Let me pause for a second while you all finish giggling the way I did when I first saw this title.
Okay, done? Giggles out of your system? Then here are the basics: this is a very self-aware indie horror novella that plays with a lot of classic tropes, mainly the creepy haunted house. Other tropes take the form of familiar horror story faces, including the doomed cop, ditzy spiritual old lady neighbor, and clueless family complete with creepy possessed youngest child, overwhelmed stay-at-home mom, clueless dad, and snotty teenaged daughter.
I really expected to laugh out loud all through this, but the truth is, I barely smiled. This is because instead of leaning into the humor, this book is actually a little scary and plenty gory. I hate to talk about a book in terms of my expectations–I prefer to just let writing be whatever it is and try to leave my assumptions out of it–but I really did think this was going to be mostly a parody of a haunted house story with a little horror sprinkled on. Instead, it’s mostly the opposite.
Add to that the fact that horror is mostly Not My Genre unless there’s a strong cultural component and this book was just okay for me. I could see someone very into horror movies really liking this, but mostly I just wanted the characters to stop bleeding on things and make me laugh. The setup was great and the final monster genuinely surprising, but I wish the whole book had the same tone as its title.
A gift card to Home Depot to Man, F*ck This House.
Equal Opportunity Reader 