🕷️ Book Review: There’s a Giant Trapdoor Spider Under Your Bed by Edgar Cantero (Kindle Edition, Dark Corners Collection)
A wildly imaginative, cinematic horror short that turns childhood fears into deadly reality—Edgar Cantero delivers a cheeky, unsettling tale that blends sleepover fun with survival horror.
🧠 Overview
Published in September 2018 as part of Amazon Original Stories’ Dark Corners Collection, There’s a Giant Trapdoor Spider Under Your Bed is a 24-page horror short story by Edgar Cantero, known for his genre-bending novels like Meddling Kids. This story centers on a group of kids during a sleepover, where a game of imagining scary scenarios spirals into a terrifying night of survival.
When one boy jokes about a giant spider lurking under the bed, the fear becomes real—and the rules of survival are suddenly very clear:
Don’t get out of bed. Stay out of the shadows. Don’t wake the beast.
🕯️ Key Themes & Highlights
- 🛏️ Childhood fears made real: The story taps into primal anxieties—monsters under the bed, darkness, isolation—and amplifies them
- 🧠 Rule-based horror: As threats multiply, so do the rules, creating a tense, game-like structure that keeps readers guessing
- 🎬 Cinematic pacing: Cantero’s writing is vivid and fast-moving, with a tone that feels like a horror-comedy film
- 🕸️ Monster design: The spider is grotesque and vividly described—its “venom-dripping chelicerae” slice through flesh “like warm butter”
💬 Reader Reception
- ⭐ Goodreads rating: 2.84/5 from over 4,500 ratings
- 📖 Readers are divided—some love the quirky horror tone and imaginative premise, while others found it too short or lacking depth
- 🧾 Common praise includes the story’s originality and pacing; critiques focus on its abrupt ending and reliance on pop culture references
- 💬 “A fun concept that starts strong but fizzles out. Still, the spider is terrifying and the rules make it feel like a twisted bedtime story.” — Goodreads reviewer
⚠️ Considerations
- 📄 Short format: At 24 pages, it’s a quick read—best approached as a horror vignette rather than a full narrative arc
- 📚 Part of a collection: One of seven stories in the Dark Corners Collection, each exploring different facets of fear
- 🧾 Tone: Mixes horror with humor and surrealism—ideal for fans of quirky, offbeat scares
🏁 Final Verdict
There’s a Giant Trapdoor Spider Under Your Bed is a creepy, clever, and fast-paced horror short that plays with childhood fears and survival tropes in a uniquely Cantero way. While it may not satisfy readers looking for deep character development or resolution, it’s a fun and unsettling bedtime read—if you dare to sleep afterward.
