Drencrom by Hamelin Bird
Piper House (May 2023)
144 pages; $12.95 paperback; $5.99 ebook
Reviewed by Haley Newlin
Hamelin Bird’s Drencrom is a graphic and poetic love letter to Lynchian horror and A Clockwork Orange.
Since getting kicked out of her home, Coda has indulged in a hippie-soul existence without much direction. All of that changes when she scours the dark web for an allegedly “mythical” drug called Drencrom, a crimson-colored liquid with unimaginable power.
Soon, something sinister festers inside Coda. She can feel it bubbling and cramping in her bowels after each Drencrom dose. But when the vial touches her lips, she knows she’s in for a mind-bending high like no other, where she’s free to observe and roam. But much like in A Clockwork Orange, such sovereignty exposes Coda to the darkest corners of humanity, where people cheat, kill, and fall victim to what lies on the outskirts of our understanding of the world.
David Lynch’s Eraserhed is known for its surrealism and ambiguity, and this reviewer believes Drencrom, too, obtains these qualities and, therefore, omits a straightforward meaning or purpose. Readers will note the hellish nightmares, the immersive and, at times, stomach-churning body horror, but the interpretation is subjective. There’s something rebellious in that style of storytelling — what are critics supposed to make of something so lucidly meticulous yet unconventional?
Drencrom also achieves a comedic effect that sometimes makes an otherwise dark novella humorous. If you’re new to the unsettling, often grotesque world of bizarre horror, you’ll appreciate these fleeting moments of relief.
Psychedelic dreamscapes aren’t all they’re cracked up to be, and Bird holds readers tight as they descend the dread spiral of Drencrom. Admittedly, some of the more unsavory parts of the story, featuring a “sh*t gremlin,” made this reviewer skip a handful of pages throughout—a previously unknown sensitivity. Thank you, Mr. Bird, for the introduction.
*audience laughs*
Drencrom is a technicolor, psychedelic thrill that proudly carries nods to Anthony Burgess and David Lynch without dampening Bird’s unique style and stunning prose. This one is enigmatic. Unsettling. It’s the most what-the-f*ck-provoking book ever. A weirdo-triumph.
You have to read it.
