"Poke My Eye to Hear Me Scream" yells this fleshy recreation of the Necronomicon! With it's lipless grimace peeling back from a maw lined with rotting teeth, a nose burned back to reveal wet holes, and two hollow red and yellow eyes, this Necronomicon stares at us behind it's plastic cage.
Should we release this Book of The Dead? Should we place it amidst our collection? Do we dare take that chance or will we become yet another horrible inscription written in blood on it's many pages!
Gross.
That's pretty much the first thing anyone who sees this edition
thinks. The Book of The Dead 2 is stuffed in a paper coffin of sorts.
A thin plastic film covers and protects the book, but you can still
feel it's bumps and lumps if you run your finger across it. "Poke
My Eye to Hear Me Scream" is stuck to the plastic, in fact,
it's on the OUTSIDE of the plastic, meaning when you take off the
shrink wrap you also peel away this fantasticly cheesy demand. Personally,
I would have preferred if this sticker was somehow on the paper
box that the book sits in. Yes,
poking the books eye does make it scream! Poking the eye triggers
a short, 4-5 second scream...a man or a woman...I lean toward a
womans scream, but I can't be certain. It sounds a bit like the
screams you hear when you go into a Halloween store and there is
a toy that "screams". Not great quality, but a really
cool effect that just adds to the campiness of this set. Kinglir,
a forum regular and guest reviewer, has graciously recorded the
scream for us. Here is a link to please
your ears! Once
you remove the plastic, you can slide the Book of The Dead out of
the top of the box. Tearing off the shrink wrap releases the potent
smell of rubber. In fact, it really smells quite a bit like the
rubber masks that Halloween shops sell. Spooky! The box is a bit
tight, so be careful when removing and then replacing the book.
The book is not smooth, so it can catch a bit on the paper. It won't
damage the book, but you don't want to shove it into the paper box
and tear the box.
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Rubber. Fleshy, soft, resilient rubber. Disgusting, isn't ? A rubber face grimaces out at you. The book has a soft, resilient feel to it. Springy to the touch. The texture detail is excellent, with crooks and crannies built into the "skin". The basic rubber has many subtle shades to it, not including the deep reds for the eyes, nose, and mouth. The yellow/white color is used for both the teeth and the single blind...or seeing...eye. The back of the book is adorned with a single ear rising out of the boils and lumps. The name "T. Sullivan" is scrawled into the flesh, coming away from the corner that...well...I'm not sure what part of the body that is supposed to represent. The rubber is durable, and again, feels a lot like high-quality rubber that is present on more expensive halloween masks. If you want to freak someone out, have them shut their eyes before they see what you're making them touch...and then have them touch the book! |
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And it's skin keeps going! It wraps around to the inside of the book, going across to the back. It appears that there wasn't quite enough skin to cover up the muscle or tissue below, and this bloody mess is exposed on the inside of the both the front and back of the book. The book! 8 pages printed on thick, nice quality paper, are all adorned with monstrous drawings, evil runes, the chapter list, and all the way at the end a thank you page dedicated by Tom Sullivan to all those who helped create and work on this special edition. The drawings are really fun to look at, and hidden in the runes are names, words...and who knows what else! An interesting solution to housing the DVD comes on the last page of the book, before you flip over to the thank you page. The single DVD in the set is contained by a plastic slip-sleeve that is glued directly to the page. The DVD fits snugly, but slides in and out easily enough when tugged on. Although it's clear to allow you to see the design on the DVD, it's the only part of the set that feels a bit tacked on. It might have been nicer if this had been made of paper, or perhaps the plastic that the books is made from. No worries though, it doesn't detract from the overall quality of the set. |
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Juice's Verdict
Build
Quality: 8
This set is really built well. The rubber is nice, high quality, not prone
to damage, wear, or tear. It really conveys the sense of creepiness. The
smell alone is to make your face wrinkle up in disgust, and that's before
you sink your fingers into the soft exterior of the set itself!
Content
and Extras: 0
Hmm....the book is part of the set, which is part of the case in effect,
meaning it's not an extra, right? That's how I'm going to rate this, since
it's not something extra, and it's integrated into the set. The interesting
thing is at this price point, and given the overall feel of the set, you
don't expect anything extra.
Overall
Rating: 7
Sure,
there aren't any extras, and this set isn't huge, or really fantastic,
but it just plain works! It does an great job of, as I've mentioned before,
being gross, creepy, and funny all at the same time. If you don't own
a copy of this, it's a must buy. If you do, well, it's up to you to invest
the extra money (not all that much) to this SE.
I'm going to give it a 7 due to overall build quality and value. Now I'm off to go wash the stink of this edition off my hands. No, I'm not kidding.
Copyright © 2005 Skullface (skullface.com)
All rights reserved.