Horror Movie

Horror MovieBy Paul TremblayOccult Horror & Physical FictionPublisher: William MorrowThis novel is one that I’ve had my eye on for a while and it finally came available on Libby. Yay library holds. I was intrigued by the blurb and the cover of the book, and I like the movie based off of The Cabin at the End of the World (which I own but haven’t read).What I found within Horror Movie was a mixture of the narrator who played the Thin Kid in the original cancelled screen play of a horror movie from 1993, the screen play itself, and conversations with current Hollywood production team members as they try to recreate the movie.The movie has an occult following despite never being released because one of the producers released 3 clips onto YouTube before her death, and every single member of the original cast is dead except for the man who played the Thin Kid.I read this quite quickly despite numerous reviews saying that the pacing was slow. I did find some spots confusing but I’m chalking that up to an unreliable narrator, which is one of my favorite tropes in a suspense thriller because it leaves you wondering what actually happened.The ending was bold, and a little psychotic which is the perfect way to end a book paying homage to an occult fan following.I would suggest reading if you enjoy unreliable narrators, multiple sources of data and points of view making up your story (in this case— the screen play), and “cursed found footage”.

With several spelling and grammatical errors right off the bat, followed by what felt like a college student bulking out a story with a thesaurus on hand, it’s just not for me. The actual story had potential but would’ve been half the length without the unnecessary ramblings of an author “trying too hard to get more pages in”. The ending was built up to be an amazing scene that just went nowhere. Super disappointing all around.

I have a hard time reading. Well, not reading so much as finding something I want to read.I’m constantly editing in my head, revising sentences, chopping out clauses, grimacing at familiar tropes half-heartedly handled, and otherwise rolling my eyes right on out of the fictive moment in a continual affirmation of a conclusion I reached long ago – that most writing is bad.That’s why I’m always terribly grateful to come across a novel like Paul Tremblay’s Horror Movie – something that deftly yanks me in and actually manages to keep me out of the real world for the duration.Structurally alone (and the structure’s a lot of it) it’s brilliant. There’s three intertwining narratives – an actor from an ultra-low-budget horror film recalling his experience and the tragic final shoot, the screenplay/not-a-screenplay itself, and the present-day story of the same actor invited to take part in a remake/reboot.The effect? Crazy comparison, but it reminded me of the opening of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn. The film starts on a starship bridge with an unfamiliar captain who answers a distress call leading to an ambush that leaves the crew mostly dead and the ship all but destroyed.But then, the wall opens up and Kirk steps out in all his glory, revealing that all this mayhem has been a simulation - that it’s fake.What occurred to me way back when is that when an audience is told something is fake that way, whatever comes next automatically feels more real. It’s a gimme.Now of course you can go on to screw that gimme in any number of ways, but Horror Movie does the opposite. Here that effect is augmented, examined, chewed up and spit out whole, dancing the reader in and out of verisimilitude in a genuinely mesmerizing way.It’s not perfect. There’s a lengthy description of a five-minute film scene, which, while beautifully written, having gotten the point early on, I could have lived without. I also didn’t find the last chapter as gripping as the end of the screenplay/not-screenplay. Both more seemed more statements than moments.But the rest? Happy to have been witness to the party.So, thanks, Paul!

This book almost ended up in my DNF pile, but I pushed to finish it given that it wasn't terribly long. I went into this with high expectations as the author is a name I have seen circulated a good bit. I found most of the characters rather on the dislikable side. As someone who group an outsider, I really wanted to connect with the narrator, but I just never got there. The build up was angling for a cult classic feel but landed somewhere in vintage cheese for me. There were so many elements that seemed like they would lead to something larger. Instead, those elements mostly seemed to wither on the vine. There was so much potential here, but it fell short for me.

I really enjoyed this book. Although it is classified as a horror novel, it’s not really that horrific. It’s more of a psychological novel. The more it evolved the more twisted it got. I grinned more than once, wondering where the heck he was going with it. It was interesting doing the whispersync version. There are differences in the text versus the audio version. Particularly during the readings of the scripts (which will make more sense when you have read the novel, lol). It’s very straightforward in the printed version and yet there is more going on in the audio version. I have to say I preferred the audio.I cannot say that I am 100% thrilled with the ending. I suspect that there was more meaning to that than I fully grasped. Taken literally, it was just bizarre. but I think there may have been something I missed and we were dealing with something more psychologically twisted. From a literal standpoint, though it almost didn’t make any sense. I still enjoyed it anyway.