Horror Movie: Horror Book Review
In June 1993, a group of young guerilla filmmakers spent four weeks making Horror Movie, a notorious, disturbing, art-house horror flick.
The weird part? Only three of the film’s scenes were ever released to the public, but Horror Movie has nevertheless grown a rabid fanbase. Three decades later, Hollywood is pushing for a big-budget reboot.
The man who played “The Thin Kid” is the only surviving cast member. He remembers all too well the secrets buried within the original screenplay, the bizarre events of the filming, and the dangerous crossed lines on set that resulted in tragedy. As memories flood back in, the boundaries between reality and film, past and present start to blur. But he’s going to help remake the film, even if it means navigating a world of cynical producers, egomaniacal directors, and surreal fan conventions—demons of the past be damned.
But at what cost?
Horror Movie is an obsessive, psychologically chilling, and suspenseful feat of storytelling genius that builds inexorably to an unforgettable, mind-bending conclusion.
Horror Book Review: Horror Movie
My first Paul Tremblay book, The Cabin at the End of the World, didn’t do it for me. Despite Tremblay’s fantastic and impressive writing, I could not completely immerse myself in the story. While there was a lot to like in Cabin, there was also a lot that I did not like and left me with a tinge of disappointment. In this rare instance, I have to say that I was more of a fan of the film adaptation than the book.
The next Paul Tremblay book I read, A Head Full of Ghosts, was a completely different experience. I absolutely loved this book, and I immediately jumped aboard the Tremblay train again. A Head Full of Ghosts had a profound impact on me and left me uttering “Wow!” upon reading the last sentence and closing the book. It was a wonderful read and I looked to read another of his works with the hopes of it too blowing my mind like A Head Full did. After looking at his body of work, Horror Movie, his latest novel, caught my attention being that I am an ardent fan of the horror genre. I pre-ordered the book four months ago, and it finally landed on my doorstep. The book itself, and its cover art, were impressive with a bloodied and damaged image of a VHS tape and vibrant red edges of the book’s pages. I was eager to begin, but I bided my time as I waited for the perfect time to read. Who was I kidding? I procrastinated and was still letting my last read, Episode Thirteen, marinate.
Our protagonist, simply billed as “The Thin Kid” – the name given for his character for an upcoming horror movie. The real name of this “actor” is never revealed. The filmmakers wanted to keep this separation from the character and actor, sort of like method acting. They expected him to stay in character when on set, not allowed to speak, and reprimanded him if he did because it wouldn’t be consistent with the character. This, of course, would lead to dire consequences.
The story takes place in the 1990s during a time when, in real life, horror movies were on the decline. Filmmakers tried to pave the way to implement new technology into horror films. A simple, three-letter acronym would prove to be the bane of many horror fans alike – CGI (computer-generated images). They had an idea to make a horror film that would stand the test of time and not have to rely on yet-to-be-proven and perfected technology. Sure, by today’s standards, the technology improved, but you can usually spot the effects, essentially possibly ruining a movie (see, IT 2017/2019). These filmmakers had aspirations to make an artsy horror film in the vein of an A24 film that would stand the test of time and not have to rely on suspect and yet to be proven technology. No, they wanted to go old-school with practical effects. And that they did.
Similar to Tremblay’s other books (the ones I’ve read thus far), Horror Movie was an interesting read. But, I am having a hard time putting my thoughts together to review this one. In Horror Movie, there are two things we are reading, the novel itself and the screenplay of the film within the book. This lead to some confusion, on my part, at least. Whether this is the author’s way of blurring the line from fact and fiction, I could not say. What I do know is that on more than one occasion, I felt lost in the story because of, wait for it, Tremblay’s classic go-to – ambiguity.
The script within the novel is a refreshing idea, but it didn’t quite work out that way. I used to read movie scripts in my youth, mostly of films that never saw the light of day or early drafts. I was interested in what might have been so I have a fairly good idea about a screenplay’s format. Heck, I even wrote a few scripts in my day. One problem that I found with this is that we read passages from the script, only to read the same thing happen again in the novel only with minor differences. I get what Tremblay was trying to do here, fuse fact and fiction within the confines of the novel, of course. But it ended up being redundant and fluff. Again, this left with a feeling of confusion. There was definitely something there, but I feel like Tremblay didn’t quite get there.
There were echoes in the story that conjured up similarities to a Jack Ketchum novel. Yes, there were disturbing scenes, so be weary if you’re the queasy type. Like his other two books (that I read), he leads you down a path to where you think he is going then pulls the rug from right under you, laughs, then waves a taunting finger at you with a snarky smile on his face and shouts, “Nope!” Yes, I like subversion and diversion. I like to be kept on my toes, trying to figure out where a story is going and the outcome. What I don’t like are the tactics used to get there simply to get a rise from the audience, even if it didn’t make sense. It’s a sneaky ploy rather than a smart one.
Furthermore, we are dealing with an unreliable narrator, “The Thin Man” where he often states something to the effect of, “That may not have been exactly how it happened, but that’s how I remember it.” Again, this is Tremblay already setting up his big finale where, more likely, he will leave open to interpretation. And he does! Sort of. I think I read the ending right because what happens at the climax is clear and a no-doubter. What happens here, I expected from the onset so to Tremblay I reciprocate with an, “I knew it!”. There were hints and clues strewn throughout to point to this conclusion. However, there were a few things in the book that were not clear to me. There were too many questions left unanswered, unless I must missed it. Regardless, it was my take away. There was nothing much to this book and somewhat of a bore. As much as I wanted to like this one, it simply did nothing for me. The “cursed video” trope has been done before and Tremblay doesn’t add anything new.