Etchison, Dennis, ed. (1991a). Masters of Darkness III. New York City: Tor Books. ISBN 978-0-8125-1766-8. In 1845, in Banfield, Massachusetts, Mary Elnor, a woman who has been accused of witchcraft, is hanged from a tree and set on fire. Before she dies, however, her ash is kept in a kern doll, indicating the doll has been possessed by Mary's spirit. Potter, Adam Lee (5 September 2012). "James Herbert: My new thriller about Princess Diana's secret son". Daily Express . Retrieved 1 September 2017. Herbert is also good at characterisation and at 'mise en-scene'. Perhaps the flawed 'hero' Gerry Fenn runs according to expectation as an ambitious journalist but the creation of the two central priests - Father Hagan and Monsignor Delgard - is masterful. It certainly was a good enough suspense story, though quite a drag to read at times. The overly descriptive paragraphs were at first a wonder (to someone like me who can't write descriptions that well), then ultimately became a bore and a hindrance as they seemed to slow down the story's progress. I understand the need to instill a gloomy setting, thus the numerous references to gray, bleak afternoons and cold, bitter winds, but sometimes it just feels a little over the top. (SPOILER) I liked the story behind the nun's revenge, though the actual revenge itself was quite a let-down regardless if it was completed or not. The main character was oookay, but I think the effort to make him appear agnostic just contradicted the whole thing (can't explain properly).

a b Fleming, Mike Jr. (December 3, 2018). "Evan Spiliotopoulos and Sam Raimi Team On James Herbert Novel 'Shrine' at Screen Gems". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved September 19, 2019. N'Duka, Amanda (February 27, 2020). " 'Shrine': Screen Gems Horror Pic Adds Cary Elwes, Katie Aselton & More". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved February 29, 2020. Shrine is a 1983 horror novel by English writer James Herbert, exploring themes of religious ecstasy, mass hysteria, demonic possession, faith healing and Catholicism. That’s not to say the “creature” elements are bad. In design, and movement, it is creepy as hell, but far too often relegated to inexplicable jump scares. The film seems unwilling to decide whether its antagonist is a masterful manipulator, skilfully whispering temptations to the faithful and bending them to its will, or a squealing, screaming, gesticulating monster.Cabell, Craig (2003). James Herbert: Devil in the Dark. United Kingdom: John Blake Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84358-059-1. What did the girl see? The mistery is just begining. When Fenn takes the girl to the church, he learn from the local priest that the girl wouldn't be able to say anything since she is deaf and also unable to speak. Maybe it was just his imagination, afterall he is probably tired and he evidently smell of alcohol. But the girl talks again and so it begins what looks like a miracle. There are obviously alot of religious themes and undertones here, which is fresh off the exorcist and the omen and all the other 70s and 80s religion horror stories. I enjoyed the character of Fenn and Father Hagan and Delcarde. Fenn isn't religious and is rationale and logical and the two religious characters , while devout catholics, know that things aren't right here and go against their brethren hierarchy in some ways. It adds some depth to their characters.

There is an interesting cast of characters who all have their own involvement with what is happening - Fenn the journalist who is covering the story, Father Hagan the local priest who is overwhelmed by the sudden attention his church is receiving, a couple of local business owners who see opportunities to make money from the new tourists, to mention just a few.The basic plot of James Herbert's "Shrine" is far from ground-breakingly original. However, that isn’t necessarily a negative aspect. Some of the most spectacular and haunting novels have come from reworking, redesigning and reinventing classic ideas. In this sense, we’re ultimately talking about a plot pretty much involving demonic possession and a mass misguided belief and far little else. However, what Herbert does, is really ramp-up the tension that lurks behind the saintly façade of the protagonist, making the whole crux of the somewhat simplistic tale, far more focused on the escalating tension that will surely be vented in a dramatically explosive revelation. On the other hand, there's one point in which this book didn't age well, like the cringeworthy descriptions of some disabled people (e.g. "death and dumb") and the action scenes were a little dragged out.

As I sat in the cinema watching The Unholy, a feeling of dread slowly crept over me. Not an unexpected emotion to experience while watching a movie produced by horror maestros Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, but unfortunately, it wasn’t due to any of the horrors on screen. Instead, it was due to the dawning realisation that there was a great story to be told here, but this definitely wasn’t it. An interesting part of Herbert's canon in which an apparent Marion vision near a Catholic church gradually unravels as it becomes clear that something deeply sinister is hiding behind the veneer of holiness. The book plays nicely between the innocence of the little girl who has visions and the brutal violence that whirs around the edges, gradually overwhelming her.Fleming, Mike Jr. (3 December 2018). "Evan Spiliotopoulos and Sam Raimi Team On James Herbert Novel 'Shrine' at Screen Gems". Deadline . Retrieved 5 May 2019. Jones, Stephen, ed. (1992). James Herbert: By Horror Haunted. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-450-53810-0. From the age of 16, Herbert attended Hornsey College of Art, where he spent four years studying graphic design, print and photography. He worked as a paste-up artist and a typographer at one advertising agency, and then became art director and subsequently group head at Charles Barker Advertising.

The Unholy falls victim to this in what I like to call “ The Nun Effect.” In the 2018 Spin off of The Conjuring, the titular spectre is able to throw a character into an already settled grave, with metres of settled earth above them, indistinguishable from the many surrounding ancient graves. This moment transformed the film from an enjoyable horror movie to a (no less enjoyable) roller coaster ride for me. What could the human characters do in the face of such power? That The Nun didn’t do anything on a similar scale for the rest of the movie spoke to how perhaps even the filmmakers realised they had overplayed their hand and broken any verisimilitude of their story. She Moves In Mysterious Ways Spark, Alasdair (1993). "Horrible Writing: the Early Fiction of James Herbert". In Bloom, Clive (ed.). Creepers: British Horror & Fantasy in the Twentieth Century. London: Pluto Press. pp.147–160. ISBN 9780745306650. Then there is the horror which is not laid on with a trowel but builds up on a premise of ancient supernatural evil working its way into the world through innocent faith even if the ending becomes something that just has to end a little absurdly because there is nowhere else for it to go. The actual reason for Alice having these "gifts" and the church property and and old oak tree is told through a journal and it was "ok" but I do wish they went into this alil more and provided more insight as to why Elnor had this power and how she came to be. Miracles or evil entity faking the miraculous cures....Great pace and buildup.

N'Duka, Amanda (27 February 2020). " 'Shrine': Screen Gems Horror Pic Adds Cary Elwes, Katie Aselton & More". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved 29 February 2020. With his next novel, Lair (1979), Herbert regaled readers with the return of the rats, and he completed the trilogy with Domain (1984), set in a future where rats are now dominant following a nuclear war that has devastated civilisation. Herbert's The City (1994), a graphic novel illustrated by Ian Miller, was set in the same post-apocalypse world in which only a handful of people have survived. With The Magic Cottage (1986), Herbert created one of his best novels, an unconventional haunted house yarn that is part fairytale, part ghost story. Haunted (1988), originally plotted as a BBC TV movie, is also a ghost story, the first of three novels featuring David Ash, a sceptical parapsychologist and psychic investigator who returned in The Ghosts of Sleath (1994) and Ash (2012).