“Summer, 1993 – a group of young guerrilla filmmakers spend four weeks making Horror Movie, a notorious, disturbing, art-house horror film.

The weird part? Only three of the film’s scenes were ever released to the public. Steeped in mystery and tragedy, the film has taken on a mythic renown.

Decades later, a big budget reboot is in the works, and Hollywood turns to the only surviving cast member – the man who played ‘the Thin Kid’, the masked teen at the centre of it all. He remembers all too well the secrets buried within the original screenplay, the bizarre events of the filming, and the crossed lines on set.

Caught in a nightmare of masks and appearances, facile Hollywood personalities and fan conventions, the Thin Kid spins a tale of past and present, scripts and reality, and what the camera lets us see. But at what cost do we revisit our demons?

After all these years, the monster the world never saw will finally be heard.”

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to share my review of Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay. Horror Movie was published by Titan Books on 10th June 2025 and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio and digital formats. I chose to read a free eARC of Horror Movie but that has in no way influenced my review.

Before I start my review of this dark and sinister book, I need to tell you something. If you’re a regular visitor to damppebbles then this won’t be news. I did promise to never mention this again, but it feels right to add a tiny disclaimer before we get stuck in. Last year I had an unplanned blogging hiatus. I won’t go into the reasons why; they’re not important now. During that time, I was reading like a crazy woman; I just wasn’t writing any reviews. It had nothing to do with the books I was reading and everything to do with me. This book, Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay, was one of the books I read during that time. I had planned to get a review ready to go on paperback publication day (which was June this year) but I was still struggling to catch up at that point. Better late than never has become a bit of a mantra over the last twelve months or so. I couldn’t let this book not have its moment on the blog. It wouldn’t be fair. It deserves better than that. So with that in mind, this review may be a little shorter, a little more succinct than my other reviews. Again, nothing to do with the book and everything to do with me.

Paul Tremblay is an acclaimed, much-loved horror author whose books I hadn’t read until I picked up a copy of Horror Movie last year. I love fiction that uses popular culture as a basis. This includes horror movies. Actually, horror stories about horror movies are one of my favourite things. That and the final girl trope. Anyhoo, I couldn’t resist Horror Movie. I’ve wanted to read a book written by Tremblay for such a long time. And now, having devoured this unsettling, unnerving tale, I know I will be repeatedly returning to this author again in the future.

Horror Movie is exquisitely dark and makes for compulsive yet uncomfortable reading. It’s 1993 and a small group of young filmmakers decide to make a horror movie. The whole production is small with a tiny budget. The film never really sees the light of day. Except for three photo stills, posted on an online message board. A few years later, three short scenes are uploaded to YouTube. And before long, the film has achieved legendary mythical status with a huge fanbase. Years later, a reboot is being proposed (can you reboot something that was never really released in the first place?) and the producer wants to speak to the only living member of the crew, the actor who played ‘the thin kid’. Told in an almost confessional style using scripts, interviews, flashbacks and blurred memories, this book oozes palpable menace and apprehension. It makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. Horror Movie is the most horrifying psychological horror novel I think I have read. There’s an unease, an edginess to the story that hangs over the reader from the opening words to the final page (and continues to haunt you long after you’ve finished reading). If you’re looking for a book that is an experience, this is it. It’s unsettling, uncomfortable and done so incredibly well. Totally disturbing, this is a book that gets into your head and won’t let go. I experienced an intense feeling of trepidation as the cast got into the weeds of making the movie. It felt like an unavoidable slippery slope of doom, and I loved it! I don’t think I have ever read another book like this before. And I would read another book by Paul Tremblay in a heartbeat. Recommended.

I chose to read and review a free eARC of Horror Movie. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay was published in the UK by Titan Books on 10th June 2025 and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio and digital formats (please note, the following links are affiliate links which means I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | Waterstones | bookshop.org | Goodreads | damppebbles bookshop.org shop | damppebbles amazon.co.uk shop | damppebbles amazon.com shop |

Paul Tremblay has won the Bram Stoker, British Fantasy, Sheridan Le Fanu, and Massachusetts Book awards and is the national bestselling author of The Beast You Are, The Pallbearers Club, Survivor Song, Growing Things and Other Stories, Disappearance at Devil’s Rock, A Head Full of Ghosts, and the crime novels The Little Sleep and No Sleep Till Wonderland. His novel The Cabin at the End of the World was adapted into the Universal Pictures film Knock at the Cabin. Two short stories “The Last Conversation” and “In Bloom” were Amazon Original shorts.

His newest novel, Horror Movie, was published in June 2025.

His essays and short fiction have appeared in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, and numerous “year’s best” anthologies. He lives outside of Boston, Massachusetts and has a master’s degree in Mathematics. He is represented by Stephen Barbara, InkWell Management.