While this is an interesting approach to telling this story, I found the overall execution to be clunky and not particularly compelling, unfortunately.

Haunting exploration of the power of storytelling, memory, and fear itself. The novel feels like a lost cut of cursed cinema - unsettling, unpredictable, and deeply immersive. Great!

What a unique book. This slasher type horror is what us horror fans LOVE!
There was a specific scene in the “movie” that will haunt me for a long time, it felt like I was watching it in a pitch dark room and I simple could not look away. I LOVED the whole movie script part of it especially being able to see the difference between the making of the original and the reboot. It was descriptive, it was dark, it was gory and it was perfection. A must read for when you feel like escalating your heart rate.📚

I had very high hopes of this book. The premise sounds like something that would be a 5 star book for me, sadly that was not the case.

It took me months to finish this book, I eventually got the audiobook to help me finish but something just didn’t work for me.

I was pretty appalled at the end of this book. I definitely was taken back and didn't see that coming so the author did a good job in terms of plot twist. However the back and forth between timelines really built this suspense that never really felt like it went anywhere. There wasn't a big payoff, instead it was just disturbing.

This book feels as cursed as the movie it is describing—in the best possible way. Tremblay once again weaves the inherent sadness of human nature in with some truly frightening scenes. We are truly the monsters we love to run from.

Bless Paul Tremblay for always zagging when people want him to zig. Horror Movie is as meta as a novel can get, part oral history about a famous unfinished cult film, part screenplay of said film, and part memoir, Horror Movie is never what you expect it be, and that makes it all the more fun. To say more would be to spoil, but readers who prefer their horror and narratives to be straightforward may not vibe with this one. However, fans of Tremblay and those looking for a more experimental ride should saddle up!

Horror Movie follows a family caught in terrifying, unexplainable events, blending psychological drama with supernatural thrills. Tremblay's sharp writing and detailed atmosphere make the suspense almost real. The characters are so well-developed that you can't help but feel their fear and uncertainty. This book stands out in the horror genre, leaving you contemplatingthe nature of fear long after you've finished reading. If you're a fan of gripping, spine-tingling tales, this one won't disappoint.

For horror movie fans, lovers of a duel timeline, folks who can’t get enough of behind the scenes drama, this book is for you. Spooky scary keeps you on the edge of your seat. Who do you trust what’s going on and how are we gonna make it out alive? What a fun read!

I was very excited to read this book! I mean a couple of filmmakers want to make a horror movie and then someone dies. The film never gets released because of it but then little clips release on YouTube and bam a cult like following is made. Conspiracies that more crew have died.


That premise made me itch so hard to read this but I in the end what I thought would be a thriller fell short for me. Not scary and I struggled to finish it.

Horror Movie came on vacation with me last spring — and I DEVOURED it two days.

The setup will be familiar to anyone who has ever engaged with fictional horror media about fictional horror media:

In 1993, a small and scrappy crew of filmmakers commenced production on an independent experimental horror film titled, simply, Horror Film. The film was ultimately never released, its production marred by an all-too-real dose of blood and tragedy — which, of course, led to both the film itself and the stories of its making becoming not just cult, but legendary.

In the decades since, numerous attempts have been made to remake the film, to tell its seemingly cursed story again, and the story of its seemingly cursed production, none of which have ever come to fruition… until now.

In the present, the one remaining participant in the original film — the non-actor cast to play the character known only as the Thin Kid — has agreed not only the let the remake happen, but to appear in it himself. And as the new version of Horror Movie goes into production… well. Things go right according to plan… and also, they don’t at all.

Although the setup may be familiar, however, Horror Movie absolutely stands on its own and sticks with you long after it’s over.
One of the things I always look forward to the most about a Tremblay book is the structure — rarely a straight-forward, linear narrative, it’s more often a puzzle box, with many threads to untangle and layers to uncover before the truth of the matter is finally, ultimately revealed. Such is the case with Horror Movie, which features nesting narratives told both in the past and in the present, excerpts from the fictional film’s screenplay, and an untrustworthy narrator truly worthy of the label.

I’ve long considered Head Full Of Ghosts my favorite Tremblay, but this one? It may have kicked it out of the top spot.

I was so super excited for this one. I tried to read the ARC in digital form and soft DNFd because it was not holding my attention. When the audio book came out I tried listening to the book and had to hard DNF at 60% because it once again just could not hold my interest. It’s a very slow burn and my attention span could not handle that.

Horror is personal and subjective because se don't all share the same fears.. What works for one person doesn't work for another and sometimes even books by the same author don't work the same way for the same reader.

Horror Story is set against the backdrop of a student film project that was never released due to a tragedy. Years later, a reboot and remake gets a greenlight and a central member of the original cast is brought back for a small role.

The story explores themes of self-loathing, bullying, feelings of isolation in teens/formative years and how those situations left to fester can produce monstrous acts, outcomes, and people. It also suggests that the reader/observer is complicit for observing (watching) someone's horror and pain for entertainment.

To be sure, this is a thoughtful book -- I'm still thinking about it. But it's not a scary one - at least to me and not in the typical sense. I recommend it if you're drawn to books like this or Tremblay's book, but know your reason for picking it up and what you want from the read--escapism and mindless horror, this isn't.

So…. I’ve decided Paul Tremblay’s books are a hit or miss with me. This one was unfortunately a miss. I tried hard to get into it, but found myself unable to really care about the characters or the story . I found the screenplay to be uninteresting and didn’t feel like it contributed to the plot . Others might like it but it was a no go for me.

I am sad to say that I did not finish this one. I don’t think it was the right timing for me but I may try again in the future. I found it somewhat difficult to get into but I am not sure that I’m a fan of his writing style personally. I was slightly confused by the premise of this and why they felt it was necessary to remake the film. I think ultimately I was not interested enough to put forth an effort to stick this one out.

I understand the premise of this book and I do like this authors writing. I enjoy how he manipulates his words and uses advanced vocabulary. I also did enjoy the actual script writing. I read the physical book and also listened to the audio at the same time. My suggestion for anyone wanting to read the book, listen to it instead. The script reading from the original movie is interesting. The remake part is actually somewhat boring. The main character is a sarcastic negative character, in my opinion.
I’m giving this book a three because I didn’t really understand the main premise, other than to do a remake of original script and actual release it as a movie. I kept putting it down and I wasn’t ever invested in any of the characters. I can easily forget their name and their role in the book.
This book is one of those you either really like it or you don’t for a variety of reasons

In 1993 a group of young filmmakers made a film called Horror Movie, intended to be an art-house horror flick. But it was never released to the public, though it drew an underground fanbase. Years later, an attempt to remake the original includes recruiting the actor who played “The Thin Kid” in the original - the only surviving cast member. But to remake the movie means revisiting the past, and as the memories come back, the lines between reality and film begin to blur.

It’s impossible not to read this book without also thinking about the iconic found-footage horror film, The Blair Witch Project, which absolutely at least partially inspired this novel. At first, the unique formatting here is very intriguing: jumping back and forth in time to when they shot the first movie to present-day pitch meetings, and also including lengthy sections of the original screen play. But as the book went on, there was a stagnant feeling to the plot, and the plot started to lag as a result, the momentum almost stagnant. Tremblay is considered one of the best horror writers working today and it’s easy to see why - there were scenes in this book that will stay with readers for a while - not to mention a truly staggering ending moment - but something was missing, and it might have been in the characterization.

I was gifted this ARC when I had some issues in my personal life, and just could not get into the story. I heard audio helped some readers, and definitely plan on revisting in the near future, as I am a huge fan of Tremblay.

Between the heavy foreshadowing and the horror-movie "Oh my God, no, you idiots, don't go in there" quality of some of the decisions made in this book, it's evident early on that things are going to go very wrong for the characters who take an obviously cursed mask and try to use it to create a monster for their indie horror movie. <I>Horror Movie</i> operates on a couple of parallel time tracks — one focuses on the making of the film, and the other takes place much later, as the film's survivor (and biggest victim) navigates life in the permanent shadow of the film's reputation.

The structure is really clever — the author uses each of these timelines to drive up tension in the other. The more we learn about the present, the more we're led to wonder what happened on the film shoot. And the more the story of the film shoot unfolds, the more we're led to wonder about its effects on the obviously disturbed first-person protagonist, and to worry about what's going to happen as a new modern-day crew, capitalizing on the mystique of the original movie, tries to remake/finish the project that never concluded.

One thing you have to say for this book: It lives up to the title in spades. It's about two different sets of people, each making the same horror movie at different times, while each unwittingly living out a different horror movie. The meta layers here are pretty rich, particularly the self-awareness of the first group, as they try to make horror by living out horror, while unaware that they're actually in the kind of horror story that they're (sort of ironically, sort of not) trying to evoke. I've always felt like the big question horror fans are asking themselves when they sit down to a horror movie isn't "Who's going to survive this?" but "How ugly is it going to get when they don't?" This book is that question as a four-dimensional puzzle and a game being played with the audience.

Thank you to Netgalley for the copy of this book!

Overall my experience with this one was - okay. I liked the plot and some of the characters behind it, so I'm bummed out by it being okay. I didn't find it very scary or creepy. This left me liking the concept of the book but not the execution. The ending is often described as a mind f*** and I understand why - this was a wild part to the story.

Even though I felt like I didn't engage the whole way through, this had potential and didn't hit for me.