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This book started out strong but kind of fizzled in the middle for me. I liked the screenplay aspect of how the book was written in parts as it made me imagine the scenes vividly. But outside the screenplay sections, the story just tanked for me. In the end I couldn‘t wait to just finish the book and wasn‘t very interested in how it would end.

"You can always count on people to not have the courage to say anything."

Whew. I finally finished this one. I'm not super impressed. Interweaving the screenplay with the faux-audiobook makes the pacing too slow, and it's difficult to get any sense of tension or momentum, except a little at the end. The imagery is cool, as is the exploration of guilt and hidden objectives, but I'm mostly just glad to be done.

It's a two cats, one book afternoon. I was going to do Dewey's, but I couldn't carve out enough time, and I'm postponing celebrating Indie Bookstore Day and the San Diego Book Crawl until Monday when my elder kid can shop hop with me. (Also, am I ever going to finish the tagged book? I'm on the verge of looking up spoilers and calling it a day.)

I don't have the audiobook of this, so Camille's reading it aloud to me. There's more meowing and purring than I would have expected, so it's possible she's also translating it on the fly.

(I got, like, 3 productive things done this afternoon and now I feel invincible...and a little punchy.)(Do other people say "punchy" to mean "silly, laughing at everything", or is it regional/familial? I just want to make sure no one thinks it's like "stabby.")

A-gawkie-gawkie-gawkie (the bunny, as named by my firstborn at age 3) and I are enjoying our Saturday evening.

1.5⭐

• horror • cursed film • mixed media • past & present timelines • multiple POVs •

•This is one of those books that either works for you or doesn‘t. It‘s obvious where I fall on this spectrum. I was completely adrift; for me, the writing was too disjointed, the narration too oddly done, and overall, it felt like there wasn‘t really a story here. Was it scary? I have no f-ing clue.

Not for book group or black history month, but he's local and damn it's good! Dolly Cat & I were up late reading... #creepy #great #currentread

Number 4: Year of the VHS cover for me 📼 writing style was perfect, genuinely eerie. Ending 10/10. 🩸

#12booksof2024

Happy Halloween! We were the only ones who “dressed up” at work today. 😂 Not sure if I count, I only put Mouse ears on. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤪

I‘m not sure why, and maybe I‘m a little weird, but I LOVED THIS AUDIOBOOK! It was so unique and meta and made me feel a little nuts but I couldn‘t stop listening. I‘m truly not even sure what really happened but the ending was really creepy and I‘ll definitely be thinking about this one for a while! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 #hauntedshelf #skeletoncrew

This is quite possibly the strangest audiobook I‘ve ever listened to. Part of it is told in screenplay format, and there are dozens of instances of the narrator flubbing a line then starting all over again. I don‘t know if this was intentional but I lean towards no. Very strange. The characters were awful & the story was all over the place. I had high hopes going into this one. Oh well! 2⭐️

#HauntedShelf
#FrightClub
#audiobook

Time spent reading yesterday: 5 hours = 50 points x‘s 7 for 6 readathons = 350 points.

#HauntedShelf
#FrightClub
#31by31
#Spookoween
#Witchathon
#ReadAway2024
#BirthdayBashReadathon
#GNreadathon

🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃

A movie—any movie, even one that fails—is a conversation with the viewer who chooses to engage. This movie will communicate emotional truths that can only be communicated by the language of film and horror. If we do it right, the movie will speak to us now as it would‘ve 30 years ago, and as it will 30 years from now, if any of us are still around, projecting movies onto the walls of ruined buildings.

One of my favourite standalone horrors I‘ve read this year - this is very strange meta one about a horror movie shoot from the 90s where something strange went wrong, that is now being remade. Very very spooky.

#hauntedshelf #skeletoncrew

Storytelling style and audiobook performances are amazing but man what is this story

#ReadAway2024

I‘m still unpacking my feelings about this one. I liked it but didn‘t love it as I wanted to be more scared.🤷🏻‍♀️I do think Tremblay did a good job interweaving the past (30 years ago), present day & the script of an underground cult classic movie (well really the 3 scenes released from a low budget 90‘s horror movie) together. The anticipation built & kept me reading because I couldn‘t quite look away from what was happening ⬇️

The vibes of this one reminded me a lot of Kierstan White‘s books. Non-linear storytelling, but I *loved* the script chapters. The book will absolutely be dating itself with references to Twitch, Venmo, and COVID, but I enjoyed it. Also the texture of the first printing is so so nice haha.

4 stars | #horror #slasher

Book 67📚 3.9⭐️

Oo this one had me feeling verrrry uncomfortable. The anticipation of what was going to happen/be one of Thin Kid really gets into your bones…

Pretty good.

This was a spectacularly creepy slow burn meta horror that I heartily heartily recommend as we head into spooky season. A man who played the mysterious ‘thin kid‘ in a cult classic 90s horror movie that never actually got completed remembers what happened to stop the filming at the same time as a remake is planned. Very Scream, very creepy, really really good

3.5⭐️/5⭐️

Good rep of the cursed set trope. Thin kid‘s the only surviving actor from a horror movie made by college students 30 years ago.

Only a few scenes were released to the public but it‘s reached cult status so the studio wants a remake. Feels like a money maker.

Most of the story is set in the past. In the present V‘s diagnosis impacted me, too soon, so it lost my focus halfway thru but that‘s a personal problem.

Book was good, read it!

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

This book is terrifying, addictive, immersive and a totally twisted mind f***. Paul Tremblay is an auto-buy author for me and this one may be my new favorite. This is an inventive look at not only the horror genre and the people that create these films, but the idea of what a monster is. Is it the figment of your imagination that lives under the bed or is it the person who seems like a nice guy that kind of blends in and doesn‘t stand out?

Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay. Another special edition from the Broken Binding.

Further evidence that my favourite horror is meta-fictive horror, it discusses horror, the tropes, the cultural history, but that doesn't stop it from being horrifying in itself. I am grateful to those reviewers who, without spoiling anything, led me to believe this 'wasn't quite horror'. I would argue there is still horrifying content, 1/?

Paul Tremblay is soooooooo good at his job. It‘s very very rare that I do an audiobook in a single day but I simply could not stop. Can‘t wait to read it again.

That was one weird story.
I found the alternate timelines a bit challenging but that didn‘t stop me from wanting to get to the resolution at the end. An ending, weird as it is, that only Paul Tremblay could pull off.

I really enjoyed this book, which questions who the real monsters are and how they are created. Part of the narrative is a screenplay, which was interesting. 4 stars.
#ReadAway2024
@Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES
#LitsyLoveReads
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Read4life @TieDyeDude

I was so excited to get this book when it came out. I got it at a bookstore called Butcher Cabin Books in Louisville. I love the cover; the jacket on my copy feels cool too. The story was interesting, as we bounced among present day, the past, and the screenplay. Fun story, great ending.

Really enjoying this one.
#CoverLove #Red
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

I really enjoyed this read! It's got so many layers and you see the story from multiple different perspectives. I usually don't read horror, but this really engaged me. The part I loved most about it was all the different types of writing used to add depth to the story. It was part audiobook, part screenplay, part poem, part novel and it's all very engaging. I really liked it and horror is not my usual preference. 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Thank you #NetGalley

This was a unique horror thriller, which splits between the present, the past and the screenplay of an infamous horror movie. It is very ominous and I definitely recommend listening to it on audiobook. It took me a bit to get into the flow of the perspective changes but the ending…a punch to the gut. 4.25⭐️

In the 90s, a group of young filmmakers set out to make a Horror Movie. Due to problems on the set, the film never gets released, and gets a reputation for being cursed. Years later, one of the actors is offered a part in a reboot of the film. Tremblay alters between timelines as well as between prose and sections of the original movie script. While this structure works for creating suspense, it didn‘t round out the characters. Still, very creepy.

A fun, light quick pace read of the slasher trope. A 90's horror film gains a cult following and is up for a modern day reboot as the surviving original cast members detail the difficult and deadly behind the scenes issues plaguing the first production. Cue a predictable twist finale and it hits all the marks of the horror clichés!

I've read two really great thriller/horror books recently that feature vhs tapes and the nostalgia of analog media was just so enjoyable! Feel free to watch if you get a chance! And if you decide to read either of these books please let me know what you think! 📖 ❤

Adult Book Rec Video: VHS IS BACK!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZceWIWxOm9s

Okay, friends, I absolutely loved this book! This was my first one by Paul Tremblay and I was not disappointed at all! I won't lie - I was initially drawn to it because of the VHS cover and beautiful page edges! 🙈🤭 But the story is really interesting and solid, and I really loved the sense of dread that grew throughout the story! Plus, the characters were awesome! Especially The Thin Kid! 😱 AND THE ENDING, OMG!

I‘ve been hoarding gift cards for a while now and finally let loose 😌📚
#bookhaul #summerreading

I'm an old pro at horror novels. They just don't get under my skin anymore. Until this one. I haven't found a book so horrifying since I can't even remember when. And horrifying on so many levels. Another win for Tremblay.

Tremblay‘s latest falls in two timelines surrounding the making of the same movie, thirty years apart. Our unnamed narrator seems to be the only surviving participant of the 1993 film— the titular movie, never actually released other than 3 leaked scenes, has gained a cult following alongside its dark history that unfolds. The modern reboot workings give a little levity, but ultimately this mixed media story is one that left me dying to discuss!

Look what arrived today! ❤️❤️❤️ I really love that more and more regular books (outside of special editions) are being published with beautiful painted page edges! 🥰

I also just realized this is the second spooky book I've picked up in the past few weeks that features a VHS tape on the cover! 😱

Happy Publication Day for Paul Tremblay!
Love the red page edges!