Woah. This book was crazy!

I liked the format featuring excepts from the Horror Movie script and the overall narration from the Thin Kid. This entire story was very visual, as a reader you almost feel as if you are watching a movie.

The ending is something that as a movie fan, I expected but it was still very jarring (but in a good way.)

If you like 90's teen slashers or monster movies, you will love this book.

It does have some gory descriptions that I personally didn't love (I can be a bit squeamish sometimes) but if that's your thing then I think it won't make a difference.

It was fine but overall nothing special. Everything felt predictable and cookie cutter which was a bit of a let down. Very much lacking in the spooky department.

Paul Tremblay's Horror Movie is a solid novel using the cursed film trope.

The story centers on the sole survivor of a doomed '90s film project, "Horror Movie." As Hollywood gears up for a reboot, our protagonist is pulled back into the film's unsettling world. I like the way the book was constructed, using three narratives: present-day reboot efforts, excerpts from the original script, and flashbacks to the production's mysterious and violent demise.

"Horror Movie" is a slow burn without being boring. It's written in Tremblay's unique style, which often leaves readers wondering exactly what it was they had just read.

This was a good, creepy story but not on the level of other cursed film books like Night Film, House of Leaves, and Silver Nitrate. Still, Horror movie is worth the read. Recommended.

A cursed movie that was never fully released is headed for a reboot with the only surviving cast member. What really happened on set all those years ago?

Told through flashbacks as well as inserts of the original screenplay, Horror Movie tells a disturbing story on the set of a seemingly cursed film. Our main character is the only surviving cast member, and the project has sort of grown a cult following over the years. I found the pacing to be extremely slow, and while the horror bits were truly disturbing, there were only really a handful of them spaced throughout the book and it didn't keep my attention very well. I do think this book has its audience though, and I feel like Tremblay fans are gonna eat this up!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Horror author Paul Tremblay has become known for his eerie books with vague, non-committal endings, to varying results. Sometimes it can leave the reader disappointed that he never really explains what just happened, while at others it proves that the scariest things are what we don’t know. His latest novel, Horror Movie, falls firmly into the latter camp, offering up enough answers to satisfy readers while still leaving them unsure of the story’s veracity.

In the Summer of 1993, our unnamed narrator is recruited by a group of friends for a role in their unusual, low-budget horror movie (also titled simply, Horror Movie). His character is referred to in the screenplay as only The Thin Kid, and in it he is taken by Valentina, Cleo, and Karson (the director, writer, and makeup artist, all effectively playing themselves) to an abandoned school where they have him put on a creepy mask and then confine himself to a small storage room. For whatever reason, he stays in the room over the next several days as the trio brings him food and water and then subjects him to progressively crueler forms of humiliation and emotional torture leading up to a chilling finale. But the making of the movie itself does not go off without a hitch, leading to more than one tragic accident that will lead to the whole thing being scrapped just before it can be completed.

In the years leading up the present day, everyone involved with the making of Horror Movie has passed away for a variety of reasons with the exception of The Thin Kid, who had lived in relative isolation long after the movie ended in disaster. Before she passed away, Valentina released 3 finished scenes from the film online, as well as several stills and the complete script, leading to the project attaining a cult following among horror and film afficionados. This in turn allowed The Thin Kid to begin appearing at conventions and then to Hollywood calling and asking him to be involved in a reboot. With the promise of a big payday, he obviously says yes, and the theory that Horror Movie is a “cursed film” will be put to the ultimate test.

Told in alternating timelines mixed with the script, the story doles out information gradually, keeping its audience on their toes throughout. A creepy and dread-filled atmosphere permeates nearly every page, helping the suspense to build as we move towards the tragedies we know are coming. Tremblay doles out pop culture references to help us understand the characters to great effect, though he also keeps them at enough of a distance that no one, including the narrator, ever feels fully trustworthy. The movie in the book is designed to make the audience feel complicit in the horror that transpires, and Tremblay doesn’t shy away from pointing the finger at us as well in the broader sense. Delivering intelligent ideas along with chills, Horror Movie will stick with you and will likely make for a great movie of its own.

Thank you to Paul Tremblay, William Morrow, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book was nothing like I had ever read before. This will stick with me for a while. Maybe even give me nightmares.

I really liked the dual timelines. I feel like we get so much more information that way.

A cult classic horror movie gets rebooted. Alternating between the past, the script, and present day, the telling of the movie comes alive.

I thought this was an interesting premise. I didn’t even mind the idea of having the screenplay throughout. However, this was so very boring. None of the characters are super likable, but even beyond that, it just dragged on and on. I kept reading because I was like ok there will be a great twist at the end. But there wasn’t. I was like oh that’s it? It wasn’t even really a twist if you had been paying attention. I don’t think it is offensive enough to warrant 1 star, but I also think two stars is too generous (although that’s where I landed). Also, for a book called Horror Movie, there was not much scary.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay was an unputdownable story. This story managed to keep me guessing until the very end.
This is definitely an intriguing read which has kept me hooked, been impossible to work out and I’ve devoured in just one sitting. The writing as usual is engaging and entertaining.
And the characters keep you turning the pages.

Thank You NetGalley and William Morrow for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

** spoiler alert ** There's a section where the main character is at a horror convention, and this attendee comes up to his booth. The main character immediately thinks the other guy is a pretentious know it all. MC starts calling the know it all, I think, "hat guy" in his head, then makes a big public scene out of taking "hat guy" down a notch by proving him wrong about some movie conspiracy theory.

1) Reading about 50 y/o petty, bratty men is a terrible experience 2) The whole interaction is confusing because every single character in this book was a "hat guy" to me. This novel was "hat guy" in book form. The whole time I was wondering, does this book know it is a "hat guy"? Was that part of the point? 75% of my brain was occupied with trying to figure out if this book knew it was being a "hat guy", the other 25% was being annoyed by the screen play chapters which...

The screen play chapters were the ultimate tell not show. They would literally be like - MC enters a dark hallway. We feel scared. We feel disoriented. Yet it feels familiar. Maybe we have been in the hallway before. Maybe it's a new hallway. Again, I could not tell if the book was trying to be funny, or taking itself seriously. Maybe that was the genius of the whole book, IDK. In any case, this wasn't a fun read for me, but hopefully it will be good for others!

An old horror movie, with a mysterious past, and a crazy fan base. All of these years later, only one cast member is still alive. And despite all that happened, he is here for the reboot. But at what cost?
Great to see Paul Tremblay back to a good old fashioned psychological, make you think, creepy story!

Wow! I mean….wow! Horror Movie just drags you back and forth along with it without giving you time to breath or think about whether what you are experiencing is real or a lie. We have to follow the last living member of the original movie through his present day dealings with new producers looking to reboot the never seen film, through his original movie making experience, and through his reunion with his former director somewhere between-all interspersed with a script from a movie that doesn’t let up. The writing style keeps you in constant suspense. The paragraphs are long and descriptions drawn out until the reader is too tense to stop. I started at 1:30 pm and couldn’t put it down until I finished. I feel so unbalanced. I need a pallet cleanser. I need to read about cute puppies. And babies.

3.5 stars rounded up

As someone who actually doesn't like horror movies, preferring horror books because I don't like to be visually confronted with someone else's interpretation of what I can see in my head, I probably was not the intended audience for this book but wanted to give it a shot anyway. I can see it appealing to a true horror film buff, but I found the long interspersed screenplay, written in anxiety inducing third person present tense, difficult to follow and the extremely slow burn not captivating enough to hold my interest.

Horror Movie was an artsy independent film made in the early 1990's about a group of teenagers who kidnap and torture a friend, turning him into the monster we all have lurking inside. After an on-set "accident", the film was shelved and never released. In the years that follow, tragedy continues to befall all the cast members involved, until only one, the actor who played "The Thin Kid", purposefully also never named, remains. Before succumbing to her illness, director Valentina uploads three scenes and the screenplay to the Internet and leaves a trail of intentional breadcrumbs to ensure her movie will live on without her. With the stage set, Horror Movie develops a rabid fan base, and soon Hollywood comes knocking, eager to film a reboot and finally release the movie that never was. The past 30 years had not been kind to The Thin Kid, who has become an aimless adult, never fully being able to detach himself from the monster masked persona he inhabited during filming. Screenwriter Cleo made sure of that with her grand plan, which was heavily foreshadowed, though no less disturbing when it came to fruition. What started off more as a metaphorical commentary on the monster we are all capable of becoming took a hard left at the end of the story, and the paranormal element thrown in out of nowhere felt out of place with the rest of the gritty and real storyline.

Nervous laughter haha what the fuck did i just read haha

I have so many thoughts after finishing this book and I don’t really know how to articulate them. Normally I never have to take a break reading horror but this book made me have to put it down and go on a walk so many times I genuinely felt so uneasy reading it. This was an insane take on the cursed film genre and I ate it up.

I love books told in multiple timelines and watching the past & present weave themselves together in this book kept me on my toys. I was itching to see what happened during the original filming of the movie that lead to all of the consequences we watch our main character deal with today.

I don’t know if I can recommend this to everyone but if you like cursed films, screenwritings, and dual timelines I think this is the book for you!

Thank you so much to the publisher & netgalley for this eARC!

Horror Movie, Paul Tremblay’s latest, is a cynical tome with interesting things to say about the genre of horror, filmmaking, and Hollywood’s obsession with reboots. The book follows the only surviving members of an unfinished film shot in the early 90s called “Horror Movie” as he takes meetings with producers and directors about rebooting the film. The chapters switch between those efforts, bits of the film’s original script, and behind-the-scenes happenings. Along the way, you’ll the mystery of what happened to the cast and why the film went unfinished will be revealed, but some questions will go unanswered. Unanswered in a highly enjoyable, Lynchian way, though.
The sense of unease you feel during the early pages of this book sticks around for its entirety. But the chapters that chronicle the reboot efforts and fan conventions introduce some humor that I appreciated. Horror Movie is a bit of a slow-burn with an ending that will likely be divisive. That said, if you enjoy the work of David Lynch, mystery, and cryptic tales that don’t resolve everything, I feel like you’d appreciate Tremblay’s latest.

Woof! I haven't read a book that has kept me up late at night repeatedly just to read another section, to find out what happens next. The story was engaging, consuming, The past and present interwoven narratives add a level of perspective but also unease. Is the narrator even reliable?! Like the Horror Movie, this novel isn't for everyone but for those it is for - it will become a cult classic.

From beloved author Paul Tremblay comes a stunning new release, “Horror Movie”, about a cursed low budget horror film made by teenagers in the 90’s and its high budget Hollywood reboot. This book had me feeling deeply unsettled. Only one surviving original cast member is left, and he’s been asked to play the slasher villian “The Thin Kid” one last time. 3/5 Parts of the original film were released due to the deaths that occured on set, but despite the tragedies there’s still a massive cult following. The guilt of the main character is poingnant, but we’re left wondering why as we weave through past, present, screen play, and reality.

The fanbase for the original “Horror Movie” is obsessive and vast, so when Hollywood approches with a $2.5 million dollar budget for the reboot, how can he say no to playing the “Thin Kid” on last time. The screen play for the original movie is dispersed throughout the book, and weaves a sense of unease and surreality as you question how the timelines of past and present film making are intertwined. The main character oozes contempt and distaste for the world of film making, and because of his experiences you belive he has valid reasons to feel that way. I felt the isolation and yet the complete resolve of this charachter in my bones. Paul Tremblay’s somber and cynical storytelling are fascinating and enthralling. The dark mystique woven throughout the story had me completely hooked. The ending was superb despite its abruptness. if not for the way i didn’t really enjoy reading the screen play I would’ve given this 5 stars.

A screen play and three short scenes uploaded to the internet are all that remain of Horror Film. The latest from Paul Tremblay, tells the story of this low budget movie made mostly in an abandoned elementary school that shares the name of the book. Completed in 1993, no one seems to have ever seen the full film, but there are plenty out there who want to. The actor who portrayed the 'Thin Kid' is our narrator, and the sole surviving cast member, brought in to help make the big budget remake a success.

The narrative spools out from the present, with most chapters split into two parts. The first details events leading to the filming of the remake and the backstory about the original filming. While the second half is the screenplay of the movie from its beginning through to the end. Like other works of Tremblay, we have just the one viewpoint to work with and its always a question of how much we should trust it. As part of his role, the Thin Kid wore a creepy mask and was not to speak with the rest of the cast, set apart to better influence the results.

After The Pallbearers Club, Horror Film feels very much like a return to form with a playground of horror film tropes, unreliable narration and the demanding community of fandom. The making of the film was a formative, key event in the life of the Thin Kid, and something he has had a very hard time moving on from. Thanks to the growing interest in the film, he has been able to milk his role. But was this outcome planned? And what happened on set that stopped the wider world from seeing the original film?

Recommended to readers of horror, movie making of or behind the scenes or Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno Garcia.

Horror Movie was excellent. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. I highly recommend to horror fans!


Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my gifted copy.

TW/CW: Language, bullying, body shaming, peer pressure, abuse, gory scenes, blood, violence, cancer

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:
In June 1993, a group of young guerilla filmmakers spent four weeks making Horror 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.
Release Date: June 11th, 2024
Genre: Horror
Pages: 288
Rating: ⭐ (I wish negative stars were a thing)

What I Liked:
1. Love the VHS cover
2. Reads fast

What I Didn't Like:
1. I hate the writing style
2. Screenplay inside book
3. Repetitive
4. Book rambles
5. Characters are just bad

Overall Thoughts:
{{Disclaimer: I write my review as I read}}

Completely not enjoying reading the screenplay in this book. So far it's taking me out the story I'm currently suppose to be reading. It's making me remember how much I hated his other book; The Pallbearers Club and you had to read a memior inside a book.

Honestly I wish this was just the story of the Thin kid and not this weird 4th wall story.

So Thin kid's parents are trying to find him but why do they keep calling Karson, Cleo, and Valentino? Was it a known fact they were friends with him? No where (yet) has it been mentioned they are friends and this seems like the first time they've hung out.

Page 100 and I really hope something happens because so far I am bored.

"Not really. I mean, some people are going to think what they do to the Thin Kid is because of their classmates, and that’s fine. But I don’t really care about motivation. Neither do you, Cleo. We talked about how the teens do it because they can and because they’re inexplicably driven to do it and the viewers will be driven to ask why why why and not have a clear, easy answer. That’s what’s scary, that’s why I want to make this movie."
Of course it'll an ambiguous reasoning.

I don't care for reading about the story in screenplay format and the next chapter having to read about the exact same scene, but behind the scenes. It's so repetitive.

We find out that these people associated with the movie all died;
• Karson (car accident)
• Valentina (pancreatic cancer)
• Mel (drowned)
• Dan (massive coronary)
They all died at different times and different years making it feel less creepy. When reading about this dude being the last one alive - the survivor you assume it all happened during the flimimg, but it's not. I guess we still need to find out what happened to Cleo.

Karson accidentally cuts off thin kids finger but I have questions. Did they really shove his real finger in his mouth? Was that his line to say; "oh god", "why", and "I'm sorry" apart of the script or improvised at having his finger cut off? I can't imagine staying in character enough after having a finger cut off.

Omg I still have another 132 pages left of this book. Sigh.

The only mystery in this book is the ending and finding out the final scene with the unnamed character and Cleo.

How was there a cult following for a movie already if no one ever saw it before?

I still bored. Wanna dnf this....

Karson's death just rambles on and on with the author repeating "some of us" and I just wanted to rip my hair out.

We do learn that actually unnamed dude didn't lose his finger the night of filming, but on the day he went to see Valentina. She cut it off with a knife. So what was the point of telling us that it was really cut off on scene?

So Cleo knew the chainsaw had its chain on and during the fight scene with thin kid sits up or pulls the chainsaw into her neck? So did they continue filming afterwards? The rest of the scene has them walking away from the body but is this the take that used? They say they called the police after the accident happened but did they? I know some of the scenes were filmed out of order because it's what they said in the beginning does that mean the ending was filmed first before the death or they just continued on after her death?

That's the ending? The Thin kid just kills the new Thin kid. Now he's picked up the personality of the monster.

Final Thoughts:
Was this book good? Answer no. This book was so boring and dry. I was taken out of this book so much having to read the screenplay that I didn't care about anyone. Also nothing happens. Everything feels so removed from this book that it's just so boring. The writing style was atrocious. The characters were these not like other people kind of attitude.

I had a hard time wrapping my mind around why this movie would have a cult following. The story is absolutely dreadful and completely basic. There's no mystery in it really because the screenplay was released by the actual creator, so I had a hard time understanding where the mystery and cult following came from.

I feel like I left this book with a lot of questions and there were some plot holes. How did everybody know who the Thin kid was if no one ever saw his face? How did we even know that thin kid that we're listening to is the real thin kid in the movie?

I ended up skimming the end of the book so the last 30 pages and that was a struggle. I'm going to go ahead and say this was the worst book I've read of 2024, so far.

Say that this book is a horror book is grasping at straws. This reads more like a thriller than a horror book.

IG | Blog

Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins Publishing for this advanced copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Another stunning, visual and unique story told only the way Paul Tremblay can tell it. The novel jumps between past and present as we follow the filming of an indie horror film that gains a cult following despite never being completed. The tension starts to build early on, with weird accidents and mishaps on set, and the descriptions of the movie scenes are so creepy and vivid you will wish it was actually made into a film (maybe one day it will be?!).