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Book: “The October Film Haunt” by Michael Wehunt
Publishing Info: St. Martin’s Press, September 2025
Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publisher at ALAAC25
Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound
Book Description: Horror Movie meets the scope and emotion of Stephen King in this heart-pounding, magnetic tour de force about a woman pulled into a cult horror film that is determined to have a sequel, by critically acclaimed author Michael Wehunt.
Ten years ago, Jorie Stroud was the rising star of the October Film Haunt – a trio of horror enthusiasts who camped out at the filming locations of their favorite scary movies, sharing their love through their popular blog. But after a night in the graveyard from Proof of Demons – perhaps the most chilling cult film ever made, directed by the enigmatic Hélène Enriquez – everything unraveled.
Now, Jorie has built an isolated life with her young son in Vermont. In the devastating wake of her viral, truth-stretching Proof of Demons blog entry — hysteria, internet backlash, and the death of a young woman — Jorie has put it all, along with her intense love for the horror genre, behind her.
Until a videotape arrives in the mail. Jorie fears someone might be filming her. And the “Rickies” – Enriquez obsessives who would do anything for the reclusive director – begin to cross lines in shocking ways. It seems Hélène Enriquez is making a new kind of sequel…and Jorie is her final girl.
As the dangers grow even more unexpected and strange, Jorie must search for answers before the Proof of the movie’s title finds her and takes everything she loves.
This riveting and layered horror novel unleashes supernatural terror in a world where truth can be manipulated, and nothing is as it seems. Beautiful and horrifying, with an unforgettable cast of characters, The October Film Haunt will shock and delight readers all the way to its breathless final page.
Review: Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an ARC of this novel at ALAAC25!
Before I head out to the Annual American Library Association Conference every year I make a list of titles that I am going to keep an eye out for. Usually it’s from authors that I love, or hyped up titles that I keep seeing across my feeds, but there are also dark horse selections of books that may not be getting much attention, but I still keep stumbling upon. “The October Film Haunt” by Michael Wehunt was one such book, as it’s a debut and I hadn’t seen MUCH about it around the time I was plotting out my searches. But the premise of a horror film aficionado content creator getting too involved in a cursed film urban legend (that may actually be a REAL creature lurking in some woods) was tantalizing to say the least. It only sweetened the deal when the rest of the plot involved a zealous and potentially dangerous cult following radicalized by Internet lore and connection. Scary AND a bit timely? Oh yes, I was interested, and was stoked when I snagged a copy at the conference.
I love a cursed film urban legend, and the foundation of “The October Film Haunt” has a really well developed and creepy one to hold up the rest of the tale. It feels a little like “Slenderman” meets the original “Blair Witch Project” (at least with it’s wild ‘this may have actually happened’ marketing), with a cult horror film rumored to be real inspiring a tragedy with people who were too engrossed with the lore, as well as questions about culpability of content creators who feed into the mythos and hysteria for their own gains only for it to spin completely out of control. Our former horror content creators Jorie and Beth are brought back together after a falling out due Internet backlash in the wake of their content about the cult film “Proof of Demons” by mysterious director Hélène Enriquez, possibly contributing to a girl’s death, mostly because they feel like someone or someones are watching them, stalking them, and coming after them. The slow dread as they are stalked and harassed is effective and chilling, as is the slow build up of the “Rickies” who are after them. I also just loved the creep factor of the way that Wehunt explores the way that the Internet can stir up an almost shared psychosis and cult-like mentality that can make people do scary and murderous things (something that has felt all too relevant as of late). And hey, I really enjoyed the lore of the Pine Arch Creature. I was a Slenderman fan back during the Marble Hornets days so it’s kind of fun to see how much he has endured as a modern folk legend, even if he feels played out by many at this point.
This was more literary than I was anticipating. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, mind you, as I love it when horror stretches beyond the genre limits than is usually expected (hell, I absolutely loved the book “Reprieve” which was SUPER literary with a horror backdrop). And I do like that it kind of matched the surrealistic and disjointed paranoia that Jorie and Beth are experiencing as they are getting more and more engulfed in their past actions catching up to them and being possibly targeted by a group of zealous fans. But I will also acknowledge that sometimes it made for the story hard to follow, or could throw off the pacing, especially when we would jump to perspectives of other characters and get snippets of their actions and motivations within the same surrealistic and disjointed style. I think that had there been a faster pace with the story in general when we were in the Jorie and Beth sections (or even the interludes, which I almost always really enjoyed) it could have been easier to swallow, but as it was I found the book a bit trickier to get through because of the choppy pacing and weirdness as a whole. And for horror fans who aren’t as into a literary style when it comes to reading, I could see this being a very cumbersome read. It’s just good to have expectations managed going into it, I think.
“The October Film Haunt” is dark and strange, and it probably won’t be for everyone. I appreciated what it was trying to do, and if you like some experimental literary edge to your horror stories, it may be worth checking out.
Rating 6: A strong premise, well done lore building, and some great introspection about groupthink has the makings of a creepy literary horror tale, but be warned that sometimes it gets in the weeds a little bit. Overall, an interesting horror story that is sure to spark debate!
Reader’s Advisory:
“The October Film Haunt” is included on the Goodreads list “Lost Films & Cursed Movies”.
The Library Ladies 