Horror Movie is about a cult classic horror film that was never released but has a sinister reputation after some initially undisclosed tragedy, and a few clips and the script were uploaded to the internet. All kinds of rumors are out there about the events around the filming. The point of view of the book goes back and forth between modern day as the actor who played the Thin Kid is in talks to be involved in the reboot, and flashes back to the original events along with the story as told in the script.

The tension slowly builds as the Thin Kid tells his tale, and it's not always obvious what was literal truth and what might have been embellished. I found myself thoroughly engrossed between the events of the present, past, and the script itself.

the last 25% of this book really delivers on the promises and potential of the first 75%. I feel like saying any more than that is spoilers. there's an inherent mystery built into the plot, and it delivers in spades. alongside that, there is a clear critique of fandom, celebrity, and obsessions in general, as well as specific nods to what those things mean in a more specific fandom (like horror films). it's good. so well done. highly recommended for horror fans and pop culture lovers in general.


I received a free copy from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I don't often find myself getting spooked by horror novels but WOW was this one scary! I loved the past and present timeline. The writing was phenomenal. I will be spending the rest of April going back through Paul Tremblay's entire backlog of books. I could not recommend this book enough. If you are a horror fan, this book stands alone.

The first words to leave my mouth upon finishing this book were “what the heck in just read”. And i said this in the best way. At first was I was sort of meh about this but the further i got into the story, the more I kept coming back and needing to know more. I think this book is very successful at leaving you little Easter eggs and waiting for it to come back. I kept wanting to go back to this book to read.

I received a free advanced copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was pretty good, I would definitely recommend

~This was given by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

What a uniquely disturbing, mind bend of a read this was! As a fan of Paul Tremblay’s books before especially A Head Full of Ghosts, I couldn’t wait to dive into this one. Without spoiling anything, this horror movie production is truly horrifying. The dark elements of the characters, their relationships and what transpires kept me turning pages late into the night. I loved this book for its original format and was really unlike anything I have read before.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

What in the what did I just read? Honestly, I felt like there was more than just the words on these pages but they are just out of grasp. Like I can see the bigger picture of this book just out of the corner of my eye but when I turn my head to look, it disappears.

Anywho. This was my first official foray into the writings of Paul Tremblay. While I saw reviews mention the slowness of the pacing to start...it didn't feel that way to me. Maybe it was me anticipating what was to come...or maybe I'm just used to slow burn books. I was thoroughly engrossed the whole time. Waiting to be scared. And just like the feeling of what this all means, the horror remained just out of my grasp.

Don't get me wrong. This book was well written and I was so immersed in the pages that I could visualize the way everything was supposed to look. But while the book had horrifying aspects I didn't find myself nervous about turning the page.
Except at the end. When the book just ended. I loved loved loved the whole build up but then it just kind of fell flat for me. A bit rushed. I can say I didn't exactly predict the outcome and I can't actually fathom where the character would go once that trailer door opened.

Which is weird. I felt like we knew Cleo and Valentina pretty well. Could predict their characters and why's and what fors. But not our main character. Our faceless, nameless character. Which is maybe the whole point.

I usually love Paul Tremblay novels, so I was very excited to get this one from NetGalley. I really, really wanted to get into it, but I just didn’t. The narration jumps between the current time and the 1990s when these young people made a horror film gone very, very wrong. In the current timeline, the narrator is the only person still alive who was connected to the never-released film. The premise was great; I just didn’t connect with the execution. I will definitely keep reading his books, but this one wasn’t for me.

The eeriness of a Tremblay novel is something that is hard to come across. IF I were unfamiliar with his work, I do fear I may have gotten a tad bored during the middle of Horror Movie, but anyone familiar will know it’s worth the slow ride into hell. I never could have predicted the ending. It made me rethink everything and want to immediately start over and read the story through a new lense. The characters somehow felt well fleshed out, even being told entirely from one perspective.

This story evoked so many different emotions, I’m not even sure where to begin. PLEASE. BE. A. MOVIE.

Another simply brilliant, mind bending book by the master, Paul Tremblay. Horror movie takes some of the most well known tropes of the genre and blends them and rearranges into a deranged new jigsaw that keeps you guessing throughout.

If you liked Mister Magic by Kiersten White, you will like this! Both focus on media that has since disappeared, with their protagonists intimately involved. While Mister Magic is an exploration of found family and trauma, Horror Movie focuses more on (as the title would suggest) the pure horror involved. Also for fans of Grady Hendrix.

"unsettled, by joyously so" is a quote from this book and also my experience of Paul Trembley.
This is a masterfully complex and layered scary story. I won't tell a thing about it, because going in blind is best.
But I'll say the 90s setting (for some of the story) + the Providence RI location felt utterly real.

Be warned-- it is intended to be an audiobook. I read it digitally and several time the narrator talks directly to the audiobook audience. I actually enjoyed it the way I read it but purist would want the audio. I might just go back and get the audio in order to experience the layers of storytelling and suspense.

I’m having a hard time with this review. This was a good book, it just wasn’t a book for me. I can still tell that it’s arguably a good one but also it settled funny.

Part of what I didn’t go for was the three ways the story was being told- past, present, and the script. Most thrillers now have the past and present that you rotate reading through trying to get your feet beneath you. This script though, it was too artsy. Too showing and telling. Just too much. Which in part sold it as a script, self-indulgent younger someone trying to make sense of how they are seeing the world. It makes sense, but that doesn’t mean I have to enjoy it.

I wouldn’t say this hits all the thrillers boxes for me, but it’s unsettling and lingers. It’s not horror and it’s not a mystery it’s just… uncomfortable. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

I will just describe this book as dark and trippy. I was so anxious and excited to start this book. I am simply going to keep this review short and sweet and not because I wasn’t utterly obsessed with this book and it ticked all my boxes for what I was needing and wanting at that exact moment because YES IT DID but I just want you to read it because it calls out to you and because this too is just what you need. I don’t want to spoil it at all for you. This book played like a movie in my head for me as I read. I felt as though I was watching it AS I was reading it. LOVED THAT. I had all the feelings and emotions as I was reading. I had the sweaty palms, my heart was racing, I gasped throughout the book at parts, I was shocked and surprised at parts. This will take you through a rollercoaster of thoughts and feelings.

You follow a group of young adults who are determined to create their own horror movie but it was left incomplete and after decades tidbits of this film show up online and Hollywood reaches out to a living member of that group regarding completing the film but the thing is is…this film is “cursed” says majority but the story must be told, the real story. This book has plenty of twists and turns to keep you on your toes and I cannot wait for this books release and to share this with all of my book loving friends. This is a great one for the shelf for sure!!!

Ah, yes.

In true Tremblay style, this ambiguous read left me both totally confused on how I feel and extremely entertained.

I loved the movie screenplay plot. If this were an actual movie (or events in the making of a movie), I would have been completely obsessed with it in the 90s. Tremblay pin points the total consumption of horror kids/teens perfectly with that assumption.

What a truly love about all the Tremblay’s work I’ve read so far, and this one in particular, is there isn’t much in yer face obvious horror. The words haunt you in a different way and make that lump in yer head actually try to figure out what is happening. Will you figure it out? Maybe. Maybe not! And that’s the truly horrifying part.

At times, I had to remind myself I was reading a movie plot (or was I?) to be able to get through the true ugliness that is human nature.

Thank you to NetGalley, Paul Tremblay, & William Morrow for the digital ARC copy.

Any good horror movie promises monsters, and this book delivers monsters of all kinds - both human and…not. As both a Tremblay fan and a horror movie fan, there was little doubt I was going to love this book. And love it I did. It’s not quite the head-fuck of Headful of Ghosts, or the gut-punch of Cabin at the End of the World, but it was definitely visceral and unsettling in a way that none of his previous books have been.

I was excited to get to read this one via Netgalley.
I've never read anything by Tremblay before so I didn't know what I was getting into. I did enjoy things about this book but I think I was expecting more to happen. I liked the format of the book, alternating timelines and story vs. screenplay. I thought the characters were interesting, especially seeing into the mind of the narrator/"Thin Kid" as he told his story of what happened in 93 while filming. But the build up did not get the payoff I wanted. I feel like the ending just kind of fell flat for me.

My library is likely to purchase this title due to the author. Tremblay is a popular horror fiction writer and I get it, I could see it. But I did not enjoy this book. The script portions felt clunky, and giant dialogue chunks grew tiring to read after a while.

I don't have anything positive to say about this book, so I'll end my review here.

Two stars for the script notes in Karson's final scene only.

The writing format was very interesting and I really enjoyed reading the script sections of this book! I thought the thin kid was a really cool and creepy character in the beginning but overall I really disliked the main character and the writing felt a bit pretentious and very slow. About 40% into reading this it started to feel like a chore and it was hard to enjoy unfortunately.

Paul Tremblay is a skillful and thoughtful writer whose novels often break my heart, creep me out, or make me think long and hard about a theme or topic (sometimes all at once). But this novel just wasn't for me.

Tremblay is a writer who knows his craft and can write meta-horror like no one else (see, HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS). This novel is absolutely a love letter to horror movie fans, independent artists, and unflinching creators, and I love it for that! Tremblay comes at the filmmaking art and experience from so many thoughtful and multidirectional angles that it is a delight. (A better reviewer than myself could write multiple essays about themes and ideas brought up in this one novel)

And Tremblay's ability to bring the pervasive horror AKA "creep factor" was definitely front and center in HORROR MOVIE. There are plenty of skin crawling scenes in this novel that will stick with you long after you close the book.

Having said all that, HORROR MOVIE just wasn't my favorite. On paper, this novel should have been a slam dunk; meta-horror about filmmaking/cursed films, set in the nineties, a mystery at it's core AND with elements of a psychological thriller...YES, PLEASE! But, the flip-flopping back and forth in time and the experimental format (a found footage/mixed media style) made it difficult for my ADHD brain to hang onto the narrative thread. Several times, I found myself disoriented and unmoored in either time or place.

But, the main reason this novel fell flat for me was because, more than any other storytelling element, I read for emotional connection, and I was simply unable to connect with either the narrator or the supporting cast. To me, they were all unlikable and unsympathetic. And, don't get me wrong, I love a good villain or unreliable narrator... But this crew kept me at arm's length emotionally.

But HORROR MOVIE is definitely worth reading, especially for fans of slasher films and creepy-pasta-era horror. I would never NOT recommend Tremblay as his writing is excellent, his storytelling is imaginative, and his themes are always deeply intellectual. He is a master of his craft.