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3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
Solid 4.5 read. Creepy and fast read. Laura is a very interesting character and completely unreliable. I didn't love everything about the ending, but it was still a great horror read.
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Hints of nostalgia and a really love of the genre is felt in this spine tingling read. I love it!
We all know the creepiest movies involve young kids, but when the director yells cut the action is supposed to stop. Cult favorite horror movie the guesthouse is cursed, allegedly. I mean 8 people in connection with the film have died (either during or shortly after production) and the child star was almost kidnapped then dropped out of the public eye. When Hollywood decides to resurrect the film to a new Netflix show, will history repeat itself or was if all just a horrible coincidence.
We all know the creepiest movies involve young kids, but when the director yells cut the action is supposed to stop. Cult favorite horror movie the guesthouse is cursed, allegedly. I mean 8 people in connection with the film have died (either during or shortly after production) and the child star was almost kidnapped then dropped out of the public eye. When Hollywood decides to resurrect the film to a new Netflix show, will history repeat itself or was if all just a horrible coincidence.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Listened to the audiobook
As a child, Laura starred in the 90’s horror flick “The Guest House” about a haunted hotel. She carries the usual child star trauma, having endured her mom’s stage-parenting and brutal line-memorization techniques, and her sister’s jealousy of her success. Tragedy followed the film as several members of the cast and crew died in ways eerily similar to the deaths in the film, and after a kidnapping attempt, Laura left the biz, obscured her identity and the family moved abroad. Now an entertainment-focused journalist reluctantly caring for her mother with dementia, Laura is manipulated into covering the film’s reboot as a Netflix series. The moment she arrives in LA, deaths start to pile up and the anonymously-played demon from the film seems to be lurking around every corner. Working with her sister and the new project’s “psycho psychic,” Laura has to figure out what’s going on before her identity is revealed and/or she’s held responsible for the recent deaths.
I have a few beefs with this story, one big one being the insistence on calling the main MacGuffin a “paper fortune teller” when it is obviously a cootie catcher. Other than that, I thought this moved along at a nice clip and was a solid story. I loved the last-act twist though it did somewhat negate the denouement of the general story… trauma’s a bitch, y’all. I was reminded of some other haunted-movie stories, especially Paul Tremblay’s “Horror Movie,” and Paul Tremblay’s “Head Full of Ghosts,” both also about set goings-on and peppered with multi-media asides, but I liked those, and ultimately this was different enough to hold my interest.
As a child, Laura starred in the 90’s horror flick “The Guest House” about a haunted hotel. She carries the usual child star trauma, having endured her mom’s stage-parenting and brutal line-memorization techniques, and her sister’s jealousy of her success. Tragedy followed the film as several members of the cast and crew died in ways eerily similar to the deaths in the film, and after a kidnapping attempt, Laura left the biz, obscured her identity and the family moved abroad. Now an entertainment-focused journalist reluctantly caring for her mother with dementia, Laura is manipulated into covering the film’s reboot as a Netflix series. The moment she arrives in LA, deaths start to pile up and the anonymously-played demon from the film seems to be lurking around every corner. Working with her sister and the new project’s “psycho psychic,” Laura has to figure out what’s going on before her identity is revealed and/or she’s held responsible for the recent deaths.
I have a few beefs with this story, one big one being the insistence on calling the main MacGuffin a “paper fortune teller” when it is obviously a cootie catcher. Other than that, I thought this moved along at a nice clip and was a solid story. I loved the last-act twist though it did somewhat negate the denouement of the general story… trauma’s a bitch, y’all. I was reminded of some other haunted-movie stories, especially Paul Tremblay’s “Horror Movie,” and Paul Tremblay’s “Head Full of Ghosts,” both also about set goings-on and peppered with multi-media asides, but I liked those, and ultimately this was different enough to hold my interest.
3.5 rounded up. Of the three horror novels I've read recently that are also about the production of a piece of media (Last Days and A Head Full of Ghosts being the other two), I liked this one the most. It felt the most respectful of my intelligence as a reader, I guess. I found the beginning and very end kind of obnoxious (particularly the end, seems like it's just nigh impossible to end one of these things in a satisfying matter) but the middle portions were very engaging. People clown on horror about trauma and sometimes it does come across as a little tired, but I liked it here. The Candyman influence was visible and welcome, though I can't help but wish horror authors took more of the confluence of sex and violence stuff from Barker.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Loving the cursed film genre these days. A good mix of suspense, campy slasher scenes and paranormal horror. There were definitely some slow repetitive parts in the middle but overall i was entertained and i liked the ending.