Paul Tremblay presents…

There’s a lot to sift through with this one. It’s probably Tremblay’s most dense work so far - memory, identity, legacy, & regret, as well as the relationships between creator & creation, artist & audience, fiction & reality; he’s juggling a lot of sharp objects, at least in a thematic sense, but he manages to keep them all suspended in the air, tracing deep tracks throughout the narrative.

The storytelling is light on its feet, confident in its dexterity. Tremblay knows exactly where he’s going character- & plot-wise, & it always feels like a natural progression. The pacing, which is driven primarily by the nonlinear structure, is constantly moving forward - stalking, if you like - while also lingering alone in vacant classrooms, daydreaming nightmares.

Attempting to be in control of one’s own narrative is, to me, the book’s most compelling exploration. Tremblay examines it on both micro & macro levels, from specific word choices to meta-textual details. To anyone reading this review, there’s a chance for resonance, because social media is largely a way for us to control how we present ourselves, which itself is an attempt to control how others perceive us.

& as it relates to HORROR MOVIE’s unnamed narrator - a man who is so desperate to be in control of how his story is told - is that, despite the fact that he is writing the book we are reading, he is still a fictional character in a fictional story written by Paul Tremblay, & he will be judged by the reader regardless of how much he tries to dictate outside perception. Just as an artist cannot fully dictate the audience’s interpretations, just as we cannot fully dictate what online strangers think of us.

HORROR MOVIE is a novel with a lot to say, a lot to unpack, & all of it is worth thoughtful consideration. It’s just as disturbing as it is emotional, as heartbreaking as it is enjoyable. & even without all of its layers, stripped of its scaly flesh, down to its rotting bones, there remains, at its core, an experience like no other. & one of Tremblay’s best.

I did not enjoy this book. Both plots: the “current” and the past, were not interesting and the movie script provided nothing but confusion. I wanted to like this book, but it was too different; that will probably be what makes many people like it, but not me. The writing is top notch, but it the plot is too subtle and there is not enough action. Thank you, NetGalley, for the advanced copy. I usually enjoy Tremblay’s books.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC! June 1993 four college students set out to make a horror film. A film that would be familiar and yet different from other horror films. But an accident on set kept the film from ever being released. Only three scenes and the screenplay were ever released to the public, but those scenes made an impact, generating a large cult following. Now the film may get a second life through a remake. The story is told through the only remaining cast member, "The Thin Kid". The narrative is split between the current day with meetings for the new film, and the story of the original production with bits of the screenplay interspersed. The story keeps you on the edge of your seat as you see the psychological effects of the film and worry for what might happen. With a surprising twist at the end, Horror Movie is sure to please fans of filmmaking and horror stories.

Honestly, this was ok. Probably closer to 2.5 stars. I was into it for the first third or so, but the main character is very, very annoying, and it ended up almost feeling like listening to a mediocre podcast episode about someone reminiscing on their time making a movie with friends. There's more to it than that, and you can definitely tell that this was written by the same author as Head Full of Ghosts, but I almost didn't even notice the big twist at the end. I was so tired of it, that I just started skimming while this guy went on and on about the remake of his movie, and noticed that something weird was going on and had to go back to see what I missed. It seemed to kind of come out of nowhere, but hey, at least it was kind of exciting. The movie that the characters in the book are making sounds kind of interesting, I'll give it that. Not really my cup of tea, but I'll still read what Paul Tremblay does next.

Horror Movie is the best horror novel I've read in a long time! I'm thoroughly impressed by Paul Tremblay's ability to create a creepy, tension-filled atmosphere that doesn't let up. The concept of a cursed movie is a great one, and this does it well. I was constantly anticipating what would happen next and continuously surprised. Despite the curse-filmed genre being well established, Horror movie manages to carve out a unique space and create a lasting impression.

I wanted to love this book. The idea of a famous horror movie that was never actually released but is now being remade with one of the original actors sounded promising, but the long sections of screenplay gave me the feeling of watching a movie that a friend had badgered me into because it was going to be the best thing ever. There was nothing particulary creepy until it picked up pace in the last quarter of the book, but by that point I'd pretty much lost interest.

I thought this was really well written and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future. I think it will find readers at our library, so we will definitely be purchasing for the collection.

Oh, I loved this.

At first, I wasn’t sure. The script that was so critical to this story was a bit odd. Turns out it’s supposed to be that way and it eventually melds into the real world story to horrific effect.

The book mixes slasher fiction with a stunning psychological horror and it’s very cleverly crafted.

I’m not a huge fan of books with a movie/Hollywood background, but this should work those who do love that AND those who don’t. The movie making is important, but the story is even more so.

This one stayed with me!

• ARC via Publisher

Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow & Paul Tremblay for the digital ARC of Horror Movie in exchange for an honest review.

I’ll be honest, I have not previously been a huge fan of this author but so many others love his work that I keep signing on to read each of his latest books.

In this book, a by Hollywood outfit wants to do a big budget reboot of the cult classic 1993 Horror Movie by a group of young, guerilla filmmakers. As the only remaining surviving cast member to the original film, “Thin Kid” is skeptical about the reboot because he remembers all the horrors of the original filming. But he concedes and now gets to relive his worst nightmare.

After reading this book, I am still not sure I would dub myself a Paul Tremblay fan, but this was a step in that direction.

I thought this was a very well done HIGHLY psychological thriller. Pardon the language, but this was a total mindfuck. It was very dark, very disturbing and completely immersive. Coming in at under 300 pages, this was a fairly quick read. I started a little slow, but once it picked up, it went by quickly.

I enjoyed the alternating timelines between the past & the present.

This book is not for the faint of heart. True horror fans only!

This was a solid 4 Stars for me. I’d be happy to finally promote a Paul Tremblay title!

Paul Tremblay’s “Horror Movie” is of the cursed film genre. This takes place with alternating timelines, and is told by the “Thin Kid”. This was an unsettling read and I really enjoyed the last scene. While it kept me interested through the whole story, something about it fell flat. Still worth the read though! Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the ARC.

Horror Movie. It's the perfect title. This story from Paul Tremblay (a true master of horror) is a slow-burn, nightmare of a tale. From the beginning, it's clear that tragic things happened, but what those are, are hard to believe.

1993 - A group of people set out to make a horror movie. Cleo has long been working on the script, her friend Valentina is set to direct. Their friend Karson is the male lead and then there's the Thin Kid. The Thin Kid is our narrator for the story, leading us back and forth through time.

Present - The Thin Kid is going to be part of a reboot of the film. Three scenes, and only three scenes, have been released to the public. The lore surrounding the movie is legendary. As the Thin Kid, tells of his life, post filming, it's clear that something tragic happened to everyone involved.
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And that's all I want to say.

Tremblay is able to create stories that bend the mind and create horrific scenes inside the readers mind. I love his books, passionately. I never know what is going to happen and as always, the end always comes from nowhere and turns the plot upside down.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review.

I just finished Horror Movie and I am still trying to figure out how I feel about it.

The back and forth in the chapters confused me at first, but made sense later and I did enjoy the script pieces that were included throughout the story.

Now for the ending. I did see part of it coming but not the very end piece. This is where I am not really sure how I feel about it. Was it shocking. No. Was it surprising. Kind of.

It was worth the read to see another take on the horror genre, but it wasn’t my favorite one this year.

Okay talk about eerie! I was so unsettled and intrigued by Horror Movie. That ending too! Jaw dropped! I was not prepared for it. This was my first book by this author though I own others. I am excited to go back and read those now! I could easily see this as a cult classic.

This book definitely won’t be for everyone, but I really liked it! More creepy than scary…it took me a little to pick up the timelines, but once I did I was hooked!

I've become a fan of Paul Tremblay's books over the last few years. The horror genre is filled with junk books, often featuring gratuitous gore in place of actual terror. It's why I've been so glad to find Tremblay. He strikes a balance that is very scary, but much of the "scare" happens just off-screen which makes that all the more terrifying. There's a reason why the dark is so frightening; we can't see all of what it truly contains.

This title is generally in-line with his previous works, although not my favorite. It's still a clever idea, and I like how he uses meta-storytelling to peel back the layers of the onion and reveal what lies beneath. He does this slowly, sometimes intentionally painfully slowly (and the slowness is what creates the tension that in turn creates the ultimate terror - he even analyzes this concept itself in one scene that describes how the viewer of the film scene would be forced to wait for several minutes before the monster appeared).

Ultimately, this book didn't scare me to my core the way several of his other titles had. It did make me think, and made me question many things that I take for granted about myself and others. I do think that this may have been Tremblay's ultimate goal. The title of the book is almost a red herring, in my opinion. It's not actually intended to be a horror book; it's intended to be a deep dive into a sort of existential dread that is dressed up as horror, but where the true fear lies within the "normalness" of all of us.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this eARC for unbiased review. This review will be cross-posted to my social media accounts closer to the book release date.

Okay talk about eerie! I was so unsettled and intrigued by Horror Movie. That ending too! Jaw dropped! I was not prepared for it. This was my first book by this author though I own others. I am excited to go back and read those now! I could easily see this as a cult classic.

I did find myself skimming towards the end at certain parts as they didn't seem to do anything to the story for me. Otherwise, solid read!

Thank you NetGalley, Paul Tremblay, and William Morrow Books for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay releases June 11, 2024!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Kindle ARC of Horror Movie in exchange for an honest review. This isn't the first book I've read by Paul Tremblay so I was excited to receive this ARC. Horror Movie makes the reader ask: are monsters born that way or can they be made to be monsters? Four teens attempt to make an indie horror movie, using an abandoned school as the location. One of the teens is labeled "Thin Kid." We never see his face (hidden under a mask) and never hear his voice but he is the person telling the story, looking back as an adult. A director contacts him in order to propose a remake of the original Horror Movie, which ended so badly that it was never shown to the public but clips and speculation about it abound. Horror Movie is slowly-paced but builds up to a satisfying ending - a type of dread seeps into the reader but the reader must find out what happens.

A weird and creepy slow burn of a book takes you from past to present with the filming and refilming of an indie horror film. This is a book that will leave you thinking about it afterward- who really created the monster? Without this film, would they have been fine, or did their personalities doom them to their fates? As far as classifying this book as a horror, I would say it is more disturbing than it is actually scary.

Cosmic horror is a big seller right now, and with it, this idea of unexplainable monstrosity. I think the literary horror of the past few years has been claiming cosmic horror while presenting unexplained monstrosity. I love Paul Tremblay, don't get me wrong. I did not love this book, though. It's well-written, but to me personally, it feels under-developed. The story is really fascinating, but we only get a glimpse of the most interesting bits before we're back to basically a description of horror rather than actual horror.

The concept for this book was really fun. I found the story intriguing during some parts. The author did a fantastic job building up the atmosphere. He didn’t shy away from the gore and violence. There were a couple of moments that had me physically cringing while reading.
One of the issues I had while reading was that I found it a bit hard to follow. The timeline jumped around a lot. It was hard to know at times if we were in the present, past, and dialogue from the original movie script. I had to read a couple lines to get the context clues to figure out the timeline. Some of the formatting inside of the book with the lines of dialogue from the film was a little bit weird but I chalked that up to having an ARC copy.
There was some level of predictability with the book, but I think that’s just kind of the nature of the story. There were some aspects that still managed to surprise me in the end. I didn’t really feel a connection with any of the characters. The author just managed to keep me hooked enough to want to find out what happened with each of them.
This one had aspects I liked, and others that I didn’t. I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend this one. It ended up very Mid for me. I do want to check out this authors other works because I did enjoy his writing style. This just wasn’t the one for me!