Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
We’re all someone’s bad guy eventually.
Brilliant. I can’t express how much I love this book. IMO, this is Tremblay’s best work yet. A Horror Lover’s dark and heartbreaking dream.
Additionally, one of the best audiobook productions I have ever experienced and trust me, this is an EXPERIENCE.
It’s so funny. I read this book in less than two days over a week ago. At the time that I read it, I hadn’t looked at, or listened to, any reviews yet. The whole way through, I knew this was gonna be a 5-star for me.
Additionally, I seriously thought it was going to be a 5-star for everyone. Now that over a week has passed, and this book seems to be everywhere, I have seen a lot of reviews, and admittedly, some of them aren’t great.
I was shocked. Am I living in my own little Horror bubble? It’s possible. It really is, but regardless, having thought about it more, I can see this might work best for a certain niche market. Luckily, I happen to be a part of that niche.
I’m happy to stake my flag on outlier island and fully anticipate this making my Best Books of 2024 list. I’m already excited to read it again someday.
I loved how it was constructed. From the present perspective, that had a confessional feel to it, to the actual screenplay sections, to the flashbacks of making the movie, I found it all so gripping. It felt like an origin story to me, but was equally a love letter to this oft misunderstood genre.
I loved the idea of the whole low-budget movie-making process and even though, only certain scenes were released, that it still managed to turn into a cult-sensation even decades later. That’s absolutely something that would happen in the Horror community.
I also liked the idea of the movie itself being cursed. Our narrator is actually the only surviving member of the original production. This brought to mind Poltergeist and the curse that is said to surround the making of that trilogy.
For me, Poltergeist, which originally released in 1982, is part of that golden age of Horror cinema. It’s the first movie that genuinely traumatized me as a child, instilling in me an ever present fear of clowns, and I love it so much not in spite of that, but because of that.
In my opinion, this is a good fit for Readers who end up loving I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones, a book I absolutely loved a couple months back.
Basically for me, these two books felt a bit like Tremblay and SGJ had a conversation, maybe about the origins and influences in modern Horror, maybe about why we are attracted to and love Horror, or maybe on how Horror seems to be having a resurgence at the moment…
And then they both walked away from the conversation, inspired to a degree, and wrote books encapsulating those themes. Obviously, I am not saying that’s ACTUALLY what happened, but I felt, as a life-long Horror Lover, seen by these books, validated by them in a way.
They both examine so many different aspects of the genre, or why people may be drawn to it, and they both contained so much heart. They may be dark hearts, but they’re there nonetheless and both books broke mine.
I would recommend this to everyone who thinks it sounds interesting. Give it a shot. Go in knowing as little as possible. The synopsis really says everything you need to know about the plot. I feel like it’s a pretty even mix on opinions right now, so you could end up loving it as much as I did.
Also, I cannot recommend enough reading a physical copy while listening to the audiobook simultaneously. It’s a very unique reading experience and should be attempted if you do have access to both formats.
In summation, (haha) I think Paul Tremblay is a genius.
I love his imagination, his dark humor, his ability to write characters that I care about and the fact that he keeps surprising me. I find his stories smart, gripping and unpredictable. I look forward to whatever he gives us next!!