What's it about: "We're surrounded by the living dead and
you're worried about breaking the law?" Supernatural investigator,
Tony Peterson, is summoned by the devious witch Cassandra Collins to the
bustling city of New Orleans. On the
trail of the mysterious Voodoo Amulet, they're hunted through bars, hotels,
train stations and graveyards by the police, criminals, black magicians and
zombies. Can Tony and Cassandra escape
with their lives... and their souls?
PI: Tony doesn't know what it is about Cassandra's SOS to
him that surprised him more - the word please or that it was he that she had
contacted for help. He costs 200 bucks a day plus expenses. He thinks learning
to be a witch takes as long as law school. He hated to admit it but he and
Cassandra work well together. A kiss between him and Cassandra at the climax to
bring her back from the dark side reinforces the sexual tension that is
bubbling between them.
Witch: Cassandra is in the unfortunate position of having
lost her powers and Tony is oh so smug about it when he learns as much. She is
in the unfortunate position of needing his help and having to go to the lengths
of hiring him. Cassandra was called in to deliver a voodoo talisman to a Mr
Jericho, a local voodoo Priest. She was the one that could be trusted to
protect the merchandise and protect herself from it too. Nothing about her is
ever simple. In their last union Tony learnt some surprising things about
Cassandra, that she had feelings beneath that cool veneer and that perhaps he
had become a better person for his experiences with her. Tony can knock you
down (he tells Cassandra that she has lost her edge) and pick you back up again
(reminding her that she didn't need her powers in the Death Mask affair, that
she used her wits and instinct for survival). She's sure good at creating a
distraction too, playing the disgruntled wife on a miserable vacation. Tony has
never seen her look so lonely and vulnerable, the story going to great lengths
to humanise her after her cold portrayal in The Death Mask. Cassandra tried her
hand at modelling for a while and Sky saw her picture in a fashion spread and
became enamoured. When he asked her to marry him she had pause for thought
because the relationships in her past had been complicated and painful. But the
thought of someone being truly in love with her with no ulterior motive was
bewitching. She should have known it would turn sour. Sky had made a bargain
with dark forces for his wealth with an old enemy of hers. She had little
choice but to regain her powers. At the time she thought she loved him...but
now she isn't sure she knows what love is. When Cassandra's powers are returned
to her she is a truly formidable presence, calling upon the restless spirits
that have been defiled to exact their revenge. After suffering the indignity of
mortals she is enraged and never again will she be humiliated in the same way.
She thinks her powers are who she is...but Tony isn't so sure.
Standout Performance: I wasn't quite convinced by Michael
Salami's Jamaican accent. I thought I could detect an English brogue breaking
through, Peri style.
Sparkling Dialogue: 'I've been in New Orleans for two hours
and I have already been attacked by the living dead and staged a jail break!'
Great Ideas: The Voodoo Amulet might go down in history as
having the most development within a minute and a half of storytelling that I
have ever heard on audio. Tony is summoned to New Orleans (a great setting for
a supernatural mystery), he and Cassandra are reunited and they are attacked by
zombies. That's all before the credits kick in. You can't accuse these stories
of being slow paced, that's for sure. The power of self preservation is strong
even amongst the living dead. Zombies are bodies of the recently deceased
resurrected by voodoo...something that Cassandra explains to Tony as calmly as
she might about what she had for dinner last night. She's one cool cucumber.
The Amulet is called The Zombie's Eye, a large coin with skull face and a snake
rim, well known in voodoo lore and was lost in the late 1800s. It is supposed
to help a voodoo Master control zombies, which given their ravenous appetite
for brains seems like a very sensible piece of kit to have around. Spencer
planned to sell a fake amulet and skip town with the real one and it cost him
his life. I would have been deeply disappointed if this hadn't featured at
least one scene set in a spooky old graveyard and fortunately Passmore does not
let me down. LaCrane is affiliated with an occult watchdog group attached to
the law. Cassandra has heard about them and how they play by their own rules.
Magic is a balance of knowledge, power and preparation. All the elements come
together in the conclusion; magic, voodoo and zombies to create something quite
unnerving. Like The Death Mask, there is another twist ending that you might
not see coming, a character hidden in plain sight who turns out to be behind
the whole affair.
Musical Cues: I really enjoyed the music on this one. Nigel
Fairs is having a great fun taking us on a whirlwind tour of New Orleans with
some jazzy themes and foot tapping percussion. He's none too shabby when it
comes to the more dramatic moments either, adding some pace and immediacy to
the zombie attacks. And wait until you hear the fingers down the spine music
when Cassandra who it was that stole her powers.
Result: New Orleans is a city I have always wanted to visit,
to bask in the decaying atmosphere of the architecture and get caught up in the
fascination with the undead. It is a location that I always get excited about
when it features in books, novels and audios (it surprises me that Doctor Who
has steered clear of it, City of the Dead aside) and seems to come with an
atmosphere thick with dread. Perfect for a tale of zombies coming to life and
pursuing Tony and Cassandra through the streets. It is a credit to Passmore
that he has written another story for duo which is world away from their first
encounter on audio. Directors Gross & Goss and in particular sound designer
Nigel Fairs deserve a great amount of kudos for the evocating soundscape. Tony
and Cassandra cover a lot of ground in this story and you will feel as if you
have taken in the sights along with them. The focus is much more on Cassandra
and her chequered past this time around and it proves a fascinating back story
which explains why she is so cynical about the world now, lonely and vulnerable
(however if this all played in the TV series I would love to see it!). Her
relationship with Tony deepens as a result of her opening out and I was more
invested in their future because of it. I'm glad that the character work and
the setting were so evocative because zombies stories aren't among my
favourites (I think I might be the only person who doesn't like Shaun of the
Dead) but to my relief this is less about eating brains and more a pacy jaunt
around an intoxicating city with some flesh eating terrors thrown in to add
some action. Intelligently written and well realised, only the odd dodgy accent
really jars: 8/10
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