In How To Survive A Horror Movie, Charley finds herself at an all girls' boarding school located on a remote island. She and her roommate/only friend, Olive, share a love of horror movies and live their lives by the rules they've learned from them (I love that the chapter titles form the rules). But when Sixth-Year students start dying and Charley and Oliver are the ones to find them every time, the films they watch begin to feel like real life. When the girls that have died begin to haunt Charlie, and everyone suspects that she has something to do with their deaths, she realises that she needs to use the ghosts to help her solve their deaths.
How To Survive A Horror Movie Sequel picks up several months after the end of the first book and finds Charlie and her mum on the road, something that has become the norm after the end of book one, with Charlie determined to stay one step ahead of things and away from the killer she thinks is still after her (I'm trying desperately not to give away any spoilers for anybody who has yet to read either book!). When their car breaks down, the pair find themselves in the small Scottish town of Glendale, nicknamed 'The Devil's Punchbowl'. At first, everyone appears friendly and they are even given a house to stay in, rent free, until their car is fixed. But, as they settle into life in the town, and Charlie's mum is offered a job, Charlie begins to see ghosts everywhere. Nervous, she relies on a pentagram to help her, but when things take a murderous turn, she knows that the ghosts need her help. The question is, can she use those horror movie rules to save the day again?
So ... I'm not a fan of horror movies (sorry!), they terrify me and I still have vivid memories of sleepless nights when I was young, after watching only two minutes of Nightmare On Elm Street! However, there was something about How To Survive A Horror Movie that really appealed to me ... and I wasn't wrong! I read and loved it last year, and then reread it again this week before reading the sequel.
There is something very endearing about these books (that may sound bizarre!). Charlie has had a very difficult time following the death of her father, and is trying to make a new start at Harrogate. Olive is her only friend and partner in crime against the rich girls who clearly wield power in various ways in the school. Their shared love of horror movies is what bonds them and it helps them to navigate the horrors that unfold in the book. With girls dying at an alarming rate, it's Charlie who realises that they are being murdered ... why? Well, because they are haunting her!
I really don't want to give anything away, so I'm trying to be vague as well as specific at the same time! In the second book, Charlie is trying to recover from the horrors of book one but is still terrified by the events and the prospect of what could happen. She is eternally on edge and her resilience is frayed to say the least. She struggles to trust anybody but begins to make a new life in Glendale before discovering things really aren't quite as they seem.
Despite my wimpiness at the horror genre, I absolutely loved these books! They're fast-paced and gripping reads, full of scares and suspense that keep the pages turning, and there are elements of humour that lighten the moments. The deaths are, in may ways, over the top in the very best gory, horror-movie way that will delight readers. And readers will be kept guessing as to who the murderer is in book one.
In the sequel, I found myself waiting for the murderer to arrive; I knew what I was waiting for and that helped to build the suspense for me. There's also the added witch element of book 2 which I really much enjoyed. The book has more ghosts, more murder and a slow drip-feed of the town's history and I was completely gripped by it all!
Both of these books are an ode to horror movies in the very best way. Expect scares (if you're a wimp like me!), dark humour and an atmosphere perfect for the dark nights that are creeping in. Perfect for those looking to move into the YA genre, How To Survive A Horror Movie and How To Survive A Horror Movie Sequel have firmly changed my opinion of horror books, and I really hope there'll be a third book!
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