Scream All Night

Starred review from May 21, 2018
When Dario Heywood, 17, left Moldovia Studios at age 12, he never intended to return. After starring in the cult classic Zombie Children of the Harvest Moon and suffering emotional and physical abuse from his father, Lucien—the infamous auteur of all of the studio’s B-horror creature features—Dario was legally emancipated. Lured back by his brother, Oren, and his first love, Haley, to attend Lucien’s funeral, Dario must contend with his personal demons and a desire to keep the studio solvent. Debut author Milman’s darkly comedic coming-of-age story seamlessly combines monsters—both real and imagined—with difficult subjects such as neglect, abandonment, and psychosis. Moldovia Studios is a refuge for those who don’t quite fit in anywhere else, and the paradox of it being a safe harbor while simultaneously bringing to life the things of nightmares works on an emotional and a psychological level. Dario’s journey, though more extreme than most, is relatable, but the story’s biggest lesson of all is that it is possible to go home again. Ages 14–up. Agent: Victoria Marini, Irene Goodman Agency.

April 1, 2018

Gr 10 Up-Dario's dad, Lucien, is a tyrannical, nonagenarian filmmaker with a cult following and a vast oeuvre of B-list horror flicks, all produced at an isolated castlelike complex called Moldavia Studios. Dario, a former child actor in his father's films, is a self-emancipated orphan who broke from Moldavia to escape Lucien's abusive, dictatorial directing, intending to never return. But when Lucien ceremoniously buries himself alive, Dario inherits the financially and morally troubled studio. Dario has to decide how to handle the cast, the crew, and his family legacy. The appeal of the campy, creepy, and highly original setting may charm some readers. But others will be put off by an unconvincing romance and by the ineffective and occasionally sexist humor. Furthermore, the plot stalls under Dario's repetitive confrontations with his older brother-a character whose extreme eccentricity will strain the credulity of most readers. Psilocybin, marijuana, and swearing that is casual to the point of sloppiness makes this appropriate for older teens. VERDICT A strictly additional purchase.-Blake Holman, St. Joseph County Public Library, IN

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2018
A legally emancipated teen confronts derelict family dynamics, hoping for closure from a terrible childhood at a B-movie studio: Cue zombies and killer cauliflower. Some kids come from broken homes. Seventeen-year-old Dario Heyward comes from Moldavia, a broken horror film studio. The mere thought of his peculiar 30-something brother, institutionalized mother, and abusive director father gives him hives. Despite this dermal aversion, he returns home for the live (yes, live) burial of 91-year-old dad. When the will names Dario as studio chief, he is forced to consider delaying Harvard while he evaluates his family legacy. Heavy-handed in its dark flourishes, Dario's first-person narrative avoids being lachrymose and lands somewhere both self-aware of the surrounding silliness and respectful in matters of mental illness and abuse. Moldavia is resplendent with wonderfully wacky details, characters and settings, but the gothic gets rococo-heavy with the weight of so many references to both real and imagined films and know-it-all filmmaking insights. Most characters are presumed white, but there is a diversity in age and socio-economic status. The number of Dario's conflicts gets clunky: past demons, long-lost mother, loss of innocence, dealing with an abuser, fearing mental illness, sibling rivalry, finding one's footing in the family business, academic aspirations, and burgeoning love.A decent descent into the mad world of an imagined film studio with plenty of gory details to delight creature-feature and horror movie buffs. (Fiction. 13-17)

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June 1, 2018
Grades 9-12 Dario Hayward did his best to escape a hellish childhood by gaining emancipation from his family and leaving home at a young age. Unfortunately, Moldavia's tentacles have a far reach, and as Dario's eighteenth birthday approaches, he's called back to the family castle and horror-movie studio for his father's funeral. Though floundering, Moldavia has a cult following for its B horror films, such as Dial W for Witchcraft, and Dario finds himself its new studio director with a six-month deadline to save the company. His return to the estate dredges up painful memories, but also reanimates a budding romance with Hayley and a strained relationship with his eccentric older brother. As Dario scrambles to pull together a money-making zombie flick, he comes to better understand his family and the direction his future should take. Debut author Milman loads his coming-of-age comedy with classic horror references in a way that will delight genre fans without alienating outsiders. Clever writing is anchored by a sensitive emotional core, giving Dario's personal journey a relatable quality, despite its delectably bizarre setting.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)