Haunting of Hill House meets found-footage horror in this edge-of-your-seat thriller that explores the power of family ties and the trauma that lurks there. When Sophia Galich was twelve, she starred in her older sister Layla's amateur horror movie Vermillion, which recorded raw footage of her very real reactions to scenes her sister concocted in their old Californian house on the coast--Cashore House. In the years after the film's release, Sophia's relationship with her sister became more strained, while her memories of the now-infamous house fueled her nightmares. Vermillion amassed an army of fanatical fans who speculated about the film's hidden messages, and it was rumored that Layla made a pact with the devil--her soul in exchange for fame and arcane knowledge. Sophia dismissed this as gossip...until Layla disappeared. Now, Sophia must study the trail of clues Layla has left behind, returning to the very place where it all began. As she gets closer and closer to Cashore House's haunted heart, she must once again confront the ghosts of her childhood. But the house won't reveal its secrets without a fight.
I wanted this book to stick the landing but endings are really hard. I do mostly generally like the kind of ambiguous horror movie endingness of it though.
Some things that bugged me that I just need to get off my chest:
The editing of this book was fairly atrocious. Katya, fire your editor. 😭
I felt really annoyed that the Path and the online lore around it petered out at the end. I was really enjoying it. But also I’m not sure the mysterious phantom website really worked for me. After a while it started to feel like a lazy plot device.
Another thing, omfg in like the first few chapters there’s a giant creepy painting of Adrianna that has a hinge which seemed to suggest it would swing open and reveal another painting or SOMETHING underneath. I read this whole book thinking any minute now that that would come back. It did not.
Lastly, once you learn the twist, it’s confusing to me why the movie itself was made?
I feel like it would have been cool if like the reason Layla made the film was to appease Vermillion and make her like, viral (think in terms of like, The Ring) and that’s kind of why Vermillion possesses CrimisonDreadNet & that’s how she could find victims? Idk obviously it’s not a perfect idea, I’m just spitballing. 🤷🏻♀️
I know I complained a lot (hence one star off) but overall I really enjoyed this. Found footage horror is like my favorite sub genre of horror so this worked for me. I liked the online fan forum stuff. I liked the overall scariness of it, I definitely woke up in the middle of the night and seemed to think Vermillion was staring at me 😱 8/10 would think this would make a fantastic found footage style movie about a found footage movie.
ThriftBooks sells millions of used books at the lowest everyday prices. We personally assess every book's quality and offer rare, out-of-print treasures. We deliver the joy of reading in recyclable packaging with free standard shipping on US orders over $15. ThriftBooks.com. Read more. Spend less.