Teenage Girls Can Be Demons

Bram Stoker Award winner Piper (A Game in Yellow) collects 13 sharp-fanged horror shorts highlighting the dangers posed both to and by teenage girls. In the tone-setting opener, “Why We Keep Exploding,” misogynistic language hurled at a college freshman has a direct and surreal physical impact. Other stories explore dangers close to home, like “Unkindly Girls,” about a girl whose father goes to horrifying extremes to protect her from growing up, and “Thagomizer,” in which a young mother is haunted by her late son. Most stirring are the tales that show their heroines fighting back against oppression and abuse: the protagonist of “Last Leaf of an Ursine Tree” finds her power through an unexpected deal with a bear, while “The Many Sins of Clara Greenstone” ends with a righteous act of arson. The final and longest tale, “Benny Rose the Cannibal King,” is the standout, flipping a typical slasher plot on its head to create an adrenaline-filled final girl story that avoids falling into a predictable formula. The diverse cast of heroines and genuinely chilling scares make this a winner for anyone looking for feminist horror that is weird, surreal, and driven by more than a touch of rebellion. (Sept.)