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.

I’ve read two of this author’s books – “Head Full of Ghosts” and “The Cabin at the End of the World” – and really enjoyed them. For the record, I enjoyed the movie version of the latter, but I liked the book more. (Who’s surprised?) The book had a very shocking scene that was left out of the movie, and it changed the trajectory of the story. I also hated how they “Hollywoodized” the ending of the movie.

Anyway – we’re not here to talk about that. We’re here to talk about Tremblay’s most recent book. I’d read lots of mixed – almost polarizing – reviews of this one, which made me wonder if I needed to wait a while longer to read it. I decided to forge ahead, and I’m happy to say I loved it – until the last chapter.

The story follows the surviving cast member of a notorious and disturbing art-house horror film made by a group of young guerrilla filmmakers in 1993. The movie was titled “Horror Movie,” and events that transpired during the filming prevented the movie from ever being released. Over the years, three scenes were released to the public, resulting in a cult following. Now, Hollywood is pushing for a big-budget reboot, and they are relying on the only living survivor to help them make it as authentic as possible.

I loved how the tension slowly built and that I never fully believed what the narrator was telling me. He endured some pretty horrific things while filming – all in the name of connecting with his character and bringing authenticity to the film. As the book progressed, I grew more and more weary of him. The other characters were also great. Cleo (who wrote the screenplay and played a character in the film) was probably the most sympathetic, while Valentina (the director and another character) was intense and a little psycho. Rounding out the foursome is Karson – another actor in the film and the one I probably felt less attached to, mostly because we don’t know a whole lot about him.

I was worried that flipping between a standard narrative and scenes from the screenplay would ruin the pace of the novel, but that wasn’t the case at all. It was handled brilliantly, and honestly, it helped with the pacing and ramping up the tension. Not only is the narrative woven amongst scenes from the screenplay, but Tremblay also weaves together the present day with flashbacks to the filming of the original movie. These scenes are told from the survivor’s perspective and help blur the lines between reality and fiction – is what he is telling us really what happened? The screenplay grew increasingly disturbing, and we can’t help but wonder whether what this person experienced while filming may have altered who he was, or if all of this is merely a figment of our unreliable protagonist’s imagination.

As I stated earlier, I really enjoyed the ride right up until the final chapter. On one hand, I see what the author was going for, but it didn’t really work for me. The previous two chapters were super unsettling and emotional, and I thought the final scene of the screenplay was really powerful. The last chapter felt out of place and didn’t hold the same emotional impact as the previous chapters. Was it shocking? Yes, but I feel a different, more subtle reveal would have been more powerful.

I listened to this one, and the cast is fantastic. I loved how they used a different actor for each character when we flipped to the screenplay scenes. It felt as though we were sitting at a table reading for the script and I loved it.

While the final chapter still leaves a bad taste in my mouth (it felt random and didn’t match the tone of the chapters before it), I still really enjoyed the rest of the book. The characters were strong, the story was creepy and disturbing, and I loved how we moved between narrative and screenplay. If you’re an audiobook lover, check this one out. The cast is excellent, and I loved how it was produced.