Book Review - A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

Title: A Head Full of Ghosts
Author: Paul Tremblay
Genre: Horror
Published: 2015
 
Description: The lives of the Barretts, a Norman suburban New England family, are torn apart when fourteen-year-old Marjorie begins to display signs of acute schizophrenia.
 
To her parent’s despair, the doctors are unable to stop Marjorie’s descent into madness. As their stable home devolves int a house of horrors, they reluctantly turn to a local Catholic priest for help. Father Wanderly suggests an exorcism; he believes the vulnerable teenager is the victim of demonic possession. He also contacts a production company that is eager to document the Barretts’ plight. With John, Marjorie’s father, out of work for more than a year and the medical bills looming, the family agrees to be filmed, and soon find themselves the unwitting stars of “The Possession”, a hit reality television show. When events in the Barrett household explode in tragedy, the show and the shocking incidents it captures become the stuff of urban legend.
 
Fifteen years later, a bestselling writer interviews Marjorie’s younger sister, Merry. As she recalls those long ago events that took place when she was just eight years old, long-buried secrets and painful memories that clash with what was broadcast on television begin to surface. A mind-bending tale of psychological horror is unleashed, raising vexing questions about memory and reality, science and religion, and the very nature of evil.
 
Review: Sometimes you read a book where, right up until the very last page, you’re not sure what to believe. “A Head Full of Ghosts” is one of those books. A gripping psychological horror novel that constantly keeps you guessing and leaves you pondering everything you’ve read long after you’ve finished.
 
When 14-year-old Marjorie Barrett begins to exhibit increasingly disturbing behavior, her family becomes convinced that she may be possessed. As her condition worsens, a Catholic priest is called in, and the family decides to participate in a reality TV show that documents their lives and Marjorie’s alleged possession. Years later, her younger sister Merry looks back on the events and tries to understand exactly what happened at the time.
 
What an incredibly powerful, unsettling, and unpredictable story. This book contains come truly astonishing plot twists and keeps you constantly questioning what’s real. Is Marjorie really possessed? Is she suffering from a mental illness? Or is something else entirely going on? You constantly wonder whether what Marjorie is experiencing is really, or whether it’s all made up, exaggerated, or being interpreted differently. And the clever part is that you’re never entirely sure which answer to believe.
 
The story is divided into three parts, each with its own perspective. The first part focuses primarily on the events within the Barrett family and the increasingly alarming situation surrounding Marjorie. You get to know the family and see how feat and uncertainty slowly take over their daily lives. In the second part, the focus shifts to the reality show that turns their personal drama into a public spectacle. It shows how the media, ratings, and the demand for entertainment influence the way events are presented and interpreted. The third part brings us back to the present, where the adult Merry shares her memories and tries to piece together the puzzle of her childhood. It is precisely these different perspectives that give the story more and more layers.
 
The story is divided into three parts, each with its own perspective. The first part focuses primarily on the events within the Barrett family and the increasingly alarming situation surrounding Marjorie. You get to know the family and see how fear and uncertainty slowly take over their daily lives. In the second part, the focus shifts to the reality show that turns their personal drama into a public spectacle. It shows how the media, ratings, and the demand for entertainment influence the way events are presented and interpreted. The third part brings us back to the present, where the adult Merry shares her memories and tries to piece together the puzzle of her childhood. It is precisely these different perspectives that give the story more and more layers.
 
The atmosphere is unsettling and menacing from the very beginning, without the author having to constantly rely on cheap jump scares. The horror here lies primarily in the uncertainty, the psychological tension, and the realization that you might not know at all what’s really going on.
 
A book that surprised me several times, kept me constantly in doubt, and left me with a lot of questions. Exactly the kind of psychological horror I thoroughly enjoy.
 
Rating: 5/ 5

Book Review - The Girl in Red by Christina Henry

Title: The Girl in Red
Author: Christina Henry
Genre: Horror/ Fantasy
Published: 2019
 
Description: It’s not safe for anyone alone in the woods. There are predators that come out at night: critters and coyotes, snakes and wolves. But the woman in the red jacket has no choice. Not since the Crisis came, decimated the population, and sent those who survived fleeing into quarantine camps that serve as breeding grounds for death, destruction, and disease. She is just a woman trying not to get killed in a world that doesn’t look anything like the one she grew up in, the one that was perfectly sane and normal and boring until three months ago.
 
There are worse threats in the woods than the things that stalk their prey at night. Sometimes, there are men. Men with dark desires, weak wills and evil intents. Men in uniform with classified information, deadly secrets, and unforgiving orders. And sometimes, just sometimes, there’s something worse than all of the horrible people and vicious beasts combined.
 
Red doesn’t like to think of herself as a killed, but she isn’t about to let herself get eaten up just because she is a woman alone in the woods…
 
Review: “The Girl in Red” by Christina Henry is an intriguing, post-apocalyptic retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. Henry is known for her dark tales, but this was my first book I read by her. It is indeed dark and she creates a grim, atmospheric world that captivated me for the most part.
 
We follow Red, a young woman trying to survive after a deadly crisis has brought the world to a standstill. As civilization crumbles around her and the government sets up quarantine camps, Red flees through the woods in her signature red coat. Her destination is her recovering grandmother’s remote home. Armed with an axe, a knife, and her sharp survival instinct, she must brave not only the elements but, above all, the dangerous survivors who make the woods unsafe.  
 
What I found incredibly powerful about this book is the atmosphere. The story has a very dark theme and is downright gruesome at times. As a fan of dark books, I really appreciated this raw, bloody edge; Christina Herny certainly doesn’t shy away from danger or the ugly side of humanity.
 
Still, after finishing the book, I was left with mixed feelings. Based on the cover and the synopsis, I had expected wolves to play a prominent role in the story. Unfortunately, this turned out not to be the case, which I felt was a missed opportunity in this retelling. I also felt that the ending didn’t quite fit the rest of the story’s atmosphere.
 
*POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD*
 
After all the suspense, I had expected (and secretly hoped) a less happier ending. I don’t know what that says about me, but I felt that would have fit the rest of the story much better.
 
It’s an entertaining and suspenseful fantasy horror story, but because of my unmet expectations regarding the wolves and the ending it was just okay for me.
 
Rating: 3/ 5

Movie Review - Backrooms

Director: Kane Parsons
Genre: Horror
Runtime: 126 minutes
Year: 2026
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, Lukita Maxwell
 
Description: Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), an angry architect, chases the source of impossible power failures when a glowing gap opens in his basement, but the yelloe maze beyond it threatens his sanity, his friends and Mary (Renate Reinsve).
 
Review: “Backrooms” is the ‘what they fuck did I just watch’ movie of the year. It’s a masterful, claustrophobic triumph that rewrites the rules of the horror genre. With his sensational theatrical debut, director Kane Parsons, just 20 years old, proves that scary stories on the internet can be transformed into pure, groundbreaking cinema.
 
The film is set in the 1990s. Clark is a frustrated furniture store owner and he discovers an impossible, glowing opening in his basement. Curious, he steps over the threshold, only to vanish without a trace into a seemingly endless, otherworldly labyrinth of yellowed office hallways and fluorescent lighting. When the distraught therapist Dr. Mary Kline set out to investigate, she is sucked deep into this eerie, liminal dimension. She must fight not only against the bizarre, distorted rules of reality, but also against the elusive, malevolent entity lurking in the shadows.
 
With a modest budget, A24 has delivers an audiovisual masterpiece that will haunt your mind for days to come. What began as a viral YouTube series by Parsons has evolved on the big screen into a terrifyingly tangible nightmare. The massive, custom-built set pays off immediately: the desolation of the spaces feels oppressively real. The cinematography and sound design are simply brilliant; the constant, monotonous hum of the lights and the unpredictable visual glitches build psychological tension that becomes almost unbearable.
 
The acting elevates the film to an even higher level. Renate Reinsve and Chiwetel Ejiofor deliver intense, layered performances.
 
“Backroom” is not a cheap jump scare movie, but leans heavily on the surreal, oppressive atmosphere that gives you an unsettling feeling throughout the entire film. An absolute must-watch for horror fans.
 
Rating: 4,5/ 5

20s Movie Review - The Witches

Director: Robert Zemeckeis
Genre: Fantasy/ Adventure/ Family
Runtime: 106 minutes
Year: 2020
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, Stanley Tucci, Chris Rock

Description: A young boy and his grandmother (Octavia Spencer) have a run-in with a coven of witches and their leader (Anne Hathaway).

Review: “The Witches” is a visually overwhelming and unbalanced remake that misses the mark by a wide margin. While the 1990 original struck a perfect balance between horror and childhood nostalgia, this modern retelling gets bogged down with bad CGI.

The film follows a young orphaned boy who movies in with his loving grandmother in Alabama in the late 1960s. After they encounter a mysterious woman, Grandma decides to flee to a luxury hotel on the coast to escape her. Coincidentally, a glamorous yet terrifying group of witches arrives at that very same hotel for their annual gathering. Led by the Grand Witch, they hatch a terrible plan to turn all the children in the world into mice. When the boy and his new friends are actually transformed, they must find a way, as mice, to stop the witches.

Although director Robert Zemeckis has a star-studded cast that includes Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spences and Stanley Tucci, the film never really manages to capture the magic of Roald Dahl’s books. The biggest culprit is the overuse of CGI, which is truly terrible at times. The digital effects look unnatural and cheap, making the transformed mice and the Grand High Witch’s terrifying smile come across as laughable rather than believable.

In addition, the film suffers from an identity crisis. The tone veers all over the place: at times, the atmosphere is far too grim for (young) children, with disturbing transformations and a menacing undertone. At the same time, it lacks genuine, palpable suspense. Fortunately, for the generation that grew up with the original, there is one consolation: no matter how gruesome this version sometimes tries to be, its still not as traumatic as the 90s version from my childhood. Anjelica Huston’s terrifying, hand-crafted transformation remains the ultimate nightmare. One that this soulless CGI remake has absolutely no chance of dethroning.

Rating: 2/ 5