4.5/5 from this horror lover!

I knew going in to this that I was both the prime audience and not the intended audience at the same time.

I LOVED it. Most of the information was information I knew as a person who consumes horror films at an alarming rate, but there were still tidbits I didn't know. This is the perfect breakdown for a person who may not think they have the stomach for horror staples.

Highly recommend for weenies and horror fans alike!

I LOVE everything horror. It’s an ever evolving genre and I’m always keen to read/listen to anyone’s POV on the subject matter.

I should’ve really paid closer attention to the title. This is really horror for dummies not weenies. If you’ve never seen a horror movie but want to know their plots/relevance this book is for you. If you are a connoisseur of the genre this book will bore you.

First off, I will say Hughes did an amazing job in her curation of titles. She goes through the rise of horror in the 70s with Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween to the slasher craze of the 80s to the genre becoming aware of itself in the 90s and 00s to the found footage craze in the 10s and finally the social commentary surge of the 20s.

In each chapter she gives a LENGTHY synopsis of a film followed by a short explanation of why the film is relevant.

Honestly you could just read the IMDB synopsis and trivia for each film she covers and it would be the same info. Where is the commentary?? It’s so brief. This book is 75% movie summary.

Sigh…It’s probably just me, but if you are a newbie you might dig this overview of the genre.

I absolutely loved this book. For me the scarier the better but I still found such wonderful trivia, reminders of favorite parts, and recommendations throughout the book. I was hoping their would be an audio and it's super fun to listen to but I highly suggest purchasing a print version too. I love the area dedicated to talking points at a party the most.

I really enjoyed this book. I will say I am not a "weenie" and absolutely love horror movies so I was already familiar with all of the films discussed in this book. As someone that loves horror movies, I thought that I might find this boring, but it was quite the opposite. It was great to revisit many of my favorite movies and the additional discussions around each movie was great. It was like listening to one of my favorite horror movie podcasts.

I loved that the author added a recommended reading list to end of each chapter if someone is too nervous to watch the movie or if they want similar vibes in books. The author includes "you could probably watch this if ..." and "you'll want to avoid this movie if ..." recommendations for those who are scared to watch but maybe want to give some of the movies a try. It also includes fun facts to jump into horror movie conversations that don't require you having seen the movie.

I am not sure if the print version has movie illustrations but I hope so! I'll be looking for a print copy soon. The narrator is great as well. My only drawback (and it's personal preference) was there are some slang? (if you want to call it that) statements at some point that felt odd from this narrator, but wouldn't bother me if I was reading the print.

Disclaimer: I received a free ALC from Netgalley.

This was a lot of fun. I am not a horror weenie and I have watched every one of the films mentioned here but I really enjoyed the recaps and insights provided throughout. This is definitely a great way to check out movies you may have been too scared to watch. Even if you have seen them all the commentary provided is fun to listen to. All the films spoken about are classics, even the more modern ones. As an aside, I listened to the audiobook version of this provided by NetGalley and the narrater does an incredibly job. Thank you NetGalley!

Halloween came early this year!

So I love horror movies, right? But I struggle with gore, body horror, and I struggle to watch them alone. My husband refuses to watch them with me (unless it's the Scream series and I beg him a million times) so I'm not 100% caught up on all the hip and happening horror movies of the day.

Even though I've watched horror movies since I was a kid, at sleepovers with friends only to immediately watch a Barbie movie afterwards to calm ourselves down, I've been lacking recently.

This book was awesome! Not only did it give me interesting information to share with all my fellow movie nerds, increase my watchlist EXPONENTIALLY, it also gives book recommendations for those who can read horror, but can't watch it. Queue TBR increasing as well.

Emily C. Hughes, if you could make one of these for musicals, I would be forever in your debt. Oh, and also sci-fi's. And Christmas movies. And romance movies. And video games. And Marvel movies. And Star Wars movies. And Lord of the Rings movies. And DC movies. And - well, you get the point.

Highly recommend if you're a horror fan.

Spoiler Alert: I'm a horror movie super-fan (usually -- there's always exceptions to that rule but...*shrug*).

If you've seen all or most of the films discussed in this book (guilty), this reads a bit like a Cliff Notes version, but also sprinkles in funny commentary, interesting backstory/on set tidbits, and -- my favorite part -- a handy book list of similar themed fiction novels to go along with each film discussed. In reading this, I've gained a whole bunch of new titles for my TBR, so thank you for that!

This was concise and well-researched, so if you haven't seen any of the films mentioned, you genuinely feel like you have after finishing this. Halloween Movie Marathon, anyone?

This book was so fun! I don’t think I’m quite the target audience, as I really enjoy horror movies, but there are a few that I haven’t seen and don’t care to see, but I now know what they are about and why they are importantly. I really enjoyed how funny the writing was and the books that were recommended based on each movie.

Thank you to NetGalley and RBmedia for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I freely admit it was the title of this book that first caught my attention. Seriously, how can you not laugh at it. But then I decided to check out what it was about. And while I freely admit, I’m likely not the target audience, since I absolutely love horror movies (and have since I was like 6 years old, lol) the book description still intrigued me. And while I have seen most of the movies discussed in the book, I nonetheless enjoyed the heck out of listening tp this audiobook, Sure, the hook may be that the is geared towards people who are interested in knowing about iconic movies but are too scared to actually watch them (my sister would be one such person) the truth is that this can be enjoyed by anyone, even horror lovers like myself. Emily does a great job exploring each of them films, giving detailed plot breakdowns, discussions of iconic scenes, and even random tidbits of trivia type information about the films in interesting stories surrounding the making of some of the films. As I said, I’d seen most of these (many repeatedly) but I still learned new facts I didn’t know, and there were even mentions of some films I haven’t watched but will be endeavoring to rectify that soon. Thanks so much to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for the audio ARC.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/horror-for-weenies-emily-c-hughes/1144445993?ean=2940191959085&bvnotificationId=edb1705d-6f20-11ef-afd1-12b4ede88e7d&bvmessageType=REVIEW_APPROVED&bvrecipientDomain=gmail.com#review/318581426

Thank you NetGalley and Tantor Audio for the ARC of this audiobook for my honest review

This was an enjoyable piece of non fiction the author collected movies that have made massive differences to the horror genre and listed them with what they do. She’d write the year it came out with the movie name, and say a if you like this you’d like this movie. And if you don’t like this don’t watch this movie. Then she’d do a quick synopsis and then get into the long detailed spoiler filled what happened in the movie, she’d then bring up what tropes within that movie changed the horror genre and sometimes what they specifically changed. Then she’d say if you don’t feel like watching that these are the books you can read, and finish off with a fun fact/party fact. If you don’t mind some spoilers it’s great ! And it was in that same format for each of the movies. I think this book would be best physically read so you can skip around and the lists would be easier to remember.

I'll be publishing my review on Goodreads and StoryGraph 11th September and on Tik tok most likely will add to a monthly wrap up post with review the beginning of October.

I don’t consider myself a weenie when it comes to horror/scary stuff but I still really enjoyed this book.

It got me excited hearing about my favorite movies and I can’t wait to rewatch them. I feel like the collection of movies is pretty standard for anyone wanting to get into horror.

I enjoyed how they were laid out and the parts with why the movies are important. I also got a few book recommendations from it!

The narrator, Cassidy Brown, reads in a voice that feels natural. I will definitely recommend the book!

Thank you to NetGalley, Emily C. Hughes, Cassidy Brown and Tantor Audio. I have written this review voluntarily.

This was a fun, informative, and easy read. It’s a book of spoiler breakdowns of the 25 most influential horror movies of the past 65 years. There is a basic description of the plot with a lot of tidbits and trivia for each selection. I really like that at the end it has talking points of what to bring up at a party if someone starts talking about one of the films.

It’s a good resource to have especially if you are surrounded by people who love the horror genre and want to know what everyone is referencing. There is a small part on franchises and a little about each film that can be especially helpful because there are just so many. Also it helps that Emily just has a cool sense of humor and it shows in her writing.

Probably most helpful for book lovers is the section on books that are alike if you would rather read a similar story instead of watching the film.
I listened to this on audiobook and at first I thought I wasn’t going to like it because I thought it would be like a Wikipedia article being read to you, but it wasn’t. It was entertaining and the narrator, Cassidy Brown does an excellent job.

I’m just so thankful I don’t have to watch Saw now.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for sharing this book with me in exchange for my honest review.

I had such a great time listening to this audiobook. Having grown up watching horror movies with my dad (admittedly at a much too young age), reading Horror for Weenies was such a nostalgic treat. Though this book is aimed at spoiling and discussing some of the most iconic horror movies to date, if you are an avid fan of the genre, there's still a lot here to love. Hughes not only talks at length about the plot of said movies, but goes into detail about the history of horror and the ways in which the genre has impacted culture. Very seldom do I pick up books that fall into the category of humor, but there were parts of this audiobook that genuinely made me laugh out loud. I found Hughes's use of humor to be not only entertaining but well executed.

Fair warning, this book 100% DOES spoil every movie mentioned, so if there are any movies you may plan to watch in the future that you do not want spoiled for you, I would definitely advise checking out the table of contents or skimming throughout ahead of time. Each chapter is dedicated to an individual movie, so it is not hard to avoid spoilers if this is the case.

Overall, I found Horror for Weenies to be super fun and informative. If this is one that sounds up your alley, I would absolutely recommend picking it up!!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for granting me access to this copy in exchange for an honest review!

Omg I’m so bad at this and I never have good recs but finally, my time has come! If you liked Horror for Weenies check out the Ruined podcast! It’s the same concept, same premise and the hosts of the pod are just as funny as the author of this book.

I’m not exactly a weenie when it comes to horror but I love movie commentary, especially horror movies so I just had to check this out. This was such a fun read I instantly subscribed to the author’s blog Jump Scares!

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

As a definite 'weenie' when it comes to horror on film, I cannot express how much I love that this book exists! Filled with plot summaries, discussions of historical significance, and party talking points, this novel is a pretty substantive crash course on 25 of the most important horror movies in history. There's spoilers abound, but that's what makes it perfect - readers get a rundown on the horrific stories, learning about every plot twist and jump scare, without needing to actually watch a second of the film. Emily C. Hughes' wonderfully amusing writing, paired with Cassidy Brown's delightful narration, helps to take away most, if not all, fear one might experience listening to these summaries. For fellow horror *readers* like myself, each chapter ends with a list of suggested books that cover similar or related topics to the previously discussed movie, which is such a thoughtful touch. Horror can certainly be a divisive genre, so I really appreciate Hughes' efforts to share their love for the gruesome and terrifying via literature as well as film.

To wrap up and avoid any possible spoilers I'll just finish by saying, if you're not in the mood to attempt another (likely doomed) horror movie night, but still want to know what happens in the Exorcist or the Blair Witch Project, then this just might be the book for you! It's fun, it's funny, and it's informative - what more could you ask for!

Thank you to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The book I didn't know I needed! I am very much a scaredy cat when it comes to horror movies, but I also can't stand to feel left out of (pop)cultural moments. I devoured this audiobook in one sitting - the writing and narration very much feels like a friend sharing the best details of a crazy story with you. I especially appreciated the juicier tidbits and fun facts shared in the "what to say at parties" section for each movie.