Scream Queen

by Edo Van Belkom

Six contestants. One haunted house. And a whole lot of bloody murder.

B-grade horror masters the Gowan brothers have devised a new reality TV show with a killer hook. Six contestants compete for the chance to star in an upcoming slasher movie. All they have to do is survive one night in a “haunted” house and be voted Scream Queen.

The setting is perfect: a crumbling Victorian mansion with a gruesome history and a former owner who turned out to be a serial killer. Throw in a few buckets of fake blood, a bunch of rubber body parts, and a cast of aspiring actors who’ll do anything for a close-up. An expert parapsychologist even warns the production team against disturbing the house’s dormant spirits. Fantastic publicity. Sure, the budget’s low, but the ratings are going to soar.

Then the sun goes down. The cameras start rolling. And all hell really breaks loose…

Edo Van Belkom, winner of the Bram Stoker and Aurora Awards, is at his brilliantly twisted best in a novel that’s dark, witty, and utterly terrifying.

“Great creepy fun! A post-modern edge-of-your-seat thriller, with enough smarts to know when to scare you and when to make you laugh. Having survived a decade in television, I thought I’d seen it all, but this book is actually SCARIER than meeting a Hollywood Network Executive!!” –Ron Oliver writer/director PROM NIGHT 3 & more

“An ominous rollercoaster ride of a ghost story that is at once surprisingly simple and deceptively complex, a novel which exemplifies both the author’s penchant for comic horror and intense terror – not to mention a genuine love of horror movies … SCREAM QUEEN rocks.” –Rue Morgue

“A beach book for the horror crowd. Fun and fast-paced, the book is a terrific read.” –Creative Corner

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Horror Thriller, Thriller, Halloween, Paranormal

352 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2003

About the author

Bram Stoker and Aurora Award-winner Edo van Belkom is the author of over 200 stories of horror, science fiction, fantasy, and mystery. As an editor, he has four anthologies to his credit that include two books for young adults, Be Afraid! (A Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book of the Year finalist) and Be Very Afraid! (An Aurora Award winner — Best Work in English). Born in Toronto, van Belkom graduated from York University, then worked as a daily newspaper sports and police reporter before becoming a full-time writer. Edo van Belkom lives in Brampton, Ontario, with his wife Roberta and son Luke.

Reviews

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This author had some big obsession with women's nipples. I can guarantee I have never noticed another women's nipples were hard and then been oh so relieved to realize mine were hard as well! Yae for my nipples wanting to get some attention of their own!
Honestly, I'm not sure this man ever actually talked to a real woman. Or a person of color. Or knows how to write anything scary.
In short:
If you want a well written book, without race or gender stereotypes, full of fleshed out characters and genuine scares, then please, for the love of God, DO NOT read this book. It’s the equivalent of pig slop in book form.

[William M. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow! Was this book bad. Not only am I in the film industry, but I'm a huge fan of horror. So I thought this book would be perfect for me. Unfortunately, with little to no character development or atmosphere, this book is dead on arrival. I have to say, Scream Queen is the most predictable horror novel I've ever read. Every single scene I've seen done before. The author also makes quite a few mistakes when describing positions on a film crew. It's no wonder Mr. Van Belkom got his technical information about filmmaking from Ron Oliver -- the director of Prom Night III ! I also found it funny to learn that this author has written books on how to write horror and erotica when this book contains neither! Scream Queen is a total flop and a complete waste of time. Stay away.

[mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

uh so, the more I sit with this book, the lower my rating of it becomes. it took FAR to long to get to the actual haunted house and wasted the first 130 pages on 'preproduction' boringness and bullshit. The main character was pretty unlikeable most of the time. She hated every other girl she encountered and was incredibly judgemental and had a 'not like other girls/ I'm just your average country gal/ I'm above all this' attitude. There were a lot of offhanded racists and sexist comments. there was a lot of blatant slut-shaming. my 2020 woke brain couldn't really understand or look past these things. this is totally a me thing but, I thought the 'shadowy blob of a spoooky ghost?! that kills by floating through somebody' thing didn't really do it for me. This doesn't get one star because there were parts of this book that were real page-turners. Some of it did spook me a bit (but not scary). I enjoyed the violence and gore but I wish it had gone more into depth with it. Like, a character gets decapitated and it pretty much just says 'she got decapitated' NO! I want you to describe how it felt and looked like when her flesh was tearing and the warmth of the blood on the cold cold night, and how her bones cracked and separated from the force of the pull. is that too much to ask? from a horror novel? There was no, absolutely none, character development from anyone and especially the Gowan brothers. Too many plot holes. I don't think I actually enjoyed this book at all.

[David Veith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was ready to rate this as a 4 maybe 5 stars, but when it ended, I just couldn't do it. The writing was mostly well done, and the story had a good flow and pace. It was the end, just so abrupt and anti-climactic that made me go with a 3.0

Spoilers below

So, a group of young actors are making a show and hopefully winning their big break if they are the last to stay the night in a haunted house. Turns out the people making the show didn't need to set up all kinds of scary things in the house, it would do it on its own. One by one cast and crew start to get killed off. Some of them just disappeared though, no explanation as to how or why. I found that a bit annoying but moved on as there was a body count already going up. I did enjoy how the cast was trying to get into the house but couldn't and was getting killed off too. Overall, the story had good flow and was enjoyable, but the vagueness of some of the deaths, and certain things just got me. And then you get to the end, and it just stops. So much left unexplained. Just felt like the story ended too early.

[Carly Wilbur · Rating 1 out of 5]

Author is a racist and misogynist. He created two Black characters in his story just to show us how much he hates Black women. He created a Latinx character just to overly sexualize her. Big surprise-the main character is a victimized, pick me white woman. The story is derivative and lacks imagination. Do better.

[Christie Zurbrigg · Rating 4 out of 5]

It got terrible reviews but I really enjoyed this slasher b rated horror movie book.

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edo van Belkom, Scream Queen (Pinnacle, 2003)

Ah, a return to the glory days of eighties horror. Back then, there were your great writers, there were your A-list writers (who were good, but rarely approached greatness, and never with any regularity), and then, as A Christmas Story wryly tells us, there were "the nameless rabble of victims," those all-but-anonymous genre writers whose work is now lost to the wind. (That the same can be said of many of the greats in no way makes the two in any way similar.) For every John Holt, Edward Levy, or Michael Paine writing in the eighties, you had ten Ken Eulos, Saul Wernicks, and William Hills.

These days, the ratio seems to have been turned on its head. You can find great horror writers under every rock. Poppy Z. Brite, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Charlee Jacob, Carlton Mellick III, and their ilk have raised the bar for literary horror far past any place I could have hoped it would go when I first discovered that avatar of literate horror, Clive Barker. Nowadays, you have to search pretty far for the genre writer, the guy whose books are going to sell a few hundred thousand copies and then fade into obscurity.

Scream Queen falls solidly into the realm of genre fiction destined for obscurity. But like the best work of Eulo, Wernick, Hill et al., while it sticks around, those few hundred thousand readers who take van Belkom up on his offer to ride through this funhouse are going to have one hell of a trip.

Scream Queen gives us such an obvious premise it's amazing no one's actually pulled it off yet: two brothers who direct low-budget horror films stage a reality TV show, Scream Queen, the winner of which gets the lead part in the brothers' new movie. All the winner has to do is spend the night in a hunted house (rigged with tricks, natch, to scare the contestants), then have the public vote on her as the best of the contestants. Simple, right? (And brilliant. Expect it to happen in real life in the next couple of years. That's a reality series even I would watch.) The only problem is that the haunted house the producers and their team have tricked out really IS a haunted house, and the ghosts therein are not very happy to receive guests.

The action starts early and continues pretty much nonstop (there are some slow points for setup, but the writing is such that even they go by quickly). This is a slim novel, by modern horror standards, three hundred pages even. They fly. The reader is likely to find himself jarred at least once per page by stupid typos (and the obviously far overpaid editor never met a homonym he didn't misuse), but after a while you gloss those over and just get on with it. Nothing here is likely to make you say "boy, that was unexpected!" or think van Belkom has a line on the next great idea to move the whole genre forward.

If this were a movie, it'd be turn-your-brain-off entertainment. As a book, it's fluff, but readable fluff.***

[Not Now...Mommy's Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, there is no mention of a movie being made from this book, but in my humble opinion - there should be! The book itself reads as though you're watching the story unfold on a movie screen. I enjoyed it. True, it wasn't scary enough to make me lose a night of sleep (hence the 4 star and not 5 star rating - sick, huh? *laugh) but I did have to peek over my shoulder from time to time. *laugh I have to agree with one reader that the story seemed to just - end - but then I think that was the purpose of the ending...to kind of leave the readers hanging. Hanging for what? A sequel? Who knows? All in all, this book is definitely worth getting. A few graphic but not over the top horror scenes and an interesting plot. Like I said, I'd be the first in line if the story were turned into a movie. Speaking of movies, if you liked "House on Haunted Hill", "13 Ghosts", or "Ghost Ship" - grab this book because it's pretty much based on the same theme of greed and such.

[Wayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an average three star book in pretty much every way. It never really took off in any of the horror, gore, sex or mayhem scenes that they seemed to be building. What you did get is a pretty average, well written book. No characters really stand out. No scene grabs you and stays. Just average, you know what's up next genre horror. It is a quick and easy read though. You do want to know who "wins" the Scream Queen title and who dies. All in all a book that is easily forgotten in a few days, but sometime in the future when you see it again somewhere, you'll remember a few good parts. You probably won't want to read it again though.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book. I thought it was funny how it was based on a reality show. I remember giving this book to my younger sister afterward and she read it and slept in my Mom's bed for about a week!! Priceless!!!

[Kristie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read with an unexpected ending.

[June · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure why this was not already on my shelf of books I have already read...I really liked this book so I am not sure how I missed it on my reviews.

[Kilgallen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.
If you are looking for something deep and meaningful....this isn't it. But, if you are just looking for some silly, over the top, 80's style horror....this will make your day. The characters are cheesy, the plot is like swiss cheese and it just works! A fun horror romp.
I did listen to the audio book and must say that the narration was really hard to get through. The narrator was not, in my opinion, the best choice for this book.

[Ksenia Murray · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was the most predictable horror novel I've read in a long time with characters I hated. I'm pretty disappointed because I thought this story might be right up my alley. I should've read the other goodreads reviews first before purchasing 😂

[Colette Nolan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing honestly. A fun premise but it had a few too many typos (needed an extra editing pass for sure) and was a little heavy handed on some of the character archetypes (or stereotypes rather). A dissatisfying ending that seems too rushed.

[Evette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting concept. Book was an easy read. But the ending was awful, so abrupt and unfulfilling.

[Brian Gaston · Rating 4 out of 5]

The theme has been done over and over but I don't think that the fake haunted house turning real could be done any better than this.

[Duanne Walton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everything was fine until the ending.

[Chy]

It takes SO long to get to the actual plot of the book, it's filled with way too many characters that have minimal character development and it's not scary so it's another DNF for me.

[Kori · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick, fun read I would recommend to horror movie fans especially, fans of slashers. Didn't like how the paranormal elements weren't really explained, but it seemed to follow the normal horror movie ending i.e. leaving it open for a sequel.

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick and dirty super-horror-wannabe. There's a reality show that's occurring in a creepy haunted house that no one on the production staff bothered to learn about. Badly done, people. It turns out there was a crazy doctor and his wacky experiments, and the house is coming to life. Pretty typical, sometimes a little lame and obvious, but perfectly suitable for a dark and stormy night when the lights go out.

[Jeremy Hurd-McKenney · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would say that there are enough holes in this plot to drive a truck through, but even that couldn't be done correctly.

Usually with this kind of throwaway crap horror, you at least get some good blood, guts, and cheap scares, but this has none of this. Everything is extremely underwritten--gore, characterization, motive. Also, with its lack of explanation or story resolution, it seems as if the author neglected to finish the book.

[Dominick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Schlock horror film makers decide to do a reality show as a stunt method to cast their next film: the one who can last the night in a haunted house also rigged with scary sfx wins the lead role in the movie. Of course the house is really haunted, of course the bodies start piling up, and of course the whole thing is rather formulaic and tired. It's not bad, but it's nowhere near a classic. I had a hard time buying into it.

[Rich · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reality tv show is created in which a group of people must stay overnight in a "haunted" house in order to win cash and prizes. The only problem is that the house is really haunted. I enjoyed the humor throughout the story and the ending was well done. The author could have done better with the character development. There were too many characters killed off to just make all of them so bland. Also, a story about a haunted house needs to SCARE ME!

[Brett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my favourite book I have ever read, hands down. I read it in a matter of a day, and I still bring it up every time I am recommending books to my friends. His writing style is so raw, and descriptive. I felt like I was THERE. I will keep this book forever, and reread it every chance I get.

[Angie crosby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow at first but once they were in the house it got good. Good creep factor, could have been better though. Good ending.

[Amanda M. Lyons · Rating 2 out of 5]

This never quite worked as it should have. I suppose some of it might have been my lack of interest in films with a similar plot.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ike & Erwin are making a reality TV show but how real is it? Jody and the other contestants will find out. Is what they must survive really worth it?

[Kallista · Rating 1 out of 5]

2.5-3 ⭐️