I've really enjoyed the author's earlier work: "A Head Full of Ghosts" and "Disappearance at Devil's Rock". I found them easy novels to get lost in with compelling characters and a great deal of ambiguity (the good kind). Horror Movie is well-structured, and sucked me in quick, but ultimately lost me mid-way through (I did finish the story).
I just couldn't connect with the narrator. I don't want to get too in-depth with why but the self-admitted "weird kid" is a self-centered ass. There are compelling characters in this novel, but the narrator prefers to tell you about his thoughts, feelings and jokes rather than get to know his colleagues. Tremblay is a talented writer, this setup is obviously on purpose, and I bet it really works well for some readers. It also fits nicely with the larger story and themes (I don't want to spoil it). This is a "me" problem, not a comment on the quality of the book (which I think is solid).
On the positive side, I enjoyed the way the story jumped between past, present, and movie script. That worked quite well for me. The horror movie the character Cleo wrote, its impact as a piece of fiction and movie production, stuck with me too.
I understand why a few reviewers stated the ending felt rushed. I don't agree, but I do wonder if the author cut a chapter or maybe he got tired of his narrator too?
Ultimately, your enjoyment of this book may depend on how much you need to like the person telling you the story. Its a good book--Tremblay is gifted--so if you liked his other work I feel you'll be content with this novel too.
Horror Movie: A Novel
3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars | 2,110 ratings
Price: 22.04
Last update: 12-03-2024
About this item
A chilling twist on the “cursed film” genre from the bestselling author of The Pallbearers Club and The Cabin at the End of the World.
In June 1993, a group of young guerilla filmmakers spent four weeks makingHorror Movie, a notorious, disturbing art-house horror flick.
The weird part? Only three of the film’s scenes were ever released to the public, but Horror Movie has nevertheless grown a rabid fanbase. Three decades later, Hollywood is pushing for a big budget reboot.
The man who played “The Thin Kid” is the only surviving cast member. He remembers all too well the secrets buried within the original screenplay, the bizarre events of the filming, and the dangerous crossed lines on set that resulted in tragedy. As memories flood back in, the boundaries between reality and film, past and present start to blur. But he’s going to help remake the film, even if it means navigating a world of cynical producers, egomaniacal directors, and surreal fan conventions—demons of the past be damned.
But at what cost?
Horror Movie is an obsessive, psychologically chilling, and suspenseful feat of storytelling genius that builds inexorably to an unforgettable, mind-bending conclusion.
Top reviews from the United States
Kindle Customer4.0 out of 5 stars
Didn't Work for Me but Still a Good Book
Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2024
Sean Flynn5.0 out of 5 stars
Artist as Manipulator
Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2024
This is the second of Paul Tremblay's novels I've read (the other being The Cabin at the End of the World, which I also five-starred), and after talking with Constance -- my wife and steadfast reading companion -- about his other novels that she's read (Survivor Song and Head Full of Ghosts), I'm coming to the understanding that ambiguity is Tremblay's raison d'art. He forces us to come away from his novels retrospectively, weighing all that has transpired and hopefully forming some semblance of truth.
Apparently, this isn't everyone's cup of tea judging from the few one-star ratings Horror Movie's so far received. Although, I'd be willing to wager that Tremblay's purposeful ambiguities aren't so much the problem as it is lazy reading, seeing as many one-starrers rhetorically ask for clarity on details that were actually made quite clear in the novel. But that's neither here nor there.
With Horror Movie, though, ambiguity seems to be the motif, and it works unnervingly well. The story is a type of personal memoir in the form of an audiobook, in which the unnamed narrator relates the events surrounding the production of a low-budget indie film thirty years prior titled "Horror Movie". Because a number of questionable events took place on set, culminating in a tragedy that sent the narrator and others to court, the film was never finished. However, fifteen years later, three completed scenes and the screenplay were uploaded to various horror websites, sparking a niche fan-following as rumors of a "cursed" movie began circulating through filmdom. Fifteen years after that, Horror Movie's fanbase has grown so large that big-budget production companies are interested in creating a reboot, and they want the narrator to reprise his role in the film as The Thin Kid, for which he has become famous in a very "e-list" kind of way. Interspersed between these two timelines (what happened during the original project and today's big-budget production) are chunks of the original (maybe) screenplay, which the narrator uses as a springboard into his retelling of past events.
Horror Movie's narrator is just as unreliable as any penned by the likes of Poe, Gene Wolfe, or Chuck Palahniuk. His story is filled with disclaimers assuaging us that he is telling it as he remembers (memory itself being notoriously unreliable), although we can also suspect that he probably remembers things a lot more clearly than he lets on. Sometimes, he'll lead us to believe that events happened one way, only to present a completely different explanation later on. If there's anything we can be sure of, this guy is the consummate showman, eliciting our sympathies on the way in and inciting revulsion on the way out -- all, we imagine, with a knowing smirk on his face.
The effect is actually quite disconcerting. I set Horror Movie aside after finishing it and just sat in silence for several minutes, trying to evaluate a story that I had just read but entirely unsure as to which story I had just read. It drew me into thoughts of "the artist as manipulator", which encompassed not only the narrator of the novel, but also Tremblay's role as writer. Indeed, there is a moment in the accompanying screenplay that steps out of form and lasts for several pages in which the screenwriter explains, in excruciating detail, the effects on the viewer of an overlong, five-minute shot of a darkened doorway. It's a moment when the screenwriter knows she's breaking the rules and reveling in it, and one can easily imagine Tremblay experiencing the same as his narrator weaves one misdirection after another.
He (Tremblay, the narrator, take your pick) demonstrates time and again that the artist, once he has his audience in his clutches, can get away with anything. Which is a truly frightening idea, considering how Horror Movie ends.
That is, of course, if the narrator was telling us the truth, or simply selling us on his next performance.
But as far as Tremblay is concerned, I'm sold on whatever else he's going to pull out of his sleeve.
Apparently, this isn't everyone's cup of tea judging from the few one-star ratings Horror Movie's so far received. Although, I'd be willing to wager that Tremblay's purposeful ambiguities aren't so much the problem as it is lazy reading, seeing as many one-starrers rhetorically ask for clarity on details that were actually made quite clear in the novel. But that's neither here nor there.
With Horror Movie, though, ambiguity seems to be the motif, and it works unnervingly well. The story is a type of personal memoir in the form of an audiobook, in which the unnamed narrator relates the events surrounding the production of a low-budget indie film thirty years prior titled "Horror Movie". Because a number of questionable events took place on set, culminating in a tragedy that sent the narrator and others to court, the film was never finished. However, fifteen years later, three completed scenes and the screenplay were uploaded to various horror websites, sparking a niche fan-following as rumors of a "cursed" movie began circulating through filmdom. Fifteen years after that, Horror Movie's fanbase has grown so large that big-budget production companies are interested in creating a reboot, and they want the narrator to reprise his role in the film as The Thin Kid, for which he has become famous in a very "e-list" kind of way. Interspersed between these two timelines (what happened during the original project and today's big-budget production) are chunks of the original (maybe) screenplay, which the narrator uses as a springboard into his retelling of past events.
Horror Movie's narrator is just as unreliable as any penned by the likes of Poe, Gene Wolfe, or Chuck Palahniuk. His story is filled with disclaimers assuaging us that he is telling it as he remembers (memory itself being notoriously unreliable), although we can also suspect that he probably remembers things a lot more clearly than he lets on. Sometimes, he'll lead us to believe that events happened one way, only to present a completely different explanation later on. If there's anything we can be sure of, this guy is the consummate showman, eliciting our sympathies on the way in and inciting revulsion on the way out -- all, we imagine, with a knowing smirk on his face.
The effect is actually quite disconcerting. I set Horror Movie aside after finishing it and just sat in silence for several minutes, trying to evaluate a story that I had just read but entirely unsure as to which story I had just read. It drew me into thoughts of "the artist as manipulator", which encompassed not only the narrator of the novel, but also Tremblay's role as writer. Indeed, there is a moment in the accompanying screenplay that steps out of form and lasts for several pages in which the screenwriter explains, in excruciating detail, the effects on the viewer of an overlong, five-minute shot of a darkened doorway. It's a moment when the screenwriter knows she's breaking the rules and reveling in it, and one can easily imagine Tremblay experiencing the same as his narrator weaves one misdirection after another.
He (Tremblay, the narrator, take your pick) demonstrates time and again that the artist, once he has his audience in his clutches, can get away with anything. Which is a truly frightening idea, considering how Horror Movie ends.
That is, of course, if the narrator was telling us the truth, or simply selling us on his next performance.
But as far as Tremblay is concerned, I'm sold on whatever else he's going to pull out of his sleeve.
Kelly Gunderman3.0 out of 5 stars
Good Read, Just Nothing Like I Was Expecting
Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2024
Paul Tremblay is an incredibly gifted author with a true talent for writing thrillers, horror, and the unexpected. I enjoyed some of his other work, and I was super excited to jump into Horror Story because the whole “cursed found footage” category of horror. I’m the kind of person who will read absolutely anything they can find of this kind of story, so I definitely wasn’t missing a book written by someone with such a talent for capturing an audience and leaving them on the edge of their seat.
“A movie is a collection of beautiful lies that somehow add up to being the truth, or a truth.”
I went into this without knowing too much about it, other than it had the “cursed found footage” tagline in the description. Once I saw that, I honestly didn’t read too much into the rest of the synopsis, and I also kind of preordered it super early so I forgot all about it until it arrived at my front door.
So when I picked this up, with its amazing smooth black cover with a cool VHS tape, and the bright red stained pages (which was a super cool addition to the book, making it feel more atmospheric), I was excited.
Horror Movie begins with our main character, who is the only surviving cast member of the original Horror Movie project, meeting with folks in Hollywood about doing a reboot of that movie – despite everything that happened during the original filming. But what exactly did happen, and what was the original Horror Movie about – and why did it have such a cult following?
“We can’t know what he is thinking. We can’t know what anyone else is thinking, even when they tell us.”
Following are chapters alternating between the past where the original movie was filmed (including the screenplay, broken up into bits and pieces throughout the chapters), and moments in the present where they discuss the specifics of rebooting the film.
I won’t say any more about it. If I do, I will spoil parts of the book that are better read and experienced through reading.
Just be aware that it might not be what you are expecting, and it is a total “what the actual hell” moment of a novel.
When I started reading, I admit I was inturrupted a few times so it took me a while to get into the story. Once I finally did get into it, and once I finally understood the overall layout and was able to focus on the story and the screenplay, I had a much easier time reading the book. It’s not that it’s a terribly difficult book to read or anything, it’s not. The story was really awesome and I found myself pulled into it.
I absolutely adored some of the characters and how well the author had fleshed them out. I feel like a lot of time was put into developing them and I enjoyed reading their stories, both past and present. Character development is typically one of my favorite aspects to any novel, so this was quite a treat.
One problem I had? I liked the screenplay part of the book, the original screenplay that they filmed in the story (the part that took place back in the 1990s) so much more than the story that was being told in the present. I loved the past chapters that told the story and how the characters all worked together to bring the movie to life. I did, however, think that the present day chapters were kind of confusing and sort of didn’t flow right with the rest of the novel.
First off, the present day chapters toward the ending kind of let me down because I ended up with more questions than not. I wish I could say that some of those questions had gotten answered, but I was unable to find any answers after finishing the book. I won’t go into detail about the things I’m still unsure about, but it did leave me feeling frustrated.
Another thing that bothered me about Horror Movie is that, well, it felt kind of devoid of any actual horror. I’m not saying I want like, super paranormal slasher happy time or anything, but it didn’t feel scary. It felt more like a literary fiction or a timid thriller than a horror. Nothing actually scary happened, and I was not left on the edge of my seat.
Would I pick up another Paul Tremblay book? Definitely. I’d rush to preorder any of his books like I have in the past. This one just wasn’t my favorite horror novel that I’ve read lately.
I heard the audiobook features a full cast and is absolutely amazing, taking the reading experience to a whole other level. I might just have to pick that up at some point, because it sounds like that’s the way to go if you are considering this book.
“A movie is a collection of beautiful lies that somehow add up to being the truth, or a truth.”
I went into this without knowing too much about it, other than it had the “cursed found footage” tagline in the description. Once I saw that, I honestly didn’t read too much into the rest of the synopsis, and I also kind of preordered it super early so I forgot all about it until it arrived at my front door.
So when I picked this up, with its amazing smooth black cover with a cool VHS tape, and the bright red stained pages (which was a super cool addition to the book, making it feel more atmospheric), I was excited.
Horror Movie begins with our main character, who is the only surviving cast member of the original Horror Movie project, meeting with folks in Hollywood about doing a reboot of that movie – despite everything that happened during the original filming. But what exactly did happen, and what was the original Horror Movie about – and why did it have such a cult following?
“We can’t know what he is thinking. We can’t know what anyone else is thinking, even when they tell us.”
Following are chapters alternating between the past where the original movie was filmed (including the screenplay, broken up into bits and pieces throughout the chapters), and moments in the present where they discuss the specifics of rebooting the film.
I won’t say any more about it. If I do, I will spoil parts of the book that are better read and experienced through reading.
Just be aware that it might not be what you are expecting, and it is a total “what the actual hell” moment of a novel.
When I started reading, I admit I was inturrupted a few times so it took me a while to get into the story. Once I finally did get into it, and once I finally understood the overall layout and was able to focus on the story and the screenplay, I had a much easier time reading the book. It’s not that it’s a terribly difficult book to read or anything, it’s not. The story was really awesome and I found myself pulled into it.
I absolutely adored some of the characters and how well the author had fleshed them out. I feel like a lot of time was put into developing them and I enjoyed reading their stories, both past and present. Character development is typically one of my favorite aspects to any novel, so this was quite a treat.
One problem I had? I liked the screenplay part of the book, the original screenplay that they filmed in the story (the part that took place back in the 1990s) so much more than the story that was being told in the present. I loved the past chapters that told the story and how the characters all worked together to bring the movie to life. I did, however, think that the present day chapters were kind of confusing and sort of didn’t flow right with the rest of the novel.
First off, the present day chapters toward the ending kind of let me down because I ended up with more questions than not. I wish I could say that some of those questions had gotten answered, but I was unable to find any answers after finishing the book. I won’t go into detail about the things I’m still unsure about, but it did leave me feeling frustrated.
Another thing that bothered me about Horror Movie is that, well, it felt kind of devoid of any actual horror. I’m not saying I want like, super paranormal slasher happy time or anything, but it didn’t feel scary. It felt more like a literary fiction or a timid thriller than a horror. Nothing actually scary happened, and I was not left on the edge of my seat.
Would I pick up another Paul Tremblay book? Definitely. I’d rush to preorder any of his books like I have in the past. This one just wasn’t my favorite horror novel that I’ve read lately.
I heard the audiobook features a full cast and is absolutely amazing, taking the reading experience to a whole other level. I might just have to pick that up at some point, because it sounds like that’s the way to go if you are considering this book.