I did, and it became one of my top 5 movies ever. The concept, while simple, was utterly brilliant and superbly executed. Wow, this book is a game changer for Aron Beauregard. I feel like it’s equally as important as his seminal release The Slob, if not a tad bit more so simply for the fact that it has had more “mainstream” success and appeal. This book is an essential read, not just for horror fans but for book readers in general. Mark my words, this book is going to shoot Aron into the stratosphere more than he already is. Before wrapping up I do need to touch base on Lila Kerry. Her narration is impeccable. She blasted onto my radar with the double whammy narration of The Slob and Son Of Slob and let me tell you, she doesn’t disappoint! You could hear all of the prep she put into this role. I was impressed throughout with her portrayal of the young boys, a make or break thing that she passed with flying colors. I believe I read that she trained on that especially. splatterpunk is a genre with potential. unfortunately, there was no compelling story underneath the salacious gore of playground. the gore was decently written, but everything else was subpar.

Years ago I was going through a movie slump, when I saw the preview for a new movie during a coffee break while doing night shift, which made me sit up and go: The characters are well fleshed out, the story makes sense, but deep inside all the gore there is a commentary about parenthood and the ills of the world we live in. Psychologically speaking, this is a study in all that can be done incorrectly to a child.

What I enjoyed: I mean, just looking at the cover ought to give you a good idea of what you’re getting yourself into. You should probably avoid this one if you need any kind of Trigger Warnings. But if you like the violence Beauregard dishes down, you’ll be grinning from ear to ear over this one. The children will surprise you as your going on this vile and twisted adventure right along with them. The choices they will have to make, the choices some of them do make, and the consequences of thier actions. The familiarity of their childhood is captured really well. The soft hearted, the hard hearted, the shy and meek, the conformed and the broken. I loved them all and was routing for them no matter their character, after all they are just kids. Geraldine and Fuchs are character's that are completely evil and unlikable, disgusting in all their enjoyment they have in living out their dream of watching the suffering of the children. There is a reason Geraldine is doing what she is, and it is somewhat sad, but clearly not justifiable. And now for the gore and violence. I will say that the book isn't nearly as brutal as I expected going into it. The hardest part for me to read, gore wise, is at the very beginning and involves a slide and zero deaths. Once the bodycount begins, I found that the emotional distress hit me harder than the physical violence, and while the kills are plenty visceral, they aren't so hardcore that they swerve into goofy territory. I honestly found myself so caught up in the story that while the deaths resonated, I couldn't wait to see what was coming next.

Three low-income families have been given a handsome retainer to join Geraldine Borden for a day at her cliffside estate. All the parents must do to collect the rest of their money is allow their children to test out the revolutionary playground equipment Geraldine has been working on for decades. But there's a reason the structures in the bowels of her gothic castle have taken so long to develop—they were never meant to see the light of day. The narrator hired for the novel was honestly the highlight. Likewise the children in the book are written pretty accurately to their ages. I think those two things are about all the positive things I can say about it though. Our perspective matches that of shy Nora ( Maya Vanderbeque), a seven-year-old struggling to acclimate to her new environment of extreme sensorial stimulation and over-socializing. As she slowly tries to make friends, she notices her brother Abel ( Günter Duret), a few grades above her, suffer violent harassment from older boys. He doesn’t defend himself, nor does he want to inform their father of the ongoing, severely dangerous, mistreatment. Playground is a very terrifying and uncomfortable thriller that will make even the most hardened horror fan tremble, according to one critic. It was a relentless nightmare of a book that left me gasping for oxygen. The conclusion fit in well with my interpretation of the story and was satisfying overall. Beauregard effectively depicts the pain that Geraldine’s acts caused and how it affected the novel’s many characters.But then I got older. More mature. I started to need more from my gore. I started to crave emotional depth. But on occasion, I can still dive facefirst into a bloodbath so shallow that you could stand in a puddle of it and not even stain your shoes. That's what I assumed I was getting in this literary adventure.

At the heart of this story, one can't help but develop a connection and just feel every gut wrenching punch as each child must make their choices. When a band of dysfunctional children is suddenly thrust into a diabolical realm of violence, they must grow up instantly to have a chance at survival. Will they find a way to put their differences aside, or be swallowed up by the insidious architecture all around them? Nora’s strong sense of justice, still righteous given her inexperience with the unfairness of existence, prevents her from comprehending Abel’s desperation to fit, to not give into what would be perceived a weakness. But she, evidently, isn’t immune to that desire to belong, and when an invitation to a classmate’s birthday party is maliciously revoked, her reaction paints this event as a tragedy. In the context of what matters to her, it most certainly is.ONCE IN A LIFETIME Three low-income families have been given a handsome retainer to join Geraldine Borden for a day at her cliffside estate. All the parents must do to collect the rest of their money is allow their children to test out the revolutionary playground equipment Geraldine has been working on for decades. But there’s a reason the structures in the bowels of her gothic castle have taken so long to develop—they were never meant to see the light of day. Aron Beauregard is now well recognised as a major force in the subgenres of Extreme Horror and Splatterpunk. His works are eagerly awaited by his rapidly expanding fan base, and he has been receiving recognition in the form of Splatterpunk Award nominations and wins.