Book Review: HORROR MOVIE by Paul Tremblay

HORROR MOVIE by Paul Tremblay (William Morrow, June 11, 2024) Hardcover, 277 pages. ISBN # 9780063070011 

Synopsis on the Goodreads website . . . . .

A chilling twist on the “cursed film” genre from the bestselling author of The Pallbearers Club and The Cabin at the End of the World.

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 twist on the “cursed film” that breathlessly builds to an unforgettable, mind-bending conclusion.

MY THREE-STAR REVIEW on the Goodreads website . .   

     I’m still a fan of Paul Tremblay's writing - - - but I don't recommend this as a starting point for those curious readers who haven't picked up on his work before. There's enough to like here, especially the experimental narrative style (which takes some getting used to) that allows for several points of view (the screenwriter's opinionated script, in addition to the main character's first person account), the frequent cuts from past to present, as well as the appropriately cinematic feel to the novel. 

     But, for someone who's read several books by Tremblay, this was very disappointing. If I had to summarize a key feature of Tremblay, I would call him the "master of ambiguity". You usually finish reading his novels wondering if things really happened as outlined - - or was there a more realistic explanation for the supernatural, paranormal, or weird incidents? I thought that the narrator in HORROR MOVIE was actually reliable and giving a straightforward account of what happened, even though he seemed to withhold certain key information until the appropriate times. 

     One of my issues with HORROR MOVIE is that I didn't care for any of these characters. It did not help that the main narrator was never identified by a proper name, just as "The Thin Kid" - - his character in the movie. Tremblay still did a nice job of getting me to understand his characters but there was nothing about any of them that I cared about, empathized with, or worried about.

     For me, there was a lack of suspense throughout the entire novel. What kept me going was curiosity. I was waiting for the moment when Tremblay would surprise me with a twist. It never happened. In fact, this is one of his novels where I figured out where things were going around the half-way point. It didn't help that a good third of the novel is a movie script - - how can you worry about characters when you're reading a screenplay with directions? That kept pulling me out of the main story - - which is what the Thin Kid is doing in present time. I also thought the movie script was pretentious and pretty odd/weird in the wrong ways. It did accomplish the purpose of shedding character insights into screenwriter Cleo.

     There is one moment of Tremblay ambiguity in the story when a horrific incident occurs twice, something that in reality can only occur once. That makes one doubt the narrator. However, in the bigger picture of what's going on, it doesn't seem that significant. It happened once, for sure, but where in the story it actually happens doesn't matter that much.

     I do like that Tremblay continues to experiment with narrative style. He just happened to stub his toe on this one. A good learning experience for me as well. I look forward to his next book.