1980’s nostalgia in book form. This is the type of book you pick up to get in the mood for the Halloween season with a cup of apple cider on a dark and stormy night.

There were some stories that were a hit and some that were a miss. I feel that it happens a lot with anthologies as there are so many different voices contributing to the book.

This is definitely a book you will want to pick up when you want a good dose of short creepy stories to fill your nights.

I want to thank NetGalley, the author and publisher for the e-ARC of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are honest, my own and left voluntarily.

trigger warning
<spoiler> racism, homophobia, gore, kidnapping, mutilation, self-mutilation, mental illness, trauma, use of the slur gypsy</spoiler>

Be prepared! In these short stories, you'll meet your worst nightmares. Or, you know, what 80-ies horror movies would suggest as your worst nightmares. Only enter the cinema if you're ready for mysterious creatures, horrible things, and well-loved tropes!

The first two stories belong together, apart from that, all are standalones featuring movies in one kind or another. VHS tapes, cinema, shooting a movie - all these aspects of it are taking in to make up a red thread that's weaving through the anthology.

At first, I had fun. It was nothing literary, but it was fun and remembered me quite a bit of the Fear Street series I used to love as a teen, but then the topics chosen by the authors got more and more problematic till we arrived at a gypsy curse.
Listen, some tropes simply didn't age as well as others and racism is not cool.

But I can tell you that it's exactly as trashy as cover and blurp lead you to suspect, so if you're ready for that, you'll not be disappointed.

I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

Raise your hand if you're a sucker for cheesy B-horror/sci-fi movies. If your hand is raised, this anthology is for you. It's essentially a love letter to all those movies that are so bad you have no choice but to love them. In this anthology, you have 14 different short stories that touch upon different topics but that all have a movie theater aspect or setting to tie them together. Whether you're a fan of werewolves, bugs that burrow into your ear and take over your mind, or haunted theaters, you're bound to find something to pique your interest.

As is the case for anthologies, there are stories that fall slightly shorter than others. I don't think every story was great, but there were some definite standouts, such as "Helluloid" and "Creature Feature." This whole thing gave me such Creepshow vibes, and I really enjoyed it despite some shaky moments and would recommend to anyone who enjoys a good scare.

The stories take place in movie theaters, drive-in cinemas and the like. That gets thin real fast. I get that that's the whole point of the anthology. So I'll refrain from mentioning it again.

[Blurb goes here!]

The stories themselves feel like emotionless narrations. Let me clarify. The feel like book reports. There is gore, giant insects, ghost, all casually dropped inside the stories as if saying "You wanted scary creatures? Here you go." But gore, monsters, ghost and insects of all sizes don't make for a good horror story, you have to have suspense, the feeling of impending doom, which the stories lack.

As far as the retro "look and feel," it's there. The stories do feel like watching an old B movie from the seventies or eighties, but lack the scare factor.

When reading an horror anthology, we all expect to be scared or at least a bit shocked. This anthology didn't do it for me. Not a single one of the narratives gives depth to the characters. That makes it imposible for the reader to care for them, or to fully dive into the story. This might be because the stories feel more like flash fiction. All too short to be thoroughly enjoyed.

That's my two cents.

Thank you for the advanced copy!

I am a product of the 1980s. I was in high school in the 80s...I experienced the New Wave music...watched all of the 80s horror movies...read a lot of horror books. This anthology centers on horror stories set in movie theaters or drive ins in the 1980s. A lot of these stories felt silly rather than scary. There were several very satisfying stories that had very well drawn characters and good pacing in the plot. You will find stories about aliens, werewolves and the devil. And roaches.....oh so many roaches. If you are a true horror fan, you will probably enjoy. If you enjoy horror only in passing, probably won't enjoy this as much. I rated this as 3 stars--some stories were a 2 and some were 4-5 stars. I received an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review.

It Came From the Multipex is a pretty hype collection of horror short stories. You got your psycho serial killers, your alien monsters, the token Lovecraftian one. It's all good, and it's all here. Along with the eighties theme, each story has some connection to the movie theatre. It's not breaking any new ground (eighties homages are a dime a dozen these days), but if you're looking for some good, classic horror fun it's a decent read.

This is a creepy and enjoyable collection of stories with the theme of 80’s horror and movie theaters. It has stories with ghosts, monsters, aliens, werewolves and the like.

My favorite story has to be On the Rocks by K. Nicole Davis. It has a surprising and cool twist at the end.

I like the cool 80’s vibes and the scary stories. It’s a fantastic mix. Some stories I liked more than others but all in all, they were mostly entertaining.

Would recommend this for people wanting to relive some 80’s nostalgia and read some spooky stories.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of the book, in exchange for an honest review.

This a lovely collection of short scary stories created by talented writers from all walks of life, I will explain that the stories didn’t scare me but they certainly were fun as hell to read and binge through. The book focuses on tropes and plots that have both a mixture of 80s vibe and modern day society jams, including the added element of bugs, demons, witches, and thriller/slasher galore. I did have a good laugh with a few short stories, and some others I really was surprised with on how the ending turned out.

Overall the stories that lay within the novel are fantastic and would be the equivalent of the adult version of ‘Fear Street’ and ‘Goosebumps,’ and I mean that in a good way. While the book didn’t have immediate jumps scares or suspenseful moments, it did have some sinister trope remakes within its pages. If you’re looking for a binge-worthy horror book to casually read while it’s raining outside and you’re alone in the house, this should be the book you pick up read for the night to the monster under your bed.

4.5/5 Stars ★★★★☆

I looked the feel of this book. The intro to the book explains so much. 80's vibes are all over this book. I love it. The stories are short and fun and gross just like you would find in young adult scary books and shows at the time. I loved the 80's like illustrations and the cover was fantastic. I had a blast reading through the gross stories like ones with parasites. A fun book with a flashback feel.

This is a collection of short stories that centers around movie theaters and drive-in theaters each one of them gives you an 80s horror while some of the stories do fall short majority of them are fun to read. Like in any horror collection there are stories that I wish were a little bit longer and going to a little bit more detail some of them felt like they were cut very abruptly.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review! This book filled the void in my heart that was supposed to be filled by 2020 Halloween Horror Nights. It had some fun wild 80's horror short stories. Like any anthology book, some of the stories hit and some of them missed. However, with this one I found that there were a lot more misses than hits. I liked the aesthetic and how each chapter had a fun doodle before it. This book was harmless fun if you're in the mood to get ready for spooky season.

I was looking forward to reading this anthology of 80s themed stories, and now that I am finished and have had a few hours to reflect, there are some things that this collection does well and some things it does not do well. One of the things that I really like is that most of the stories have one setting, most of them a movie theatre, and the authors do a great job in varying their stories told in this setting. It would be easy to have 15 stories about theatre hauntings, but there are only a few, and those few are really good ones. Many of these stories involve many different themes, from alien invasions to murders to crime cover ups, the variety kept me interested in the collection. I thought the art was very well done, and I have thought about getting a physical copy of this so that I could do the flipbook animation. One of the things that I did not like was that there was only one story that involved the multiplex, and this was in a story where they use the multiplex as a prop instead of a setting (where the kids saw a movie at the multiplex and did not come out the same.) The rest of the stories were set in old, one screen theatres and drive-ins. I know that it makes for great, and easier stories, but the idea of many of these stories being set in the 80s or being inspired by the 80s just does not come across very well. These stories seem to be more inspired by the drive-in movies from the 60s and 70s than the mall culture of the 80s.

This is not to say that the collection does not have some highlights. I really enjoyed the first two stories, “Alien Parasites from Outer Space” by Warren Hammond and “Return of the Alien Parasites from Outer Space” by Angie Hodapp, a alien story with a legitimate sequel as the next story. I have not seen this very often in anthologies, and the stories were fun so I was fully engaged in the plot with both of these stories. I did not know what I thought about Keith Ferrell’s story, “The Cronenberg Concerto” while I was reading it because it is written in a more passive, reflective way, but in hindsight, I think about this story more than most of the others. This is a quiet, body horror story, and it is more interesting in concept than it initially appears. The only story that involves a Multiplex, "The Devil's Reel" by Sean Eads and Joshua Viola is a great Satanic Panic story, which seems to capture the spirit that this collection felt like it was trying to gear toward. There are a few other pretty good stories, particularly Stephen Graham Jones and Steve Rasnic Tem, but there are not many that really stick out and make me think I’ll remember much about this anthology in six months. They are good stories, but not memorable. I know how hard it is to work on these types of anthologies, and if anyone wants to read it, I would not discourage it, but this is a soft recommendation from me.

I received this as an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What a fun read! This books so reminded me of the horror books I read in my younger days. It hooked me from the beginning.
I recommend this!

Loved the 80s style to this book. I really liked all the stories and definitely want to add it to my collection.

First, I will say that while I enjoy certain types of horror, I am not a fan of gore or body horror. '80s horror/slasher cinema wasn't for me. That being said, I did enjoy the stories in this collection. The gore/body horror aspect was within acceptable limits (i.e. I didn't run screaming into the night!) What at first looks like a serial killer is anything but, cultists hide in plain sight (and some of them are jerks), and, whatever you do, don't be late! A nice mixed bag of writers, some familiar and some new, Good triumphs and Evil is vanquished!....Well, not always. For someone looking for short bites of horror, this book will fill the bill. You don't have to an '80s kid to enjoy this collection!

Some of these stories hit better than others for me, as is the way of the anthology. Personal favourites included Late Sleepers and Coming Attractions as these both featured wonderful twists at the end that packed a punch even in such a small time frame.

The variety of horror on show is vast, with some stories possessing a comedic edge, some just pure dark gore. The uniting theme of old, dilapidated cinemas offers such a great setting for horror that I’d never considered before as the mundane is turned into the mortifying.

Would recommend this to fans of horror, the 1980s, and nostalgia.

Crazy and Cheezy style horror served ala 80's style. If you like that stuff, you will enjoy this book..

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.
DNF @50%
Anthology's can be a hit or a miss. This one was a miss for me. I was really excited to read this because the premise sounded to fun. But I just couldn't get into this book. None of the stories pulled me in. I hope someone will find this book and enjoy it.
Also posted on Goodreads

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. It was everything I wanted from a Horror anthology!! YES YES YES! Must read. I loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of It Came from the Multiplex: 80s Midnight Chillers.

I love anything horror so I was really excited when my request was approved.

This is a collection of short stories from a group of diverse writers in which the horror takes place or is centered around a movie theater.

There are bugs, ghosts, blood, gore and, yes, the devil.

Are the stories scary? Nah, but its not the fault of the authors. I'm just not that easy to scare.

Are the stories fun to read? YES.

The stories are short and sweet, and, for the most part, engaging, gross and kind of creepy. There were a few had such an interesting premise I wish they had been longer.

I love the 80s setting, the nostalgia, the vibe, music and movie posters, and the notable lack of social media and cell phones added to the old-timey atmosphere.

Last, but definitely not least, GREAT cover! Reminiscent of the old school horror movie posters of the 70s and 80s.

If you're looking for a quick taste of something scary, give It Came from the Multiplex: 80s Midnight Chillers a chance.