The Haunted Screen

by J.M. Tyree

Informed by the eerie paranoia of horror film, J. M. Tyree's uncanny novella follows a couple transplanted to Germany.

While in the throes of writing a book on Hitchcock’s Vertigo, a film scholar believes he’s being followed by a strange presence. Is this a supernatural force emanating from the prehistoric caves in the region, one captured in lost footage from horror movies filmed in the area in the 1920s? Or is he being stalked by his ex, a mentor, former lover, and brilliant but problematic critic who claims to have discovered the secret history of a supernatural camera used in films by Murnau and Hitchcock?

When our scholar's wife disappears and the local police start investigating him, he attempts to unravel a mystery that takes him to Berlin, to Prague, and into the haunted heart of movies whose scenes appear to be recurring in the present.

Moving between the double-life of professional networking and obsessive unease, The Haunted Screen blends the madness and obsession of academia with a dark, thrilling current of psychological mystery.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Contemporary

280 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2024

About the author

J.M. Tyree is the Nonfiction Editor of New England Review. He was a Keasbey Scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge, and a Truman Capote-Wallace Stegner Fellow and Jones Lecturer in Fiction at Stanford University. He currently teaches as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at VCUarts (Virginia Commonwealth University).

Reviews

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5) This is Red Pill meets Girls Against God, by way of That Time of Year: a trippy fever dream of a novella about masochism, Hitchcock and haunted cameras. Unable to complete a book he’s under contract to write, a man aimlessly wanders the German city of Tübingen, where his often-absent wife has secured a job and possibly also a lover. Left to his own devices, he obsessively returns to memories of an ex – an older, more powerful woman who exploited their connection – and begins to suspect a strange conspiracy: figures lurking in the shadows, enigmatic notes, screams in the night. Based on the title and the film references, I was hoping for a lost media story, which this is not. At times its dream-logic becomes impenetrable; thankfully Tyree has a knack for bringing the story back down to earth. I really enjoyed the evocative settings as well as all the details of the weird clues.

[Alexis Zhou · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ This is for a very specific type of reader, if you’re into complex literature with hidden meanings this is for you. Not my type of story, but 3.5 stars for the writing style.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

An oddly eerie horror novella from Deep Vellum via their imprint "A Strange Object." This is a strange one indeed, based upon the old Hitchcock film "Vertigo." Despite never having seen that movie I found this book very compelling and clever, with great attention to language and a mood teetering on the line between paranoia and full-blown madness.

[Joseph (Kevin) Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great writing with a more than intriguing premise. Recommend watching Hitchcock’s Vertigo a few times to get the full effect. The tone and seeming laisse faire attitude of the main character reminded me of Camus’ The Stranger.
Ending was a bit simple, easy which I didn’t think fit rest of story.

[Cheyenne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an odd little book about a man who is a certified mess. He moves to Germany for his wife's job, and his already messy life becomes much worse when he starts to see strange things in the local forest.

This book was fairly slow and contemplative, spending a lot of time in summary/expository mode but breaking into scene every now and again. It was also strange, though perhaps it didn't quite commit enough to any one type of strange for me. There is some sense of the paranormal happening, but it never really feels like a *paranormal book,* if that makes sense. Similarly, the protagonist's interactions with various professionals (a doctor and a cop, to be specific) feel very strange to the point of unbelievability, but the book isn't quite strange enough for me to suspend my disbelief and accept the interactions as part of the world.

There's also Amy, who plays a very significant role in the story despite being mostly offscreen. By the end of the book, our protagonist comes to believe that she's killed herself, but there's no evidence of this, and even though they're messaging at one point in the story, he doesn't bother to reach out and check. Plus, after she does several things throughout the story to intellectually torment him, she leaves him an envelope that we can assume contains some sort of explanation of what's really been going on, and he just lets it get blown out of his hands and never tries to track it down, which is rather anticlimactic and unsatisfying.

Overall, I can see the appeal to the book, but I don't think the execution worked for me as well as it could have. My enjoyment of the book was possibly also hindered by not having seen the movie Vertigo, which seems central to a lot of the movement of the novel. The relevant portions of the movie are explained in the text, but it's still hard to muster up an emotional reaction to them when you haven't seen them for yourself, which probably tainted my entire novella experience.

[Àlex A. T. · Rating 2 out of 5]

un erudito de cine se muda a alemania acompañando a su esposa, rebecca, quien va a impartir un seminario de verano en la universidad. en sus ratos libres, su objetivo es terminar un ensayo sobre "vértigo" de hitchock que hace tiempo, con la ayuda de amy, su antigua profesora de universidad y amante, le prometió a una editorial. preso de un bloqueo creativo, las cosas se van volviendo más extrañas a su alrededor: por las noches oye a un bebé chillar en su edificio, amy (o su fantasma) se aparece en sus paseos por el bosque y rebecca desaparece de forma inesperada.

"the haunted screen" toma su título de un ensayo sobre el impacto del expresionismo en el cine alemán y con este punto de partida, además de homenajear a su autora lotte eisner, j. m. tyree ya nos da pistas del referente estético de su novela. las menciones implícitas y explícitas a "vértigo" son numerosas, con nuestro protagonista atrapado entre la desaparición de su esposa y el regreso (o no) de su amante, pero además también hay elementos del "nosferatu" de murnau y una ambientación onírica que es puro david lynch. y quizás es toda esta imaginería visual lo que me ha puesto difícil seguir su desarrollo por escrito. "the haunted screen" funciona a un nivel intangible —la ambientación, el enrarecimiento progresivo, los momentos absolutamente delirantes en que el humor se cuela en todo esto en las conversaciones con el médico y la policía— pero aunque usa los ganchos típicos de una novela de misterio termina siendo un callejón sin salida más cercano a la paranoia que no a una intriga sólida. visualmente podría ser algo interesante. como novela, me ha dejado bastante igual.

[Robert Micallef · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novella is so much more than the tag of horror that would place it in some sub-genre literary ghetto with the classification like 'books about a cursed film/object'. True, we find superlative examples of what Mark Fisher called the eerie and the weird. The eerie encounters are beautifully rendered brushes with the unknown. An alterity that never resolves neatly into the known. We also get these shocks of the weird-- disturbances, sensations of things being off, and eventually intrusions from the outside. Along with these encounters with the sublime, there's another layer that deals with our darker sexual impulses where the main character discovers, very beautifully, that rightness or wrongness begins and ends with consent.

[Coco Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this with a bookclub and the treat was we watched the movie in the bookstore which added to my enjoyment of the book even moreso. I enjoyed the writing style. The unnamed narrator has some issues with just doing what he needs to do like finish his book, stop letting his wife control the marriage by disappearing and cheating, and not allowing another woman to abuse him. Omg dude. But the writing is really good.

[Jaime deBlanc · Rating 5 out of 5]

An eerie fever dream of a book. I love small books, like Claire Keegan's Foster and Michelle de Kretser's Springtime--there's just something special about a book you can finish in one or two sittings--and this one really delivers the goods. Hitchcockian paranoia, a hint of the supernatural, glorious German landscapes, and some sly humor. Highly recommend if you like novellas, du Maurier's Rebecca, and fish-out-of-water stories.

[M Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creative and gripping existential psychosis in this first person narrative. Family, graduate school, a doctor’s visit in a foreign language, all from hell, sometimes with a chuckle. Set in the dank forests of Germany, our paranoid hero finds his Maderley.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is he schizophrenic because his ex girlfriend was abusive or because his wife is cheating on him or because he wants his ex girlfriend back or is his ex girlfriend a ghost or is he just super kinky and wants to get rough with a German emo cop

[Jay Sandover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful fun novella you can read in one sitting. Thinks a ton about Vertigo and how the movies are the only thing that is real. Loved it. My review:

https://thevisionarycompany.net/2025/...

[Melissa Abila · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know if it’s just because I read this book on a train from Nice FR to Florence IT and was absolutely vibing, but, I was, like, 40 pages in and already wanted to reread this book. (After watching VERTIGO again)
I’m going to look for more of this author.

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️

This novella really sucked me and it’s very unique, but I wanted more spooky forest vibes and expected more hallucinations and paranoia than it ended up really delivering.