Horror for Weenies

Thanks to NetGalley and Quirk Books for the audiobook ARC! Cassidy Brown did a nice job, handling the author’s humor well.

This was a unique read for me. The kind that stuck out to me the entire time. It is a nonfiction book, about many horror movies that are originally books. So… a book about film based off a book. I don’t know, maybe that’s not that special/weird.

For me, the ones I appreciated listening to the most, were the ones I’ve seen before (and some I’ve even read). They are: Psycho, The Exorcist, Halloween, The Shining, The Thing, Candyman, Scream, The Blair Witch Project, The Ring, 28 Days Later, Saw, The Conjuring, It Follows, Get Out, and Hereditary. While the majority here may not be based off books, there is a slew of unmentioned goodies throughout that are, and are equally worth checking out I’m sure. I enjoyed these because it was nice to hear someone else’s take aways and thoughts on things I don’t get to discuss much.

As somewhat of a newbie to horror myself, it was interesting to read someone else’s journey through finding horror later in life. And no spoilers, but it was equally interesting to find out which of the FanFi/FearForAll crew were also Weenies! I used to not even stay in the room if someone else had something scary on, and what counted as scary was shockingly mild compared to now.

The author runs the reader through each film almost like giving a synopsis, then discusses why they found it an important inclusion, and then explains some interesting tidbits that they say you could use at a party with diehard fans. I took this as more wit, because honestly I wouldn’t go toe to toe with any facts on something that was someone else’s favorite. Not me at least.

My favorite part was the author discussing what impact the choices had on horror as a whole. Why it was a hit, or flop, and how it impacted the horror industry. Not everyone may agree with the choices made, but for me, there’s a whole new set on movies on my to-watch list now.