Tuesday, January 22, 2013

The Scream Queen's Survival Guide, by Meredith O'Hayre

(pb; 2010: nonfiction/humor)


From the back cover:

"The Horror Movie Know-How For Every Bloody Situation.

"You've watched enough horror movies to know danger lurks around every corner, locker room, and strange new neighbor.  And inevitably, the last known survivor is always The Scream Queen.

"In The Scream Queen's Survival Guide, you'll learn more than 100 life or death lessons that Jamie Lee [Curtis], Neve [Campbell], and Jennifer Love [Hewitt] learned on screen - without the pain of dismemberment.  You owe it to yourself to master the scream queen's rules of survival, including:

"BE WARY OF DAYS THAT BEING 'MUCH LIKE ANY OTHER'
(it's all downhill from there)

"KEEP THAT PLAYLIST LIGHT
(no one ever got axed while cuttin' Footloose)

"RECONSIDER THAT ROAD TRIP
(or else end up at the mercy of a creepy tow-truck driver)

"KEEP AWAY FROM SMALL-TOWN LAW ENFORCEMENT
(the rent-a-cop always dies)

"Featuring little-known trivia and favorite moments from hundreds of the most well-known and scariest movies of all time, this is one survival guide you are sure to die without."


Review:

A snarky and clever read, Scream Queen is "light" (if you're a horror fan) book that's worth having - particularly if you're waiting in the lobby of a dentist's office (tooth pain generally being less severe than dismemberment) or engaged in a corresponding endeavor.

Scream Queen runs about twenty pages too long, especially near the end, in that some of her survival tips read like reworded versions of previous survival tips.  That said, this smart-minded book is worth checking out, even worth owning, if you get it cheap.

Either way, it's a good time for horror fans with a sense of humor.

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