Horror Movie: A Novel

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PLEASE NOTE: the limited edition with red stained edges is sold out, but we invite you to purchase an unstained one — same haunting story, same chilling twists!

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 feat of storytelling genius that builds inexorably to an unforgettable, mind-bending conclusion.

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Published Jun 11, 2024

288 pages

Average rating: 5.94

137 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

What Bookclubbers are saying about this book

✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI

Readers say *Horror Movie* offers a uniquely eerie, atmospheric take on the "cursed film" trope, blending novel and screenplay formats to build suspen...

AlexandraGC
Dec 13, 2024
7/10 stars
So I liked it. It was a bit different to what I normally read and I found some of the formatting as if it was a film script off putting. But it was fun. Not scary but did draw you in. More atmospheric and did make you imagine the movie that was being made.
postcoffeepoop
Oct 21, 2025
6/10 stars
2.5

interesting enough.
literarily_occupied
Aug 12, 2025
8/10 stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 4 stars

What an engrossing story! There's a lot going on, and at first it was a little difficult to engage with its unique stylization, but once I was locked in, it had me hooked to the very end. And that ending... Oh my goodness.
Paukku
Apr 27, 2025
4/10 stars
I found Horror Movie interesting, though not particularly compelling. The eerie, off-kilter atmosphere was well done, and Tremblay effectively captures a sense of unease. However, the characters didn’t hold my interest, making it difficult to fully engage with the story. For a horror novel, it also wasn’t very scary—more unsettling than truly frightening. While I appreciate the book’s ambition, it ultimately didn’t leave much of an impact.
Hartfullofbooks
Mar 01, 2025
7/10 stars
An eerie horror novel that blues the lines between reality and fiction. We follow a survivor from an indie horror film gone wrong, as he explains what happened and walks the reader through the process of making the reboot film. I’m not always a fan of Tremblay, but I found this one intriguing and eerie. The book is written from the survivor’s perspective intermixed with actual screenplay from the film, melding written and visual media so well! I’d classify this as a horror/thriller that points out the true horrors in life are t monsters but us.

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