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.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. I really thought I knew what I was getting into with this one only for Tremblay to flip the story on its head just when I thought I knew what was going on. This story was captivating and the inclusion of the original movie script was my favorite part. It's no secret that I am a huge Tremblay fan but this one might be my new favorite. I read it so rapidly and really could've read it in one sitting if I didn't have silly life responsibilities like working and sleeping. The pacing was perfect with the breaks in the middle of the narrative for the script and the characters, especially the narrator, were standouts. I really have nothing but positives to say about this one and it is everything I wanted from a Tremblay book and more I didn't know he was capable of giving me. This would be a fantastic story to read during spooky season!

Im not sure what i just read. This is bizarre and crazy! One minute i was bored and the next I couldnt stop reading. Four teenagers get together to make a horror movie but things go terribly wrong! OR was it in the script? Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay comes out June 11. Thank you Netgalley.

Wow… where to start with this book.

Before I go any further I just want to say how excited I was that a portion of the book took place in RI. I loved hearing about the characters meeting up at Fish Co. and grabbing food at a diner in North Kingstown. I also loved the reference to “Fire Walk with Me.” I always appreciate a Twin Peaks call out.

Now to my thoughts on the story… I was expecting a typical horror story with the expected jump-scares and supernatural elements, but what I got was more unsettling and disturbing. This is definitely a slowww burn with dense material which adds to how unsettling it feels.

The book switches back and forth in time from the Thin Kids POV - during the original movie shoot and walking us through his headspace during the terrible events that take place and then leading up to and during the present day reboot. I feel as though the Thin Kid was slightly an unreliable narrator, but I don’t want to give any spoilers so I will leave it at that.

Most of the main characters come off as slightly unhinged (in the screenplay and in “real life”) and the story really delves into the underlying evilness and ability to cause harm that is lurking just beneath the surface. The screenplay in the book is meant to play into the viewers (and now readers) most basic fears and how evil and death are lurking just around the corner. If the movie was ever made it would for sure be extremely unsettling and horrifying. I really enjoyed the portions of the book that were taken from the original Horror Movie screenplay. I feel like it gave really good insight into Cleo and Valentina’s characters.

That ending… I don’t want to give anything away so I will say this - It was totally unexpected (for me) and appears to be up to reader interpretation. Little moments sprinkled throughout the book definitely foreshadow what comes to be… but it still was not what I was anticipating at all.

I would definitely recommend this book for horror movie fans and for anyone who loves a slow burn with emotional moments sprinkled throughout and some disturbing and twisted elements.

Thank you for the opportunity to preview Horror Movie. Paul Tremblay is truly a master of the horror genre. This novel is no exception.
The novel centers on 4 young people who are going to make a movie. And of course it is a horror movie.
The narrator is one of these characters and his POV drives the book while giving the reader a perspective on each of the characters.
The book goes back and forth so you have to pay attention as there are many moving parts. This movie was written by Valentina, Cleo wrote the screenplay and Karsen does the “extra” things needed to be done. They call upon a guy they know as “weird guy”!to play the role of the “thin kid”. The monster. These are our characters. But we learn soon enough that this movie was never made. But fokelore has consumed the internet. Because this film that was never made is a horror story as well.
Our narrator. The weird guy or thin kid tells us the past and now and the present. There is a desire to get this movie made in the present time. And our narrator will be part of this “reboot”.
So what’s wrong with that. Well read on as each page reveals the past and the future.
This is very different. Dark and gloomy. But what Tremblay does not disappoint and this is not the run of the mill scary book. It’s truly one of his best.
4.5 stars.

There is a desperate loneliness to this novel that gets deep under the skin. It appears languid and still, but that is only hiding the way it burrows down deep and festers, simmering with the terrifying violence of an unsprung trap.

If you have read other work by Tremblay, this is, narratively, more similar to "A Headful of Ghosts" than "The Cabin at the End of the World." The narration is all from the perspective of the last surviving actor of the film, a decidedly unreliable narrator. It goes back and forth in time from the actual making of the film to the present, with a few stops in between. Simultaneously, most chapters end with some pages from the actual screenplay of the film, though Tremblay has done himself the favor of having the screenplay’s author acknowledge how unconventional it is, which is to say that in place of stage directions there is a decent amount of narration and fourth-wall breaking meta-questioning of the characters, which lets Tremblay let these sections be more evocative and compelling. I enjoyed the constantly shifting narration, it left me feeling a little unmoored and always expectant. I didn’t love the inclusion of the screenplay at first, but it grew on me, becoming an interesting device to convey the emotional reality of the characters.

The secondary characters, at least those featured in the segments focused on the past, are interesting, but kind of open-books. They don’t feel phoned in or like simple stereotypes, but they do feel kind of hollow, in a haunted kind of way. They feel like avatars for people you know, for your peripheral experiences brought to the forefront. The main protagonist is the one telling this story, it is his experience of this story that we get to share, and yet we maybe understand him the least of all. What he does represent is an unfulfilled restlessness, an out-of-place-ness, a loneliness that doesn’t know how it can be fulfilled. Stories often live and die by characters, for me, I want characters to feel real and lived in and genuine… Here, though, I can’t say the characters scratch that itch, but they aren’t trying to, Tremblay is doing something else here that is beyond naturalism, something lost in the wispy purgatory between memory and imagination, and it worked for me, for this story.

The writing was crisp and believable, and the pacing spot-on. To constantly jump back and forth in time is to decide what parts of the narrative to omit, which are as important as what is shown. Every chapter felt like it was deepening my sense of dread while gripping me tighter, urging me to keep reading, the devil on your shoulder quietly admitting you want to see in the dark corners for yourself. I will say the story wasn’t wildly surprising, insofar as once the parameters were set up in the early chapters it wasn’t hard to predict where it would go. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t original, though, and when the ending can be forecasted from the beginning and yet you still find yourself invested and on edge that is a sign of great writing.

There is a pandemic of disaffection and loneliness right now, and a desperate clinging to nostalgia that feels in many ways part and parcel of that loneliness, of the constant feeling of being unfulfilled, unsatisfied, and cast out. Whether Tremblay is intending to comment on that or not, those felt like the dark forests this story found itself traveling, in my experience of it. It was dark and mesmerizing, and a journey that will stick with you long after you think you have put it away.

I want to thank the author, the publisher William Morrow, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.