First published as a standalone publication back in April of 2017, British author Jonathan Butcher’s ‘The Chocolateman’ was released by The Sinister Horror Company as a special edition signed and numbered chapbook, with only twenty-five of the hand numbered publications being released.
The short story ‘The Chocolateman’ originally appeared in the Knightwatch Press anthology ‘Death By Chocolate’ (2016).
DLS Synopsis:
He’d popped into the train station toilets on his way to the hotel. He’d had four fajitas last night and they were now making their way through his system. He could hear a slobbering voice from within the cubicle beside him, gleefully exclaiming his delight at the tasty chocolate he was apparently enjoying. How anyone could devour anything, let alone something like chocolate, in a public toilet was beyond him.As he finished up and went over to the sinks, he caught a glimpse of the cubicle he’d just exited, where he could now see the figure of a man stooped over the toilet bowl. As he watched on, the man plunged his hands deep in the toilet water, as if searching for treasure.
The vile man in the cubicle had a black studded belt wrapped, fetish-like, around his throat. Turning around, the kneeling deviant slobbered through shit-stained teeth.
“Kreb’s the name, called one, two, three. Take a dump and there I’ll be.”
It was very probably the vilest thing he had ever seen. And the man standing at the sink had seen a lot of filth in his life. But this deviant was possibly the worst. It was enough to make him feel physically sick. Enough to make him turn and scamper from the toilets in seconds.
But now he couldn’t shake the memory from his head. What the hell was wrong with that man? Who the fuck was he? The despicable monstrosity who called himself Kreb…
DLS Review:
Holy shit where do I start?! What a vile read. Possibly one of the most depraved, disgusting, and downright nauseating black comedies I’ve ever had the questionable pleasure to read. This shit is just plain wrong. Wrong on so many fucking levels.
Nevertheless, what a read! I grinned as much as I squirmed whilst reading this faecophilic atrocity. Literally from the very first sentence you’re physically arching back into your seat and gritting your teeth at the escalating sense of pure revulsion you’ll feel at the vile scene being played out before you.
As the whole thing plays out, it seems Butcher has one thing on his mind – to appal and fucking disturb his audience. Although ever-so-gradually something decidedly more sinister starts to worm its way to the surface. Not only are you revolted to the point of actually feeling a tad queasy at the actions of this loathsome reprobate, but you start to sense something dangerous emerging in the situation too.
Kreb is a vile creation. But there’s more to him than that. Lurking below the vulgarity of his perversion is something dangerous. It taunts you as the fear starts to work its icy tendrils up your spine. And this is all within the first few pages!
Once we’re past the ‘toilet scene’ (as we’ll call it), the story takes on a very different tone. The seediness of the immediate environment changes, and instead we’re relocated to a pristine hotel bathroom. Here we see the other side to the man we’ve been following thus far. He’s still reeling from what he witnessed in the train station toilets, but here, in the safety of his own turf, we see a new side to him. And so the story takes on a sudden and pretty damn unexpected twist. In fact, it almost becomes two stories in one, with Butcher chucking in whatever the fuck he wants to make the story as grotesquely entertaining as it can be.
Of course we haven’t finished with Kreb yet. It’s here we start to learn a little more about the character. About the legend, the whisperings, the mythology of the being. The story begins to feel like ‘Candyman’ (1992) only dancing knee-deep in faeces, and loving every fucking second of it.
If this sounds like your kind of story, then this is most definitely one you need to get your grubby mitts on. It really is as vile and as sordid as it sounds. But more than that, it’s drenched from head to toe in proper old school raw-as-holy-hell horror.
I can’t recommend this vileness enough. Disgracefully deviant and bowel-movingly horrific. Now that’s my kind of party.
The limited edition chapbook also includes the following bonus material:
Introduction – J.R. Park – 3 Pages
The Sinister Horror Company’s J.R. Park presents the story with a short introduction detailing how he stumbled across Butcher’s work and indeed his ‘The Chocolateman’ story, his immediate love of the short tale, and the foul mythos that Butcher created through it.
Afterword – Jonathan Butcher – 11 Pages
Man what an afterword. Firstly the ramblings of author Jonathan Butcher in his anecdote heavy afterword are possibly just as entertaining as the horrific-masterpiece that precedes them. Butcher writes as if he’s chatting with you down the pub. It’s utterly unpretentious and hilariously tasteless. However it’s with the history behind his character of Kreb Sabertooth (aka the Chocolateman) where the afterword really comes into its own. Here we’re told how Kreb was born through the soiled imagination of Butcher and his equally depraved friends. How Kreb became the subject of numerous distasteful amateur films, from an old abandoned building in sunny Newquay, all the way to South Korea.
To learn that Kreb has had such a long and rich history prior to his appearing in this particular story enhances the character that much more. I just hope…so hope…that we’ve not seen the last of Kreb Sabertooth just yet.
The book ends with two pages of faeces-splattered adverts which Butcher created for the promotion of the book, along with a four page photo gallery of Butcher playing the part of Kreb in various outlandish scenarios.
The book runs for a total of 41 pages.
© DLS Reviews
