By Lily Anderson
They thought they were just starting their lives but, they might actually be ending
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Killer House Party is such an unexpectedly fun read especially for a horror story. This story focuses on a class of high school graduates as they party the night away in an abandoned, long thought haunted manor. All through the night new terrors arise as the party goers are in a fight for their lives to leave the manor. But kids are literally being swallowed whole and blood runs down the walls. People are possessed and their is no one with a single clue as to how they can get out.
I’m not a fan of horror movies but I was interested to see if horror books could creep me out. So, as I was perusing the shelves of Barnes and Noble for my next read I came across this book which was slightly on display. The story seemed interesting enough and I thought maybe it could answer a few questions about the genre. For instance; do people read horror books to get scared? Can you truly be scared of a book?
Intrigued by the thought of being terrified by a book, I decided to grab Killer House Party for no reason other than it had a groovy unintimidating cover and was rather short. As I started this story I was relieved that there was a touch of comedy. There were several points where I felt like this story was more like a “scary movie” (by the Wayans brothers) kind of vibe than actual horror. But, no it was horror.
I read this book and imagined it playing in my head as I would a movie. Obviously, there weren’t any jumpscares and audio playing in the background to creep me out but,all the same I could imagine this in theaters and how it’d make me feel.
What Did I like about Killer House Party?
I liked that Killer House Party was age appropriate and the thinking of the characters was definitely relatable for their age. You’re leaving high school and you either have everything planned or nothing planned and it all feels so final. You’re parents are literally the worse and you don’t know if you’re decisions are really what you want or if you’re just trying to spite them. Crushes seems so important and lifelong. All your choices are hindered by the reality that life as you know it is changing. The people, the places and routines you’re familiar with are now officially about to flip.
Much to my enjoyment the main characters are mostly POC. This obviously made them even more relable to me. Especially because they weren’t stereotypical POC but smart, nerdy, driven, and conscious of their futures.
The story itself is fun, this manor has been abandoned for nearly 100 years and there must be 100 rumors about it. The whole town has it’s own version of what happened at the manor and everyone is itching to step foot in it to see for themselves the horrors they’ve all heard happened there. I haven’t read a lot of horror so I can’t say if it was unique, but as far as my own personal reading has gone -its unique. A haunted house locking people in, swallowing people up and doing most of it right under the party goers noses.
The other thing I liked was the comedic element. This book was written so well adding in little remarks to gain a laugh or build the story.
What I didn’t like about this book
Killer House Party was a great book but, I didn’t like that it almost felt like a fairytale at the end. You know I hate to have spoilers in my reviews so I’ll try to tiptoe around this as best as possible. As we go through all the scary things happening in the house, we see situations were people shouldn’t have survived, yet at the end of the night with a guest list of 200 roughly 195 make it out alive? By the numbers I was counting of the possessed and dead that number should have been way higher. But, a little hope bought everybody back? I didn’t like that. I unfortunately wanted carnage and the real horror of having to explain to not only your parents but the entire town of parents exactly what happened and where everyones kids went. I can’t think of anything scarier than that.
Would I recommend Killer House Party?
I would definitely recommend Killer House Party to anyone just starting in the horror genre. To me it felt like baby steps into the genre. It was easy to read and fast as well. Plus, you truly have to be imaginative to actually be scared. That’s my final answer -books are only as scary as you let them be.
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