sometimes the intro gives a lot away. There is also a small section about the author in which I discovered that Michael McDowell helped to write the screenplay for Beetlejuice. That didn't surprise me because the characters in this book came alive to me just like the characters in Beetlejuice did.
This is a most excellent example of atmospheric, literary 80's horror and I cannot recommend it enough. I originally gave this 4 stars, but after thinking about it overnight, I cannot think of one thing that the author could have done better. So five stars it is for THE ELEMENTALS. Read it!
Written back in the 80's a lot of my fellow book loving friends have recommended THE ELEMENTALS to me over the last few years. Problem was it
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was out of print and I couldn't even find 1 copy of anything he's written in the various used book stores in which I shop. Then, Valancourt Books came to the rescue! Valancourt is dedicated to bringing back some of these out of print books and it's impossible for me to say how on board with that I am. Anyway, this book ROCKED. A southern family vacations at their family's spit of land in southern Alabama, which they call Beldame. There are three houses, but only two families. Something is wrong with that third house and they all feel it.
The characters are crazy and memorable. Big Barbara-southern matriarch and drunk. India-a young girl from NYC trying to reconcile herself to a beach home in the south. Her father, Luker, with whom she has a very strange relationship. These are just a few of the fascinating characters that Mr. McDowell brings alive. He also brings Beldame alive with his descriptions of life on the gulf, the sweltering heat, the shifting dunes. I felt like I was there.
Another thing that I, (and a few others reading the book with me), enjoyed was the way the author would write a smooth paragraph where everything is cool and then WHAM: one chilling sentence that rocked the world of the reader. Over and over this technique was employed and I loved it. I truly loved it.
That's all I'm going to say about the plot. This book comes with an intro from Michael Rowe, author of the most excellent book, Enter, Night. I avoided reading the intro until I had finished the book, because sometimes the intro gives a lot away. There is also a small section about the author in which I discovered that Michael McDowell helped to write the screenplay for Beetlejuice. That didn't surprise me because the characters in this book came alive to me just like the characters in Beetlejuice did.
This is a most excellent example of atmospheric, literary 80's horror and I cannot recommend it enough. I originally gave this 4 stars, but after thinking about it overnight, I cannot think of one thing that the author could have done better. So five stars it is for THE ELEMENTALS. Read it!
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LibraryThing member Paul-the-well-read
I read this as a buddy read with my good friend Daniel. It is from a genre I do not usually select because the entire genre is dominated by superficial stories and poor writing atheism book, however, is well written and tells an engaging story. From its opening pages, I was hooked. The creepy
There were three story elements that the author introduced but did not weave into the story to give them meaning (I won’t give specifics so as not to have to label them as spoilers), but these three elements did not subtract from the effectiveness of what the author did include.
I originally gave it 5 stars, but the three elements which in the end did not matter caused me to refine my judgment.
Overall,the book was chilling enough to keep a skeptic like me interested and I am very happy my buddy suggested it.
Show More
elements of the story were genuinely creepy, the characters seemed genuine, the supernatural elements fit within the storyline and did not have the kind of “blood and gore” just for the sake of blood and gore that so many novels within this genre so regularly have. There were three story elements that the author introduced but did not weave into the story to give them meaning (I won’t give specifics so as not to have to label them as spoilers), but these three elements did not subtract from the effectiveness of what the author did include.
I originally gave it 5 stars, but the three elements which in the end did not matter caused me to refine my judgment.
Overall,the book was chilling enough to keep a skeptic like me interested and I am very happy my buddy suggested it.
Show Less
LibraryThing member David_Masumba
The natural ghost is removed from this book but is replaced with something even more powerful and more ferocious against the strange isolation of the story.
LibraryThing member John_Warner
When Marian Savage from Mobile, Alabama dies, family and friends gather at St. Jude Thaddeus to celebrate her life. All went as expected until the corpse's son buried a dagger through her mother's dead heart. Then, this Southern Gothic novel became weird!
The Savages and the McCrays have been
One reviewer referred to Michael McDowell as the "master of place." I could not agree more. When one envisions a Gothic novel, the trite phrase, "it was a dark and stormy night" comes to mind. However, this author creates the same mood during a sweltering summer in Alabama. If you want a horror book to read this October, I would recommend this one.
The Savages and the McCrays have been
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friends for many years, especially the recently deceased and the matriarch of the McCray family, the alcoholic Big Barbara. Before her son and 13-year-old granddaughter, Luker and India return to NY, the agree to accompany the Savages to Beldame, property long owned by the Savages and McCray on an isolated spit of Mobile Bay. The property includes two grey, weather-beaten Victorian home owned by the two families and a similarly shaped abandoned house partially interred in shifting, encroaching sand. India, fascinated withe the abandoned house, borrows her father's camera to take shots of the building slowly being buried by the sand dunes. While taking the photos, she views various phantasmagoria emerging from the sand.One reviewer referred to Michael McDowell as the "master of place." I could not agree more. When one envisions a Gothic novel, the trite phrase, "it was a dark and stormy night" comes to mind. However, this author creates the same mood during a sweltering summer in Alabama. If you want a horror book to read this October, I would recommend this one.
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LibraryThing member stephanie_M
This was a very interesting, and tense-making horror novel, for me. McDowell really knows how to ratchet up the suspense, and I was pleasantly surprised by this. You are never really sure what the hell is going on, and this works very well. The characters were great, and I liked the storyline
R. C. Bray is the narrator, and he was quite good at differentiating the many characters, and keeping it all very natural sounding, and not stilted or false. His southern accents were great, also.
All in all, I would recommend this audiobook to anyone who likes horror novels, and sitting alone in the dark, trying not to be scared. I really enjoyed it.
4 stars.
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also.R. C. Bray is the narrator, and he was quite good at differentiating the many characters, and keeping it all very natural sounding, and not stilted or false. His southern accents were great, also.
All in all, I would recommend this audiobook to anyone who likes horror novels, and sitting alone in the dark, trying not to be scared. I really enjoyed it.
4 stars.
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LibraryThing member SharonMariaBidwell
I’m so pleased to have read this. I loved the setting and the characters, which create a unique atmosphere for this haunted house story. The heat portrayed makes you want to lie around doing nothing but melting and reading this book. There are some truly spooky scenes, though I found the buildup
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more sinister than the ending. Towards the end, the book feels a little rushed because of the languid though absorbing journey to get there. Indeed, I found the slower parts of the book carry the more eerie aspects, so that when the story speeds up, as a climax should, it almost diminishes the scare, leaving me feeling the novel was over too fast. Still, the curious happenings and daunting disturbances are worth spending time with. Show Less
LibraryThing member The_Literary_Jedi
A slow Southern horror novel that is more about the people than the scares. This story starts slowly, and I mean slowly. It is about two families that have known each other for decades. They are vacationing on the Gulf of Alabama together in these old Victorian homes they own and there's an
**All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
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abandoned third one that everyone swears is haunted. Things get strange for the youngest family member, India, whose first time it is there during this visit. She gets involved in the intrigue and once the creepy things start to happen, they are continuous and build upon each other until the end. The writing is superb with a special attention to ambiguity - McDowell uses it very well to keep the reader's imagination working while at other times, it's clearly spelled out. Very well written.**All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
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LibraryThing member Jannes
I had no idea of what to expect when I picked up The Elementals. I don’t even remember where or when it was recommended to me. I certainly didn’t expect maybe the finest haunted house story I’ve read since The Haunting of Hill House (which happens to be an almost perfect novel, by the
The Elementals is quintessentially a southern gothic, replacing windswept moors and foggy nights with beachfront houses, unforgiving sun, weltering heat. But there’s lies, family secrets and blood and despair a-plenty nonetheless. The characters are strong and actually engaging, though maybe not fully likable, painted in bold strokes that might take a while to get used to if you’re used to more subdued depictions.
It’s also not, in fact, a ghost story, insofar as the actual supernatural element of the story refuses traditional genre classification and will resist any attempts at taming it by giving it discernable motivation, logic or cause.Rather than frustrate, however, this only acts to increase the feeling of dread and helplessness, making it actually scary at times. In that way, The Elementals also has more in common with cosmic horror, but without the sometimes overwrought cosmology of the lovecraftian tradition.
Don’t sleep on this one, probably one of the best this year so far for me.
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way).The Elementals is quintessentially a southern gothic, replacing windswept moors and foggy nights with beachfront houses, unforgiving sun, weltering heat. But there’s lies, family secrets and blood and despair a-plenty nonetheless. The characters are strong and actually engaging, though maybe not fully likable, painted in bold strokes that might take a while to get used to if you’re used to more subdued depictions.
It’s also not, in fact, a ghost story, insofar as the actual supernatural element of the story refuses traditional genre classification and will resist any attempts at taming it by giving it discernable motivation, logic or cause.Rather than frustrate, however, this only acts to increase the feeling of dread and helplessness, making it actually scary at times. In that way, The Elementals also has more in common with cosmic horror, but without the sometimes overwrought cosmology of the lovecraftian tradition.
Don’t sleep on this one, probably one of the best this year so far for me.
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LibraryThing member goosecap
Horror—what I kinda swallow up inside of what I call personal crisis drama—can be pretty great, and apparently the written word alone can be ‘scary’, can evoke life-and-death.
This book is also great for showing an ultimately sympathetic but decidedly non-chauvinist view of the US South,
And it’s great for being quite feminist: an affectionate if non-emote-y (and non-incestuous) father-daughter friendship, and just as important, a relationship between two women of very different backgrounds that did not center around dating advice.
…. And family: scary inherited family dysfunction, and other things that no human person controls.
This book is also great for showing an ultimately sympathetic but decidedly non-chauvinist view of the US South,
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with plenty of realism and non-deceit about race and class. It also has a lot to do with the relationship between science and magic and religion, and prudent faith and prudent doubt, woven together. And it’s great for being quite feminist: an affectionate if non-emote-y (and non-incestuous) father-daughter friendship, and just as important, a relationship between two women of very different backgrounds that did not center around dating advice.
…. And family: scary inherited family dysfunction, and other things that no human person controls.
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LibraryThing member ThomasPluck
One of the scariest books I've ever read. A great haunted house tale and Southern Gothic.
LibraryThing member ottomaniac
Consistently one of my favorite horror novels. I usually re-read it once a year or so. McDowell has a flair for really unsettling imagery - if you read enough of his work, you'll find that quite a bit of it recurs in various forms - and the great Southern gothic atmosphere of a faltering family
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really shows up his talents well here. It's not perfect, but it's exactly the kind of horror I love: reality's gone wrong and, because natural laws may no longer apply, there's not a lot you can do to combat the forces around you. A great, creepy read. Show Less
LibraryThing member crabbyabbe
4.25/5 From the author who wrote the screenplay for BEETLEJUICE, McDowell died of AIDS in 1994 at the age of 49, and I mourn the fact that he wasn't able to produce more works. This book had it all. Humor? √ Mystery? √ Horror? √ Quirky characters? √ Haunted house? √ Southern Gothic? √
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The element of sand as an enemy? √ Supernatural? √ I could go on. A fast, riveting read with all the spooky “elements“ one looks for in a 1980s horror. Recommend? √! Show Less
Awards
Audie Award (Finalist — Paranormal — 2017)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1981
Physical description
230 p.; 8.5 inches
ISBN
1941147178 / 9781941147177