Burn The Negative - Josh Winning

Horror/Thriller

Rating: 6.5/10

If you have an interesting story to tell, or better yet something scandalous, Hollywood is coming for you! They are all about regurgitating, and when that option has run out? They are all over the remakes and reboots!

When I read the premise for this book, I was excited. The go out and buy it on release day kind of excited.

Laura is a journalist tasked with writing a piece on the remake of a ‘90’s horror flick that she starred in as a child. One that was cursed. One that had eight cast and crew dying in ways that eerily mirrored the movie’s on-screen deaths. And now? People are dying again.

Great right? You get a slasher, final girl, cursed movie within a movie all in one. What more could a horror fan ask for?

Well, a better writer for starters.

This author missed the opportunity to offer the reader a satirical spin in the vein of a Grady Hendrix novel, as well as an unflinching glimpse into the world of childhood celebrity and the movie industry. We get an okay horror novel but one that fails to fulfill the grandeur of its premise. Which is unfortunate.

And the ridiculous tacked on scene at the end? One undoubtedly intended to blow the reader’s mind made me almost sorry I stuck with it.

Footnote: Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno Garcia, a new book has almost the exact same premise. Maybe a better pick…

Book Pairing(s): Hide by Kirsten White, Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey, How To Sell A Haunted House