Cover (1987)

A hotshot novelist, his wife, his supermodel girlfriend (you read that right), and a few of his unbearable asshole friends head to the woods for a relaxing weekend getaway and stumble upon a crop of weed tended by a mentally shattered Vietnam vet who is totally Not-Rambo. Thinking this group of jerks is actually Charlie coming to get him, Not-Rambo begins a vicious campaign of snare-setting and murder. A three hour tour this is not...

My first foray into the work of Jack Ketchum was the novel Cover. In retrospect, it's probably not the ideal place to start if you're interested in exploring the late author's works, because it's less the typical horror novel that Ketchum is most known for and more of a First Blood styled thriller with a nihilistic undercurrent. Not necessarily a complaint, just an observation.

I think the main issue I have with Cover is I can't exactly figure out where the author's position is on anything. It's kind of an anti-war novel, but it doesn't quite go all-in on that. It's kind of a statement against how soft modern conveniences make us, but it doesn't fully embrace that take either. I could almost see the piece being an anti-drug story considering all the trouble a crop of reefer seems to cause all parties involved, but again, we never cross that threshold either.

About the only thing Cover actually is in favor of is polyamory, which is slightly amusing because it's possibly the most unrealistic depiction of a threesome relationship outside of a Brazzers movie. The character of Kelsey simply has to be a self-insert for Ketchum himself. He was clearly living out some kind of repressed fantasy with this novel, right? Because in what reality does a freaking novelist of all trades land a sexy wife and a supermodel side chick who live in harmony with one another?

Regardless, if you're a weirdo like me, you're really reading Cover for the murder and mayhem, and once it gets going, it's an enjoyable - if not overly grisly - escapade. Like many a classic slasher movie, you end up rooting for the killer and not the hapless fools lost in the woods. I still can't tell if it was intentional or not, but Kelsey's group of friends are not the most likeable bunch you'll come across, so seeing the embittered Vietnam veteran character go all John Wick on these fools can be fairly satisfying.