Patrick Barb‘s entry in the Killer VHS series of books from Shortwave Publishing, Night of the Witch-Hunter, is a trip down memory lane with an atmosphere thick with superstition, witchcraft and supernatural horror.
It’s 1999 and Fallen Church, New Hampshire is ready for Y2K. But they never planned for Goodman Pryce.
As the new millennium approaches, outcast teen Josey’s school video project for history class inadvertently leads to the resurrection of Pryce, a demonic witch-hunter from the 1600s. As he unleashes puritanical Hell on Earth in her small New England town, Josey must rely on her best friend, an ancestor accused of witchcraft, and the mystical powers inside herself to put an end to the Night of the Witch-Hunter once and for all.
Patrick Barb wonderfully captures the essence of the late 1990s while intertwining it with a spine-chilling horror story that feels both familiar and yet fresh. Barb incorporates elements from the era past that transported me back in time to those wonderful–well not so much for our protagonists–times when we popped popcorn and tossed in a VHS on a Friday night. The author’s entry in the Killer VHS series sets off an exhilarating race against time filled with tension and unexpected twists.
Night of the Witch-Hunter somehow scratches the itch of many different 1990s feelings for me. Barb includes fish out of water moments, a sort of time travel-esque tale, references to 1990s items–without feeling forced or overbearing, while simultaneously giving us a story with some truly frightening moments of horror. This mixture is where this novella succeeds at great lengths.
While the Killer VHS series has been able to weave the VHS component into horror stories to give them all this one distinctive connective tissue, I feel Night of the Witch-Hunter does it in a different way. The VHS component is only touched on, but the feeling Barb was able to give me with the way he tells his story was something none of the other books in the series have made me feel. The vibes of vintage horror VHS tapes as well as an overall feeling of the late 1990s early 2000s in general was something unique. This book 100% belongs, and feels like it belongs, in the series released by Shortwave.
It would be a shame if I didn’t mention the stunning cover of Night of the Witch-Hunter, excellently designed–per usual–by Shortwave founder Alan Lastufka. These Killer VHS books capture my attention with each and every release and look so wonderful on my shelf. Night of the Witch-Hunter is especially beautiful with the illustrations by Marc Vueltich, capturing the Witch-Hunter perfectly.
Night of the Witch-Hunter is an excellent addition to the Killer VHS series. Patrick Barb has crafted a novella that is more than merely another entry within the horror genre, but an homage to the late 1990s. The overall vibe and feel of Night of the Witch-Hunter delivers thrills and will be one that you won’t want to put down.
Killer VHS: Night of the Witch-Hunter hits bookstores on March 18, 2025 from Shortwave Publishing.
