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How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive
How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive | Craig DiLouie
4 posts | 4 read | 1 to read
From Bram Stoker Award?nominated author Craig DiLouie comes a darkly humorous horror novel that sees a famous 80s slasher director set out to shoot the most terrifying horror movie ever made using an occult camera that might be (and probably is) demonic. Horror isn't horror unless it's real. Max Maury should be on top of the world. He's a famous horror director. Actors love him. Hollywood needs him. He's making money hand over fist. But it's the 80s, and he's directing cheap slashers for audiences who only crave more blood, not real art. Not real horror. And Max's slimy producer refuses to fund any of his new ideas. Sally Priest dreams of being the Final Girl. She knows she's got what it takes to score the lead role, even if she's only been cast in small parts so far. When Sally meets Max at his latest wrap party, she sets out to impress him and prove her scream queen prowess. But when Max discovers an old camera that filmed a very real Hollywood horror, he knows that he has to use this camera for his next movie. The only problem is that it came with a cryptic warning and sometimes wails. By the time Max discovers the true evil lying within, he's already dead set on finishing the scariest movie ever put to film, and like it or not, it's Sally's time to shine as the Final Girl.
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Robotswithpersonality
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What gloriously campy fun.
Gory deaths, hellish consequences, hauntings by grotesque corpses, a camera possessed by occult forces with a Faustian twist, and yet the true darkness is Hollywood and its way of doing business and consuming souls.
The author obviously had a lot he wanted to say about horror movies, slasher films in particular, but I'll admit it was hard to take the discourse seriously, 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/3 or identify as closely with the final girl or obsessive director-turned-perpetrator because everything was at one remove, analyzing how it all fed into ugly truths about the film industry, horror tropes, etc. It got and stayed too ridiculous for me to be anything other than entertained. If you like how the Scream movies critique horror but also ensure the endings stay true to the genre, I think you'll get a kick out of this.
3w
Robotswithpersonality 3/3 ⚠️animal death, suicide, gore 3w
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Robotswithpersonality
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Today's unsettling simile is:

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Robotswithpersonality
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“...a sense of wonder.“
Certainly a nicer adjunct feeling than everyday fears usually offer.

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GerardtheBookworm
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There seems to be a recurring theme of doing horror books said against a horror film set. In this one set during the 80's, a frustrated and arrogant filmmaker wants to make the ultimate scary movie. Enter a cursed camera that needs a sacrifice to make that happen. Witness tropes like the supernatural, a bloody body count, fame and fortune, and, of course, a final girl this a fun ride for fans of this genre.