How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive

Welcome to the movie business, where a savvy filmmaker can make a real killing.

As the 1980s draw to a close, successful indie director Max Maurey dreams of creating the perfect horror movie instead of churning out formulaic slasher flicks.

After the maker of Mary’s Birthday—a shlocky old movie that turned into a snuff film for its cast and crew—dies, he hopes to score a print at the estate sale. Instead, he discovers the film’s true ending and a camera that delivers a horrible curse—or the key to realizing his dream, if he’s willing to go all the way.

As production on Max’s new movie begins, Sally Priest joins the cast. Young, beautiful, and bursting with ambition, she hopes to join the pantheon of America’s scream queens. She has no idea her director has planned a night of very real terror.

He has no idea how hard she’ll fight to survive.

“DiLouie remixes classic horror tropes into a harrowing thriller set in 1988… The cursed object set up feels familiar, but readers will be pulled in by the morally twisted characters and serpentine plot. Film buffs will especially enjoy this paean to ’80s slasher films and the people who love them.” – Publishers Weekly

“How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive will appeal to readers who like classic slasher films and books like Stephen Graham Jones’s My Heart Is a Chainsaw.” – Booklist

“Overall, this is an incredibly fun horror novel with some serious messages and themes. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry … you’ll get super freaked out, and ultimately you’ll have a grand old time.” – HorrorBound, complete review here

“Funny horror is hard to do right, but Craig DiLouie delivers plenty of it in How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive. At once a send up of the movie industry, a brutal horror novel where a lot of people die in horrible ways, and an exploration of art and staying true to your artistic vision, this novel packs something for everyone… Creative deaths, a constant deconstruction of the way Hollywood works, and two central characters who are easy to like and who are struggling to achieve their dreams all make for a unique horror novel that is definitely one of DiLouie’s best.” -Locus Magazine, Gabino Iglesias reviewing

“How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive is a blood-spattered homage to horror films, an ode to the craft of filmmaking, and a cautionary tale about the fiery—often destructive—creative passion inside every artist, one that continuously teeters on the brink of insanity. DiLouie has created a celluloid cursed object story that John Carpenter himself would stand up and applaud from the front row.” – Philip Fracassi, author of Boys in the Valley

“As a kid whose love for horror began in part with the slasher films of 1980s, How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive is a dream come true. Cursed films, scream queens, and more horror callbacks than you can shake a stick at, this book is many things, but among them, it’s Craig DiLouie’s best and most fun novel to date. I tore through it in a single sitting and with a big goofy smile on my face the whole damn time.” – Kealan Patrick Burke, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Kin and Sour Candy

“Gory, glorious, and just a little too believable, Craig DiLouie’s latest is a slick meta slasher movie in book form, set in the brutal intersection of art and obsession.” – NYT Bestselling Author Peter Clines

“I was definitely not disappointed with my second venture into Craig DiLouie’s work. The author is a credit to the world of horror fiction, and How to Make A Horror Movie and Survive is another standout entry offering a compelling blend of suspense, chills, and insightful commentary the genre.” -The BiblioSanctum, complete review here

“Confidently striding through the genre, DiLouie displays a deep and abiding love for horror, even as he finds new ways to bend our disgust and despair to his will. The camera cannot turn away.” – Andrew F. Sullivan, co-author of The Handyman Method

“The setting might well be the schlocky 1980s, but DiLouie’s nostalgic dissection of our love of horror is bang on point. How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive is a tricky, twisty book with more levels to it than a slasher movie has sequels. DiLouie knows what makes the genre–and the endless legions of fans like us who crave the next scare–tick.” – David Moody, author of Hater and Autumn

“A brutal and disturbingly funny trip into the dark heart of 1980s Hollywood, How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive deftly exposes a world where art and commerce meet ambition and blood lust. With a director’s eye for Reagan-era detail and a satirical lens that never overwhelms the crackling story, DiLouie brings his cast to glorious life (and, for some unfortunate souls, gruesome death). Keep repeating: it’s only a book, it’s only a book…” – Andy Marino, author of It Rides a Pale Horse

“An incredibly fun read. DiLouie very clearly loves the genre and filmmaking and it’s a delight to venture into the worlds he creates.” -The Mind Reels, complete review here

“A dark and heartfelt love letter to horror movies and Hollywood hells, How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive is Craig DiLouie at his best—suspenseful, psychological, and unpredictable!” – James Chambers, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of A Bright and Beautiful Eternal World

“DiLouie really has outdone himself with this one… How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive is a novel that transcends just fiction. It speaks to those who read, watch and consume horror. It’s a love letter to the fans who don’t care what producers say. To those who don’t want a part four but a new take on an old trope. With this one, DiLouie showcases his ability to craft phenomenal characters that take you along on their journey, a journey you care about, and a journey not purely there to have them killed off by a nameless knife-wielding maniac. Loved this one.” – Steve Stred, author of Mastodon, complete review here

“If you like slasher movies, I would definitely recommend this book for you.” – Cravenwild, complete review here

“An imaginative take on the cursed movie trope, How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive is a bloody, shocking, and surprisingly humorous story about a director who is determined to make the perfect horror movie … a worthy entry in the ‘cursed movie’ trope, don’t miss it!” – Books, Bones & Buffy, complete review here