This was a fun read that was like watching a teen slasher flick—full of gore and campiness. If you’re looking for a quick read and are a fan of the 90s, Evil Dead, and The Cabin in the Woods, this might be for you. That being said, it was a bit too reminiscent of Evil Dead for me, and my rating dropped due to wanting something a bit more original.

another great entry in the rewind or die series, I enjoyed reading this book as I thought it was a great throwback to past horror. It was a great story and I had a lot of fun reading this.

Evil Dead meets Exorcist meets Teeth - just wish the execution was a little better.

I'll start with the positives. I'm a fan of high camp horror and this definitely hit the check points. I also love some stupid teens doing stupid shit and getting themselves butchered. What self-respecting horror fan doesn't love that? The gore in this book is top notch - it gets messy and had me almost gag once. This one is not for the faint of heart in terms of gore. I also loved the ending, it was hilarious and I didn't see it coming and that alone bumped this rating up a little for me.

On to the not-so-positive stuff. It was a little too close to Evil Dead inspired for my liking and it didn't come close to the genius of that film. I think the main problem was some really cringing writing at times. It was really obviously written by a man and I cringed when he used words like "womanhood" for a woman's vagina. It just didn't work at all for me and wording like that threw me many times. Things that were supposed to be clever or funny were just kind of cringe.

I would give this author's work another go, but this one just wasn't fully there for me. It's worth checking out if you want to spend an hour on some decent gore and a funny as hell ending.

C'mon admit it...even if you won't I will...

I always wished that the old TV series Tales from the Crypt had...well, a bit more bite to them. Snark, sex, gore...the list goes on. And yes, some of those Crypt tales were fairly ground breaking at the time.

But guess what- lucky for me, and you if you dig those sorts of things, Unnerving has published a series of books called Rewind or Die that is all of those things and more and I couldn't be happier about it. I'm currently working my way though all of them.

I was given an e Arc of this one. And like the cover says, it really does have shades of The Evil Dead in it.

Despite the short length, this story reads like one three times the length. Every word is put to amazing use here. It's not for the squeamish. Oh...it's really not!

I loved every nasty bit, and like all of the best horror, it goes out on one hell of a note! Also, I freely admit to skimming over and NOT reading NOR trying to pronounce some of the incantations/spells. I don't in ANY book I read, because yeah why chance it. And that my friends is what makes a killer (heh, see what I did there)horror story writer. When they scare you /creep you out enough that you don't want to chance it...Kind of like NOT saying Candyman(one of my favorites ever - not to mention Tony Todd)while looking in the mirror.

Who Will Save Your Soul is classic horror movie in book form and I am here for it! It immediately drew me in. High school students, not the most popular, but invited to hang out with the "cool kids." Obviously, the cool kids have ulterior motives, but the fun really starts here. There are spirits and sacrifice, body horror and gore, and it's all just so great. If you're a fan of classic horror you will love this book.

4/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Unnerving for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Set in the 1990s, a group of teenagers head to a cabin the woods with the help of two unpopular girls in order to summon an ancient demon buried beneath the structure and give it a human vessel. After a slight mishap, the teens have to survive each other and the blood-spilling, goo-shooting demon that’s possessing them.

This story is a near copy of the 1981 horror film THE EVIL DEAD, with teenagers going to a secluded cabin, awakening a demon, and experiencing supernatural terror via nature and possessed friends. The author’s homage even included direct quotes from the film franchise’s pivotal character, Ash. With it being a possession story, there’s also a few nods to THE EXORCIST (the cover art, especially). If you’re a fan of those movies and the stark similarities don’t bother you on a creative level, you’re going to speed right through this novella.

Smith’s use of nature is imaginative and disgusting at every turn. Her descriptions of colors and textures are unrelenting. The teen characters aren’t quite as nasty as the demon but they give it a run for its money with their foul language and “dirty” secrets. Seriously, I’m glad I wasn’t a high schooler in the 90s. Speaking of the 90s, the author pins songs in the story to make it an auditory experience, as well. You’ll recognize the book’s namesake as Jewel’s career-launching tune. The story doesn’t take its self too serious. There’s some corny puns, icky high school drama, and some hard “what the fuck” moments that nudges the books genre placement from horror to extreme/bizarro horror.

The pacing was really well done, especially with the repeated dialogue to establish a different character’s POV and their placement during the action. I had issues with the conclusion, however. I enjoyed the fact that it was fun and a “true” horror ending but it left a lot of questions. There wasn’t any wrap up on the insane events that just went down. A 2-3 sentence paragraph could have summed up things sufficiently and cleared any lingering confusion.

If you’re a reader looking for a raunchier, grosser side of horror without having to sacrifice a goodnight’s rest, Who Will Save Your Soul? is the one for you. It’s not too heavy on the seriousness but it’s absolutely sopping wet with blood, puss, and other bodily fluids that’ll make you gag.

When I started reading Who Will Save Your Soul , I would not have guessed the title comes from the beloved Jewel song. I also would not have guessed even half of the absolutely wild, shocking, and frankly gross events that occur in this novella. But much like the fun reference to Jewel, I delighted in this ridiculous splatter possession story. It is certainly not for the faint of heart, however.

A group of annoying popular kids are going out to a cabin in the woods for a weekend of partying. Henrietta recently got super hot, as teen girls are wont to do, and is now dating one of these popular kids, and this gets her a ticket to the ultra cool cabin hang. But she needs to convince her childhood best friend Mary to come, too. They need someone to drive, and Mary has a van. Mary isn't happy about tagging along, but she figures it's easier to keep an eye on her friend this way. What neither girl realizes is that this trip is absolutely not what they thought it would be, and things go down hill pretty fast in ways one could never imagine. No one ever really expects to encounter an ancient goddess, summoned back from her deep slumber and hell bent on total destruction, do they?

Who Will Save Your Soul is absolutely bonkers. I'm pretty sure the author just decided to take every over-the-top plot point and mixed them into a disgusting putrid soup for our enjoyment. While this novella truly grossed me out at times, I also found myself cheering and laughing out loud to myself from the absurdity. Don't read it if you have a sensitive stomach, but DO read it if you love the Evil Dead movies and splatter horror!

I really looked forward to this book. I settled in for a good read; was disappointed. The premise of the book seemed interesting, but in the end left a lot to be desired. It felt like it was written for teenagers. The characters were not well developed,the ending left me more confused. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book book in return for my honest review. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on this review.

So extra!

Straight up – to truly enjoy Who Will Save Your Soul by Jody Smith, you need to have a few things: a sense of humor, a strong stomach, and an appreciation for those old horror movies in which tongues were always firmly in cheek. Think Freddy Krueger and his one-liners and you’ll get the idea.

This is a fun and wildly entertaining horror schlock-fest.

The book never takes itself too seriously, is crazy unpredictable, and still manages to give us characters we care about.

Now, I’ll admit there were a couple of times the humor was a tiny bit to extra for me (spoiler free, but toilet plunger and wound I’m talking about you!), but I still had fun with this, even as I was shaking my head in disbelief.

If you’re looking for ‘Literary’ horror, move on. If you’re up for a bit of fun, this one’s for you!

*ARC via Net Galley

“The goal remained to find a gun, but something both stabby and swingy would do in a pinch.”*

A group of popular kids go to a cabin in the woods to summon an ancient, evil entity using the body of a classmate as a vessel.

This Evil Dead-esque novella is demonically delightful. Notes of the Exorcist and Carrie, along with an eighties pop music soundtrack add to the bloody fun. The party really gets started once the demoness comes out to play. The violence is on point and an utter gross out in the best possible way.

The cast includes a former pariah who grew out of her awkwardness, her uncool bestie, and the popular crowd with its head mean girl and her cronies. Smith packs the plot with a number of horror tropes which patched together make an awesome Frankenstein monster of a story. One particular horror trope that was invoked is one that I never thought I’d like, but Smith pulled it off perfectly. I laughed out loud several times while reading and found the ending super satisfying.

I am a huge fan of Unnerving’s Rewind or Die series, which invokes the spirit of horror movies watched on videotape. The books make a great escape from the craziness of modern times.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and Unnerving for providing an Advance Reader Copy.

*Please note that my review is based on uncorrected text.