Carlton Mellick III ‘Clusterf*ck’ Review

Written by: Matthew J. Barbour

With Apeshit, Carlton Mellick III took the horror premise of teenagers in the woods and integrated it fully within the bizzaro genre of speculative fiction. The result was an over-the-top vomit-inducing narrative where neither the teens nor the mutants stalking them could die. Clusterfuck continues this tradition.

Occurring several years after the events of Apeshit, Clusterfuck focuses on a group of frat boys and sorority sisters going into the mountains for a weekend of “extreme” caving. Like the cast of the previous novel, there is nothing ordinary about these college students. They include a werejaguar and a woman with an unhealthy need to feed others her own excrement.

Once inside the cave, the students will discover a community of psychotic mutants which cannot die. The college kids also cannot die and many of them may even be crazier than the mutants which stalk the sunless caverns. The ensuing battle royal is both extremely violent and hilarious. One man’s skill at “extreme” tetherball will prove decisive in the ultimate outcome of evil versus stupidity.

Clusterfuck is not for everyone. It pokes fun at the horror genre and takes everything to the most absurd and illogical conclusions imaginable. There are lactating man-boobs and a time machine filled with naked and oiled prepubescent boys. These things will likely be terrifying to many readers, but it is not the same kind of horror one reads when tackling more mainstream literature.  However, for those who looking for something a little different, Mellick is a great find.

Order it here.

Rating: 3/5