This thriller delivers relentless suspense and expertly crafted twists that keep you hooked from start to finish. The characters are nuanced and compelling, adding real emotional depth to the high-stakes plot. The pacing is tight and relentless, making it impossible to put down. A thrilling, unforgettable ride that will satisfy any suspense lover.

Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay is a mind-bending dive into the blurred lines between reality and fiction. The story follows an unnamed narrator, the sole survivor of a 1993 indie horror film, Horror Movie, which gained a cult following despite only releasing a few scenes. Years later, a Hollywood remake is in the works, and the narrator is drawn back into the chaos of his past. As he revisits the original film’s events, the boundaries between his memories and the film’s narrative begin to collapse, leading to a haunting exploration of identity, trauma, and the nature of horror itself.

Tremblay masterfully intertwines the original film’s screenplay with the present-day narrative, creating a layered and immersive experience. The unreliable narration and fragmented storytelling keep readers on edge, questioning what is real and what is imagined. The novel delves deep into themes of memory, guilt, and the human propensity for cruelty, offering a chilling commentary on the darker aspects of the human psyche. 

While some readers may find the pacing slow or the narrative style challenging, those who appreciate psychological horror and metafiction will find Horror Movie to be a compelling and thought-provoking read. It’s a novel that lingers long after the final page, leaving readers to ponder the nature of horror and the stories we tell ourselves.

Horror Movie is an unforgettable and deeply disturbing novel that speaks to your teenage self. I can’t shake the images planted in my brain by Tremblay, which have clawed their way into my thoughts. I’m frequently reminded of this novel by everyday things, such as a scary mask in my child’s room, or the tiny infant mittens styled as little dino claws. It will be months before I stop thinking about the abandoned school and what happened in those classrooms.

I've read many reviews of this book, but I didn't agree with most of them and it took listening to the audio book to understand why. This isn't a book for everyone and if you are the type of person who likes to try and dream of a way House of Leaves could suddenly and magically become an audiobook (impossible) for you to enjoy in another medium, then this book is for you. Somehow this book has absolutely nothing and everything to do with the themes of House of Leaves. This book is an audiobook about a movie that is being made about a movie that was made but never seen by the world. Doesn't that sound a little bit similar... but that isn't even the best similarity since in this book is an audiobook about a movie being made about a movie that wasn't seen about how a person can lose themselves and turn into a monster while becoming the literal monster the entire time. Honestly, I put off writing this review for months and months because I just couldn't not have any spoilers and truly discuss this piece which I have suggested to so many (I even had the audiobook as my pick for book club this month with the young adult/teens at my library).
When the book begins you are seeing the world through the lens of our main character - the Thin Boy, Weird Guy, and he's meeting with a random producer who wants to make Horror Movie into a movie. Horror Movie was a movie originally made June 9, 1993 by Valentina and Cleo and our main character was the "villian/monster" known as The Thin Kid. This might seem almost normal, but the original Horror Movie was never released. Valentina released the script Cleo wrote and three scenes, even though they did film the entire movie. It became a cult sensation from those three clips and now it is being made into a big production that plans to stay completely faithful to the original, even having our main character play his original character during part of the production.
The book jumps around in timeline constantly. We jump from 1991, 1993, the days before the youtube videos, and present day in the present production. We get to see everything through the eyes of our main character and through the screenplay and the movie scenes we get to experience. These jumps can be jarring when you are desperate for the next chapter or next scene, but they also somehow manage to keep you invested. Each chapter builds tension, then cuts away, then builds, and then cuts away until by the end of this rather short book you are on the edge of your seat and emotionally wrung out.
By the time we reach the end, almost every reader is going to know the "twist" because you've been led towards it from the start - from the very first introduction of the main character when he makes an off hand comment about living in LA but not fully being a monster. It's a cute throwaway line that sticks with you on the next go through. Some of the foreshadowing is gentle and subtle and some is direct and blunt, but still has you questioning if it can really go the way you think.
I can't say what the author intended with this work. I am not so pretentious as to suggest I know the message and will now explain it to you, but I will say that by the end I loved that I wasn't sure how much monster I was for reading all the horror I love and watching all the gruesome films I enjoy. It was wonderful to finish this book and to look at myself just a little differently than I did in the beginning.
I rarely suggest experiencing a book in audio over physical, but this book is such a beautiful experience in audio format and I can't help but think it was just a little more fun having this in my ear while going through my rainy day patterns. No matter how you enjoy this book, just enjoy it and then think about on how much monster you may be.

This author is just love his writing! Anything he writes is a must read!

This had Blair Witch vibes!

This was a great and fun read! Kudos again to the author for a great book! Kept you engaged and not sure what to expect

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review

This was a fun throw back horror story that felt like promotion of Blair Witch Project come to life. As someone who loves horror and also loves 90s/00s movies, this felt like such a fun throw back that kept me on my toes, unsure of what direction it was going in.

Ai wanted to love this but I think I’m too dumb and not artsy enough! I think I went in thinking it would be more scary and I think it was more art, and I do think it has its place, but I wish it had been marketed a bit different! I think I will return to it when Im in a different mood.

Horror Movie is a chilling, meta-horror novel that blends screenplay excerpts with a haunting narrative. Paul Tremblay masterfully unravels the mystery behind a cursed 1993 indie film through the eyes of its lone surviving cast member. Dark, layered, and psychologically gripping, this is a bold, innovative take on horror that lingers long after the final page.

"Horror Movie" by Paul Tremblay has a bit of a clunky narrative but once you get the pacing down it should be on every horror flick lover's bookshelf. The emotional rollercoaster this book drives you through is intense!

Are monsters created?

At the center of Horror Movie, we have this question in the back of our minds lingering like a sharp claw caressing the walls of our sanity, begging to be torn down. It is eerie, confusing, and oh so deliciously unreliable. I was completely FLOORED by the ending, and I audibly gasped.

I may have to revisit this one in the future. I listened to the audiobook which added an unsettling atmosphere with its ambience and full cast narration we only hear during the "then" timeline.

This is my first Paul Tremblay book (I KNOW) and it definitely won't be my last!

This was my first time reading Paul Tremblay, and I really enjoyed it. The writing was impressive, and I appreciated how it felt like a tribute to classic horror films. I listened to the audiobook, which made for a great experience—it genuinely creeped me out at times. That said, I don’t think it’ll stick with me long-term, which is why I’m hesitant to rate it higher. Still, I’m definitely interested in checking out more of his work.

I normally enjoy horror. This book, however, didn't work for me. I suppose that I didn't understand the motivations of the characters in the story who were making the original movie, and I couldn't get past that.

This book was a book about a movie about a movie. Essentially, in this book, a horror movie was made by a group of college students that was never finished due to a gruesome incident. Years later, the movie was remade and a conclusion was attempted, with the assistance of the actor who played the "monster" of the original movie. The perspective of the book is that of the actor of the monster character in the original movie. In his voice, we hear the story of the original film, what happened to derail it, what happened to the original actors, what happened to make the movie a cult favorite, and how he was contacted to consult on this new project, the remake.

This is a book about how he becomes twisted into actually becoming the monster in the film, the monster that he plays and finally realizes. I suppose, for me, I don't suppose I understand why the students created him in the first place. What was their motivation in doing so? Without understanding that, the book fell a bit flat for me.

Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay is a mind-bending, meta take on fear, fame, and the unsettling power of storytelling. Tremblay blurs the line between fiction and reality to create a creeping sense of dread. It's less about jump scares and more about the horror that seeps into your thoughts—quiet, strange, and deeply psychological.

This one isn’t your typical slasher tale. It’s about the stories we tell, the things we choose to forget, and what happens when we dig them up again. Smart, eerie, and deeply original. Perfect for fans of experimental horror and anyone who loves feeling just a little bit haunted when they close the book.

Horror movie does a great job building atmosphere and suspense. I wasn't as impressed with the ending as I don't prefer leaving things ambiguous. Overall I would still recommend this title.

I enjoyed this book and the way it skipped back and forth between the then and the now. I enjoyed not being able to decide if I trusted our narrator, but thought the ended with a little bit rushed. In keeping with the rest of the story, I wish I could have left still wondering if he was/wasn't absolutely off his rocker.

This book reminds me of Stephen's King writing style and I will say this book is a very slow paced and may not be for everyone

Unfortunately, this just didn’t work for me. A group of college aged kids attempt to make a very low budget film that is generically titled Horror Story. It never got released and has a bit of a cult like following due to the circumstances surrounding it. Present day we meet one of the only actors left from the original film. He is in discussions with a Hollywood producer to reboot the movie. The book alternates between past and present, and most of the past focuses on the actual inner workings and making of the movie. This is told mainly through snippets of a screenplay. Ultimately, this didn’t work for me as I felt I was reading exactly that, a screenplay. There certainly were some creepy elements to it, but I never felt the dread that I should have. Not to mention this is an extremely slow book that nothing really happens until the very last few pages and by that point I honestly just wanted the book to be over. I think if it had more of a cursed movie type feel I may have been more intrigued, or maybe if it wasn’t written in the form of a screenplay for most of it it might’ve worked better for myself.

Thanks to NetGalleyand the publisher for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

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.

This book definitely has the weirdness I'd say most people are looking for when they're seasoned Paul Tremblay readers and for that it should be a hit, but for me the pacing was so slow it dragged itself down so maybe keep that in mind going in to it.

I like to thank the publishers and NetGalley for allowing me a chance at reading this.

I think there is a select group of people who like Paul Tremblay's work. For me, sometimes a book will register / go over well with me. This one did not.

His writing is a lot like Stephen King - where he will give you so much information that is non-sensical or oddly captured to lead into the point / topic that is being discussed. This is about a horror movie that was made in 1993, and the current day narrator is talking about his time making it while Hollywood is interested in taking this indie / cursed project and making something big-budgeted out of it all.

I made it 15% into it and couldn't take it any further.