Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. I was excited for this book. It had such potential but unfortunately it just fell short for me. I’m a ferocious reader and can normally fly through books but it literally took me over a month to get through this one. I almost DNF’d it. I was intrigued at first but then it just hit a wall. It felt so long and drawn out. I wanted it to be over. I couldn’t connect with the characters. I still don’t even really know what I read. I get that it was a novel built off of a short story, so maybe the short story would do it more justice. It definitely did have some eerie tension filled moments but just not enough to salvage this book for me.

3 ⭐️

The premise of this book was SO intriguing, but unfortunately fell flat for me. The author, Michael Wehunt, writes beautifully descriptive narratives however the horror of the story didn’t hit for me like I hoped it would. There were a lot of filler chapters that didn’t seem to progress the plot, and a lot of POV switches that I had a hard time keeping up with. I felt like I couldn’t truly attach myself to any character. The ending of the book though was super creepy and pulled everything together, but wasn’t satisfying as it left me speculating about what could’ve happened next. It definitely didn’t need to be as long as it was either, the last 20-30% of the book things ramped up significantly. The build up was just a bit slow for me.

Thank you so much NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sending me this e-ARC to review!

It took me longer to read this book than what I expected. I kept having to put it down...it was so disturbingly creepy! I loved it! Great take on the haunted/cursed film horror sub-genre.

I think the concepts in this book were really interesting and presented in a unique way, combining online lore and urban legends, cults, and the supernatural in a refreshing way. The cast of characters gets a little bloated in the middle of the book and the pacing does get a bit slow. I think I would have enjoyed this one more if it had been just a touch shorter/edited down, but it was still a good read.

Definitely a recommend for folks (like me) who consume horror in any medium they come across. This is a love letter for the horror community with scattered references only we understand. Anyone looking to dip their toe in the genre might not enjoy this book as much as people firmly entrenched in the existing lore.

I absolutely love cursed film and found footage and this book uses both to really great effect. The first half of the book is an absolute masterclass in dread and slowly revealed clues. The film featured in this book, Proof of Demons, sounds absolutely terrifying and the scenes describing it are incredibly unnerving. There are scenes in the second half as well that are undeniably terrifying as well. It’s one of those books that just gets underneath your skin and stays there for days after you finish.

I wanted to like this book. I really wanted to be enthralled in this story and feel the fear with Jorie. Instead, I felt like this script went unedited. We’re introduced to Jorie Stroud, a former horror film enthusiast, years after an experience changed her and her friends’ lives. The story jumped between characters, and it felt incredibly jilted. It was too long, and the pacing was agonizing. Even in the last 10% of the book, I was not sure how the story would end. I enjoy thrillers and mysteries, but October Film Haunt was not the thriller for me.

I grabbed this up, because the cover caught my eye originally, but the synopsis was just as good.

We start off with Jorie, who created The October Film Haunt, and its great, until its not.
Tragedy strikes and completely destroys the group and ended fatally.
Not able to recover from something like that everyone splits off to live their life, until 10 years later.

Fast forward to a new life, and no contact with the old, but the past, just like a bad penny, always wants to pop back up, and she starts getting weird messages, and basically being stalked.

This book was dark and twisty, I really enjoyed it, I kept trying to decide who was the actual bad guy in all of this, is Jorie being tormented, or could she be the tormentor?

When you have to fight the paranormal, and the evil of humanity willing to do anything to destroy others, how can Jorie hope to survive with her son, she already lost almost everyone to this once..

Truly enjoyed this book! There was a lot going on and I had to take some breaks but ultimately it was a super interesting and creepy story that i absolutely loved!

This was an interesting read. I really thought the premise was really intriguing. However, I found it to be a pretty slow read for the majority of it. It is very description- heavy and has some complex ideas. This is not a casual quick read and actually may require multiple readings to absorb it all.

It was definitely creepy and I loved that it asked the question of which is scarier - a supernatural creature willed into creation, or the cultish humans who are willing to do anything, even murder, to bring the creature to life.

I would not recommend this to a casual horror fan, but if you are willing to dedicate some time to really absorb this, it is rewarding.

I was super excited to read this book! It has online lore mixed with horror. I was confused in some parts, but overall I couldn’t stop reading. Definitely has a fantastic publishing date for this horror story.

The October Film Haunt by Michael Wehunt is a chilling and atmospheric story that expertly blends suspense with unsettling horror. Wehunt’s evocative writing draws readers in, creating a tense and immersive experience.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It is exactly the type of book I like to read, I liked the overall plot and found footage aspect, but I couldn't connect with parts of it. I found myself getting impatient with the characters and some of the decisions they made, which were obviously plot devices to move the story. I wish the author had approached it a different way so I didn't want to yell at the characters so much. I skimmed part of the book to get past some slow parts and back to the action and that was a "me" problem. It could be that it wasn't the right time to read this particular book....maybe it's best read in the fall rather than spring. I will try more of this author's work because the overall plot was interesting. Three stars because it's not a bad book. For me, it needed a faster pace and smarter characters.

Wow! This book was good but very trippy. I loved the tribute to the original film and even the fact that Trevor Henderson was referenced in this book.

Reading this book reminded me so much of found footage style horror films. I would love to see this book become a film. It is so original and the writing style is just unique.

I really loved how ambiguous it was at the end. It made it feel like the ending had so many possibilities of what could have possibly happened.

Definitely recommending this book to my friends.

I really wanted to love this book. I've come off of reading several horror novels based about horror films lately, and was excited for another to add to my recommendation list.

Unfortunately this one wasn't it. I tried so hard to get it into it, but the pacing was so slow that I found my attention flagging every time I tried to pick it up. The concept is amazing and I'm hoping taking some time away I will be able to give it another (albeit very caffeinated) go.

I've heard great things about Michael Wehunt, so I will take a foray into some of this other works to see if they are a better fit for me.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC of 'The October Film Haunt' by Michael Wehunt.

Unfortunately I didn't enjoy 'The October Film Haunt' all that much. I say 'unfortunately' because it has everything I enjoy in a horror novel. Unsettling, multiple character storylines merging as the novel progresses, strange creatures, old friendships, mysteries, etc.

I ended up skimming much of it because it was so long and repetitive (and long books don't scare me off) - it felt like I was missing absolutely nothing by speed-reading through much of it.

Maybe it was a 'meta' aspect of the novel - connecting it to horror movie trope of characters making daft decisions - but some of the decisions made by lead characters throughout and especially towards the climax just made no sense, especially for people so steeped in the lore.

I suppose, in the end, I didn't much care what happened to any of the characters.

I've read a couple of film-related horrors recently - 'Silver Nitrate' but Silvia Moreno-Garcia and 'Horror Movie' by Paul Tremblay - and they were tighter, more engaging, and just as unsettling.

This is probably a masterpiece, it wouldn't be the first masterpiece I didn't enjoy, but it just wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion!

I added this book to my TBR when I first saw it on Goodreads because it sounded like an amazing read, so imagine my absolute joy (literal screaming) when I was approved to read this by NetGalley! I legitimately couldn't put this book down until I was finished with it, and that was no easy feat considering this book is 336 pages. When the synopsis said "Horror Movie meets the scope and emotion of Stephen King:", that description was the absolute truth; this book will grip your attention from the very first page and will not let go until the last. The amount of tension, the uncertainty that plagues the characters, the scope of the mythos being created, it's just all so, so good and honestly a top read of 2025 for me! This book can get intense at times, and there's so much going on that it can get confusing, but all of it is more than worth it in the end. I can't wait for more people to read this book and get as excited about it as I am!

This is the best horror novel I’ve read in some time. This doesn’t surprise me a bit considering Michael Wehunt writes some of the best short fiction to be found in the field. If you’re a fan of haunted media, found footage and creeping yourself out this book is for you. It’s unnerving on a cellular level. I finished this several days ago and I’m still afraid to go in the basement. I can’t recommend this enough.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, and the publisher, for my ARC!

This book was a ride, to say the least. It was incredibly descriptive, bringing both monsters and people to life, along with a gorgeous setting in Vermont that felt just as much as a character as anyone else the story followed!

This book is a love letter to horror, especially found footage, which has always been a favorite subgenre of mine. This book read with a similar vibe to Ringu in that it lives and breathes with you through the day. I felt moments of genuine dread while reading. The book begs to be read with its continuing horrific mysteries, asking you to read just a few more chapters. I loved the rotating POV’s, giving us insight to the people involved. The special appearance of a recent horror legend was also funny and wholly appropriate within the book as well. It felt like a historical horror fiction in some ways, which was also fascinating. The parallels to the Slender Man story was intentional and fantastically done. I know I was part of the target audience for this book because I grew up in prime creepypasta era, along with those scary chain emails that had me crying to my mom at age 8 because I genuinely believed I would get killed in the night if I didn’t have at least 10 people to forward said email (I definitely didn’t have 10 people to forward to).

Overall, fantastic book written for people like me. It felt like this book was written for me in some ways, and I hope others like me feel similarly. I wish I had friends like young Jorie, Beth, and Colin (even if it would get us in deep shit) to talk about this book with. Cannot wait for more works from this author!

This book was very disturbing! It was scary, it had a big buildup and made me feel anxious and nervous while reading. I think it was well written, but honestly it was a bit too much for me. This is not something that I normally read

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

The October Film Haunt is definitely a perfect book to add to your fall/spooky season TBR! This book was messing with my mind so hard because I didn't know what was really going on for the longest time. The whole time I was trying to figure out was everything a prank? Was someone seeking revenge for what happened to Hannah? Was it all really just a book the Jorie was editing or writing herself?

I am a sucker for multiple POVs and this book delivered it. I was nervous about it at first because a good portion of the POVs took a long time to show how they were actually connected and why those characters were relevant enough to get their own chapters over others, but it worked out in the end.

I think The October Film Haunt brings on a new take to the horror book genre in a way that combines so many of the elements that people seek out in both horror books and films without taking it too far where it would have been overwhelming. If you're looking for a suspenseful, on the edge of your seat, paranormal, demonic book to read this October, I highly recommend The October Film Haunt by Michael Wehunt!