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.

2.75 because 3 is too much but 2.5 isn’t enough.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book hurt my heart because I truly love Paul Tremblay but man did I dislike this book. I was bored until about 60% through the book then I was bored but with a sense of the gloomy atmosphere I assume he desired to create.

The ending was pretty okay, especially in comparison to the rest of the book but it’s not worth forcing yourself through this book if you don’t like it from the beginning. This is the type of book that you either love or you don’t. I’d expect the reviews to show that moving forward.

Not liking this book won’t stop me from reading the next Tremblay book though.

An aborted art-house horror movie called <i>Horror Movie</i> was filmed in 1993. If the title seems a little on the nose, it nonetheless reflects some of the attitudes of the filmmakers. The film was never screened but gained a rabid fan base after three scenes were released on YouTube in 2008.
The novel opens with the actor who played the character "The Thin Kid" in the original production taking a meeting with a potential producer for a remake (or reboot) of the film. We discover that he is the only surviving cast member, but the details are revealed gradually over the course of the story, which alternates between scenes set in the present (Now) and in the past (Then). The Then chapters describe the film's making and also include the original script.

The past is the source of all of the mysteries (hinted at throughout). What was the filming process like? Why was the film never released? Why was there a trial? What happened to the rest of the cast and crew? All of these questions are answered in a way that builds tension right up to The End (the final chapter for both Then and Now). The Thin Kid never claimed to be a real actor, but it turns out that he became a true method actor. In the end he and the character are one.

I often dislike a story structure that alternates between time periods like this one does. It can become too predictable and frustrating when the scene shifts just as the action is getting interesting. But Tremblay handles this masterfully here, and the story flows naturally right up to the shocking conclusion.

Thanks to NetGalley for the Advance Reader's Copy.

Captivated me from the first page, and that's rare for me nowadays. As a huge horror movie fan, as well as a feminist fan of female filmmakers (tangent, but related: go see The Substance!), I was perhaps the ideal reader for this book. The narrator, who I will refer to as the Thin Kid (because the book most often does) has a singularly fun voice. He's smart, he's wicked, and he may be a monster -- either of the human kind, or of some other kind. Is he a monster like Frankenstein created by his own Mary Shelley-esque screenwriter, by the specific instructions of his director, or by the abusive treatment of the other characters/actors in his very method-acted movie? Or both? Or neither? Or maybe he's not a monster at all. All these are the fun and devious types of questions you get in good horror movies, and they are also posited in this book. Tremblay is a killer writer, and as the book hurtles towards its inevitable conclusion, which as in all good horror movies is both predictable and not at all predictable, the fun is really in the first-person narration by this exquisite character.

In short, I just finished this book and would already love to read it again. So I guess now I'm off to read everything else Paul Tremblay has ever written.

So much fun.

Received a digital ARC of this book via NetGalley.

This was the first book I’ve read by this author and now I’ll be going back to read everything else they have written. This was an incredibly well written story. I really enjoyed the screenplay aspects and the depth of each of the characters. The internal perspective of the main character was intriguing. Much like the public in the story, I too would enjoy seeing this as a movie.

Tremblay is hit or miss for me. This one fell sort of in the middle. I feel like this would have been better suited to a novella. I liked the story and plot, it just felt like I was reading a lot of filler.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC! This book was not for me. I didn't find the plot to be interesting.

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC. Normally, I really enjoy thrillers, but this story was a little one note for me. I found the climax a bit of a let down, but more importantly, I didn't understand the motivations of the characters. Since there is a twist at the end, I don't think the narration led to that twist, if that makes sense. It was creepy, and fun, but it didn't come together at the end for me.