Book Review: Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay
With dual timelines and a lot of “what the heck just happened”, this book is sure to leave your head spinning. Check out my full review for Horror Movie below!
Book Information
When a bunch of young college graduates decide to make a film surrounding a “cursed” mask that they found, things start to go wrong on set. So much so that the film was never fully produced and only three scenes were released.
After years and a huge cult-like fan base, new producers want to come along and bring this movie to life. But trouble is coming and this cursed movie might never make it to screen.
Review | Heidi Dischler
So, I struggled writing the description of this book because I can’t, for the life of me, remember “The Thin Kid” and what his real name was. Did he even have a name? Am I just crazy? Anyway, yeah, he’s our main character in this book and you get to see things from his eyes as they film the movie the first time, the actual scenes from the movie, and in present day.
I really loved the production of the audiobook and how you get to listen to these movie scenes play out along with a full cast for most of the past timeline. The present was just… bland? To be honest, present day was definitely my least favorite timeline to be reading. It felt boring and bothersome. If I were going to pinpoint the main thing that made present day suck, it would probably be the characters.
With the characters from the past timeline, you get so many that are full and developed. With the present, though, it was almost as if “The Thin Kid” was the only person. No one else was developed and therefore, to me, no one else mattered. It’s not a lot of fun reading only about one character as he tries to get his cursed movie produced.
Also, another thing, this didn’t feel like a horror movie to me. It felt more psychological than anything but definitely not scary. I didn’t feel like I had to read the next scene just to sleep at night. Although, some of the scenes are pretty gruesome.
The story as a whole was kind of lackluster too. While I liked hearing about the movie and the production from the past, I never felt particularly attached to any of it. It was a short book, so it was easy to keep going knowing that the end was near. Otherwise, I think I would have stopped before finishing it. A lot of it was predictable as well, so there’s that. I don’t want to talk about it too much, though, in case I end up spoiling it for someone.
Overall, definitely not a book I’d pick up again. 2.5 out of 5 stars rounded up to 3 for all of the social platforms. If you were to ask me to sum up what this book is about? A kid and a lizard mask. And some deeply disturbed writing. And maybe some mental health issues….
Source: Audiobook from Libby Public Library
(P.S. You can read this book for free by signing up for a free trial of Audible, which gives you two free audiobooks of your choice!)
