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Demon Theory
On Halloween night, following an unnerving phone call from his diabetic mother, Hale and six of his med-school classmates return to the house where his sister disappeared years ago. And while there’s no sign of his mother, something is waiting for them there, has been waiting a long time.
Written as a literary film treatment littered with footnotes and experimental nuances, 'DEMON THEORY' is even parts camp and terror, combining glib dialogue, fascinating pop culture references and an intricate subtext as it pursues the events of a haunting movie trilogy too real to dismiss.
There are movies about books and books about movies, and there’s 'DEMON THEORY' - a refreshing and occasionally shocking addition to the increasingly popular "intelligent horror" genre.
Running Time => 12hrs. and 17mins.
©2006 Stephen Graham Jones (P)2007 Recorded Books
Written as a literary film treatment littered with footnotes and experimental nuances, 'DEMON THEORY' is even parts camp and terror, combining glib dialogue, fascinating pop culture references and an intricate subtext as it pursues the events of a haunting movie trilogy too real to dismiss.
There are movies about books and books about movies, and there’s 'DEMON THEORY' - a refreshing and occasionally shocking addition to the increasingly popular "intelligent horror" genre.
Running Time => 12hrs. and 17mins.
©2006 Stephen Graham Jones (P)2007 Recorded Books
Audible Audio
First published May 20, 2006
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About the author
Stephen Graham Jones
236 books14.7k followersStephen Graham Jones is the NYT bestselling author thirty-five or so books. He really likes werewolves and slashers. Favorite novels change daily, but Valis and Love Medicine and Lonesome Dove and It and The Things They Carried are all usually up there somewhere. Stephen lives in Boulder, Colorado. It's a big change from the West Texas he grew up in.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 139 reviews
July 7, 2015
Stephen Graham Jones' Demon Theory initially seemed a hard book to rate. As a "novel," it's an experiment in form. It's much easier to read than the other (highly praised) horror experiment, House of Leaves (which I've never been able to finish). It's structure is three-panelled, with each section representing a sequel for a horror film (1970s - 1980s). Before reading this book, I was somewhat prepared -- or fortified, by watching on Netflix streaming, The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film. (I'm not a big fan of that sort of horror, but I do recommend the documentary.) What comes quickly evident is that Jones' familiarity with the horror genre (especially when it comes to films) is encyclopedic. And I'm talking about on a level that gets right down to dialogue, gesture, pacing, everything. Jones could easily be a script writer for John Carpenter or Wes Craven. The initial entry in Demon Theory is the best. A bunch of medical students head out to a secluded house (in a Halloween snowstorm) to check on one student's sick mother. Family secrets, things in the air, and murder, all take place. (I loved the flying blue Oz monkey on the frozen TV screen.)
Overall, I liked it (I would have probably given it 4 stars), and would have been content with Jones' stopping at this point. But horror franchises such as Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street are sequel driven. To recreate that, Jones opted for two more chapters, but with a wrinkle that has (in an inexact Rashomon way) the various characters (many of whom had died in the previous chapter) showing up again, but with their roles redefined, shifted, etc. Jones does a fine job with this, since I felt he retained the core personality of each character. But other problems start to crop up. The second chapter, which takes place at a hospital, recalls, very broadly, Halloween II and Alien (and I don't really want to get onto the slippery slope of influences here, since they are Legion in this book). The second chapter is also the longest. Kind of like a big bucks Hollywood sequel that goes on too long (Terminator II: Judgement Day?, Aliens?). It's sort of hard to follow, and annoyingly Spielbergian.
The third chapter (and the shortest) is the most self referential and most annoying. Characters start recalling that they sort of remember that they've been here and done that, but can't pull it all together. Jones is knitting all of this together to say something, but I'm not sure what. It may not even be that difficult to figure out, but by this point I just didn't care. Also, other than the aforementioned blue monkey moment, the book isn't scary. I got bored. As I said earlier, I initially wanted to rate this 4 stars, partly because I'm a nice guy, but primarily because I admire Jones' boldness and risk taking. He clearly loves the genre, and his hundreds of footnotes are a really cool goldmine that had me reserving a whole bunch of unseen movies on Netflix streaming. And Jones can write (he evidently is up for aShirley Jackson Bram Stoker award for his short story collection, The Ones that Got Away). So, upon reflection, I'm docking this one star for the sin of being a boring horror novel. Demon Theory just didn't work for me. Still, that said, I saw the enormous promise of this writer, and was left wanting to read his collection.
Overall, I liked it (I would have probably given it 4 stars), and would have been content with Jones' stopping at this point. But horror franchises such as Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street are sequel driven. To recreate that, Jones opted for two more chapters, but with a wrinkle that has (in an inexact Rashomon way) the various characters (many of whom had died in the previous chapter) showing up again, but with their roles redefined, shifted, etc. Jones does a fine job with this, since I felt he retained the core personality of each character. But other problems start to crop up. The second chapter, which takes place at a hospital, recalls, very broadly, Halloween II and Alien (and I don't really want to get onto the slippery slope of influences here, since they are Legion in this book). The second chapter is also the longest. Kind of like a big bucks Hollywood sequel that goes on too long (Terminator II: Judgement Day?, Aliens?). It's sort of hard to follow, and annoyingly Spielbergian.
The third chapter (and the shortest) is the most self referential and most annoying. Characters start recalling that they sort of remember that they've been here and done that, but can't pull it all together. Jones is knitting all of this together to say something, but I'm not sure what. It may not even be that difficult to figure out, but by this point I just didn't care. Also, other than the aforementioned blue monkey moment, the book isn't scary. I got bored. As I said earlier, I initially wanted to rate this 4 stars, partly because I'm a nice guy, but primarily because I admire Jones' boldness and risk taking. He clearly loves the genre, and his hundreds of footnotes are a really cool goldmine that had me reserving a whole bunch of unseen movies on Netflix streaming. And Jones can write (he evidently is up for a
September 7, 2020
People who will like this book probably already know who they are from the description; a novelization of a screenplay based on an unauthorized novel which is based on an article written from case notes from interviews at a mental facility. Add to this level of recursion 406 footnotes with sub footnotes up to 6 layers deep. (Some of you are drooling, others of you are ready to run screaming. Both are valid responses.)
This book is an exhaustive deconstruction of, and love letter to, horror films. The main story is in three parts, each one part of the proposed film trilogy, with recurring characters (in altered roles) becoming more self-aware (ala "Scream") in each part. While the footnotes aren't necessary to the main story, they are the meat of the book. Think of your socially inept film-geek friend who points out similarities to movies no matter what the situation is. Now multiply them by 100 and you have the writer of these footnotes. Always erudite, frequently over-indulgent, and occasionally clueless. The footnotes are the source of most of the humor in this book, which is extensive.
Definitely not a page-turner, but for anyone looking for a book that demands (and rewards) a close reading and a love of horror movies, this is the one. As other reviewers have pointed out, this doesn't work as an ebook or an audiobook due to the layers of footnotes. As of today, it's out of print but available from 3rd parties relatively inexpensively.
This book is an exhaustive deconstruction of, and love letter to, horror films. The main story is in three parts, each one part of the proposed film trilogy, with recurring characters (in altered roles) becoming more self-aware (ala "Scream") in each part. While the footnotes aren't necessary to the main story, they are the meat of the book. Think of your socially inept film-geek friend who points out similarities to movies no matter what the situation is. Now multiply them by 100 and you have the writer of these footnotes. Always erudite, frequently over-indulgent, and occasionally clueless. The footnotes are the source of most of the humor in this book, which is extensive.
Definitely not a page-turner, but for anyone looking for a book that demands (and rewards) a close reading and a love of horror movies, this is the one. As other reviewers have pointed out, this doesn't work as an ebook or an audiobook due to the layers of footnotes. As of today, it's out of print but available from 3rd parties relatively inexpensively.
dreaded-dnf
September 13, 2023I've listened to over 4 hours of this audio and I'm throwing in the towel.
The premise sounded pretty cool: the novelization of a fictional film trilogy. Yet, as the story unfolded I just lost interest.
I also did not care for this narrator.
DNF at roughly 40%
The premise sounded pretty cool: the novelization of a fictional film trilogy. Yet, as the story unfolded I just lost interest.
I also did not care for this narrator.
DNF at roughly 40%
March 3, 2016
This is interesting really. I like horror books, I like horror films, I like horror books about horror films and horror films about horror books. But seems that I do not care for horror books written to read like horror movies, which is precisely what this was. Jones is clever, he wants you to know it, he's the erudite genre nerd extraordinaire and he's written a book to prove it. Demon Theory is a sizeable volume resplendent with enough information, both pertaining directly to the script (since it's a more accurate description of the main narrative) and fairly tangential. It detracts and distracts from the story spectacularly, ending up oddly enough the book's most enjoyable contribution. The script itself is a stereotypical, deliberately clichéd horror/slasher trilogy. The footnotes though...copious footnotes that have their own footnotes that have their own footnotes. Yes, seriously. Jones must be showing off. Maybe it works for some. Maybe some readers enjoy being experimented on. I tend to prefer a more straight forward narrative approach, I'm not against authors using different techniques to enhance a story, but not a fan of an intentionally convoluted devices and precociously contrived creations for their own sake. I enjoy trivia, so this wasn't a total waste of time. Jones would probably write a fun trivia book, it seems the only place his sense of humor mad appearances, Jones may be talented enough to warrant a proper fiction read...maybe (this wasn't an optimal first impression), but reading this book was a chore and I was glad to see the back of it. Which is, of course, not at all what one expects of a book.
February 25, 2024
This was a bit confusing.
January 18, 2018
i forget when i originally read this, maybe 2006. ive been craving a reread lately. maybe in February
January 19, 2010
Take every slasher horror convention you've ever seen on screen and deconstruct it on the page, with characters who are somewhat aware that they are part of the genre. The book is at once familiar and wholly original. It's sort of the literary equivalent of Scream (in its time, anyway). Told as a trilogy, each "part" actually reads like a movie sequel (except that the third part is the best of the three). At first I thought some of the dialogue was a bit stale, but it's totally in service to the genre, and the archetypes even become a bit funny over time. Jones has a great gift for description, and you'll find yourself reading some passages a second time just to savor them.
Not many complaints. The footnotes can be a little distracting if you let them, which I didn't. I read some and skipped many, as I grew up with all the same pop culture and understood the references. I recommend reading each of the three sections of this book without putting it down for too long, as it can be a little tough to keep track of time and place in spots. The characters are all introduced at once, so at first it's tricky to keep them distinct in your mind until we learn more about them. I would've preferred more gradual introductions.
If you're looking for a fresh take on horror, and especially if you grew up in the 80s, this is for you.
Not many complaints. The footnotes can be a little distracting if you let them, which I didn't. I read some and skipped many, as I grew up with all the same pop culture and understood the references. I recommend reading each of the three sections of this book without putting it down for too long, as it can be a little tough to keep track of time and place in spots. The characters are all introduced at once, so at first it's tricky to keep them distinct in your mind until we learn more about them. I would've preferred more gradual introductions.
If you're looking for a fresh take on horror, and especially if you grew up in the 80s, this is for you.
September 9, 2010
Sorry, I just didn't like this book. That is--the first 100 pages. I decided to call it quits, and go for other books waiting for me. I did consider rating it 2 stars, but seeing that 2 stars here on GoodReads means "It was OK," well, I just couldn't.
Those who have read my other reviews here on GoodReads will know that I rarely, if ever, stop reading a book before finishing it, and that I rarely, if ever, rate a book 1 star. The latter is to me especially troublesome, since I haven't read all of Demon Theory, hence am not in much of a position of giving a fair, overall rating.
Take this as a rating of the first 100 pages, then.
I am well aware that some books need time to ease you in, to entice you and snare you into their universe. I do not believe that a novel has to grab you by the first page or two (it can help, sure, but it is by no mean necessary)... But if by 100 pages I am completely bored and annoyed, then something is wrong, I think. Terrible wrong!
So--what's wrong with this book?
Well, looking at the reviews raving on the book's backcover I realize that much of what is being highlighted as praise is the very reason I cannot stand it. Here: "unapologetic pop-culture savant, seizes the opportunity to recast thriller clichés..." (TEXAS MONTHLY), "examination of pop culture kitcsch and genre film traditions..." (MIKE BRACKEN, THE HORROR GEEK), "Scary, sexy, surreal and smart" (CEMETARY DANCE [Really?])...
The blurb itself actually reveals something too: "Written as a literary film treatment, Demon Theory is equal parts camp and terror, combining glib dialogue, fascinating pop culture references, and an intricate subtext as it pursues the events of a haunting movie trilogy..."
This actually sounded fascinating to me when first I stumbled upon it, but turned out to be rather dreadful.
What annoys me the most is that I kept thinking that the author can write. And I would love to see something else from him. But to me, this written-as-screenplay (with actual use of technical filmmaking abbrevations, footnotes and whatnot throughout the text and story)-mix-of-the-written-tale-with-movies-in-the-Scream-and-I Know What You Did Last Summer-tradition-with-an-ever-present-ironic-and-laughing-and-"I am clever"-distance-getting-in-the-way-of-everything just didn't work.
Why not? Well, that's why.
I thought this was a horror story that, in its own way, was to be taken serious. Serious--as in "this is meant to give you some kind of genuine scare and a sense of horror." Not serious as in "this is meant to be (only) intellectually funny, clever and all kitschy & campy."
Sort of like a Lars von Trier movie gone wrong...
Sigh.
Those who have read my other reviews here on GoodReads will know that I rarely, if ever, stop reading a book before finishing it, and that I rarely, if ever, rate a book 1 star. The latter is to me especially troublesome, since I haven't read all of Demon Theory, hence am not in much of a position of giving a fair, overall rating.
Take this as a rating of the first 100 pages, then.
I am well aware that some books need time to ease you in, to entice you and snare you into their universe. I do not believe that a novel has to grab you by the first page or two (it can help, sure, but it is by no mean necessary)... But if by 100 pages I am completely bored and annoyed, then something is wrong, I think. Terrible wrong!
So--what's wrong with this book?
Well, looking at the reviews raving on the book's backcover I realize that much of what is being highlighted as praise is the very reason I cannot stand it. Here: "unapologetic pop-culture savant, seizes the opportunity to recast thriller clichés..." (TEXAS MONTHLY), "examination of pop culture kitcsch and genre film traditions..." (MIKE BRACKEN, THE HORROR GEEK), "Scary, sexy, surreal and smart" (CEMETARY DANCE [Really?])...
The blurb itself actually reveals something too: "Written as a literary film treatment, Demon Theory is equal parts camp and terror, combining glib dialogue, fascinating pop culture references, and an intricate subtext as it pursues the events of a haunting movie trilogy..."
This actually sounded fascinating to me when first I stumbled upon it, but turned out to be rather dreadful.
What annoys me the most is that I kept thinking that the author can write. And I would love to see something else from him. But to me, this written-as-screenplay (with actual use of technical filmmaking abbrevations, footnotes and whatnot throughout the text and story)-mix-of-the-written-tale-with-movies-in-the-Scream-and-I Know What You Did Last Summer-tradition-with-an-ever-present-ironic-and-laughing-and-"I am clever"-distance-getting-in-the-way-of-everything just didn't work.
Why not? Well, that's why.
I thought this was a horror story that, in its own way, was to be taken serious. Serious--as in "this is meant to give you some kind of genuine scare and a sense of horror." Not serious as in "this is meant to be (only) intellectually funny, clever and all kitschy & campy."
Sort of like a Lars von Trier movie gone wrong...
Sigh.
December 29, 2010
I was very close to rating this as 4 star. In the end I settled for 5, but one particular aspect drove me crazy and nearly made me cut that final star. And it's a silly aspect, I admit, but it did spoil an otherwise excellent read for me. When I read a book - I. Must. Have. Chapters. I go slightly insane if the book doesn't say, "okay, put me down for a bit". But that's just my weird OCD. Pay no attention!
But the overall concept? This book is amazing. The narrative is incredibly unique, and the pace just will not let up (I suppose that's a good excuse for no chapters, right?) I lost the plot in a few places, but that really was half of the fun - getting the old grey matter to chew the story over.
And one other thing I loved about this book was the reference section. Demon Theory unashamedly takes nuggets from various movies and uses them expertly as metaphor, then, to give you that slightly unsettling feeling that you could be reading a factual account (when you know that's crazy), you're fussing through the back pages to smile at Stephen's pop culture nods.
Loved it. Highly recommend it. Nice work!
But the overall concept? This book is amazing. The narrative is incredibly unique, and the pace just will not let up (I suppose that's a good excuse for no chapters, right?) I lost the plot in a few places, but that really was half of the fun - getting the old grey matter to chew the story over.
And one other thing I loved about this book was the reference section. Demon Theory unashamedly takes nuggets from various movies and uses them expertly as metaphor, then, to give you that slightly unsettling feeling that you could be reading a factual account (when you know that's crazy), you're fussing through the back pages to smile at Stephen's pop culture nods.
Loved it. Highly recommend it. Nice work!
January 24, 2013
Probably the best thing I can say about Demon Theory is that I was barely twenty pages in before I started wishing I'd written the book myself. I don't know if Stephen Graham Jones actually invented a new approach to novel-writing here (the film-treatment-for-fictional-movies-as-novel), but it certainly feels like he did, and the footnotes not only contextualize what's happening in the story, but add another dimension to it, transform it from a simple horror story to myth-building, giving the deaths of a bunch of kids the weight and heft of prophecy, of omens.
It's not the book I would have written, because Jones' obsessions and mine overlap, but don't precisely duplicate one another, but I wish I had written something as sharp, clever, and inventive, and I may yet steal his approach one of these days and see what I can do with it.
It's not the book I would have written, because Jones' obsessions and mine overlap, but don't precisely duplicate one another, but I wish I had written something as sharp, clever, and inventive, and I may yet steal his approach one of these days and see what I can do with it.
June 26, 2022
This out of print early early work of SGJ is just phenomenal. It's a story wrapped in multiple layers of enigma. I don't think I've read any novel like it before, especially one structured so cinematically with screenplay direction, and with strong characters who become slowly aware of being trapped together in a story unfolding in various permutations with key set pieces to anchor them, and to remind them that they'd been there before. It is their own sentience which gives them any hope of power or control, a slowly evolving awareness of being reset in the same escape room.
As I mentioned, this is out of print, but you can still access an E-Pub version or an audiobook. If you're a huge fan of horror movies, you'll want to find an old print copy through a used bookstore, just for all the footnotes.
As I mentioned, this is out of print, but you can still access an E-Pub version or an audiobook. If you're a huge fan of horror movies, you'll want to find an old print copy through a used bookstore, just for all the footnotes.
May 7, 2010
A postmodern, whip smart novel that manages to simultaneously be a homage to literally hundreds of horror films while still maintaining its own original, at times satirical, vibe. Styled as an annotated script for a trilogy of horror films (based on a doctor's true accounts, of course) the experience of reading Demon Theory is a unique one, and indispensable for horror movie aficionados who don't mind an experimental approach to fiction. Personally, I would have preferred footnotes to endnotes, but given the length and layers of some of said notes, I don't know if it would have worked.
May 5, 2022
I can feel the Devil walking next to me.
- Murray Head
But it seemed fun to take it one step further.
- John Carpenter
_________
And is not that a mother's gentle hand that withdraws your curtain, and a mother's sweet voice that summons you to rise? To rise and forget, in the bright sunlight, the ugly dreams that frightened you so when all was dark.
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
_________
"If you're frightened of dying and holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away."
- Jacob's Ladder, 1990
This Three-Part Horror Film Screenplay Novel is pretty insane! Richly written with a library of curious information in the footnotes. A few readers felt that part three was the best, but I side with the majority that the beginning sequences are the strongest.
Related Note: My favorite SCREAM films are the original and the most recent, one and five.
Favorite Passages:
She holds her gown up just enough, steps, steps, and on maybe the fifth step out from the porch her right foot when it comes up is without a slipper, and instead of moving forward with her we stay with that slipper, already a high-definition terricoat-blue smudge, a color framed by sound, by her crunching footsteps, still crumbling at the edges, one after the other. There's no music at this point, only a pensive strain to hear, to be warned. Anything. Even more laboring over the silent tracks.
_______
The cabdriver ashes directly onto the radio knob, adjusts his pirate eye patch, and is busy admiring himself in the rearview when he's blinded by reflected headlights.
_______
From their midst a bold six-year-old superhero emerges, climbs onto a chair, and changes the station to cartoons before any of them can react.
________
Down the hall a drunken MUMMY lurches through a curtain, trailing interns and nurses and one security guard.
________
He brakes hard, tires squealing, nose diving. Virginia's breasts are all disarranged; in her hand is most of the braided rattail, a bloody patch of skin at the root.
________
"And we need some candy and shit. A convenience store. Doctor's orders."
________
. . . Virginia's false breasts are pushed out the window, roll and settle. The shot lingers on the unattached body parts long enough that we get it, but just in case:
-> the convenience store CLERK is standing dutifully at his station. On the counter before him is an unopened pack of cigarettes, their receipt, and the cadaver forearm with a lit cigarette in hand, trailing smoke.
"Fucking Halloween," he says, and doesn't touch the forearm.
________
-> Egan, in the living room, the Wizard of Oz on the ancient VCR, heads screaming with the tornado. It's early in the show yet . . .
"In an alternate world Betamax dominates, y'know. The only reason it lost out in this one is that my dad liked to record football, which is longer than beta's two hours."
"Meaning we're all living in your father's world?" Nora halfheartedly objects.
"We all have fathers," Egan says, and then Hale is upon them, counting heads.
________
"For those of us who remain, however, knowing where these things come from might just make the difference. No bullshit, now. Tell me about some hillbilly Moreau, about bats and men and menbats. Stone gargoyles come to life. Indian curses, disturbed graveyards, buried spaceships, pterodactyl eggs. Whole Boy Scout troops lost and forgotten."
________
"Well fuck me," Egan says after a digestive pause. "Then it is the caretaker . . . your dad. Your father's world . . . "
"It couldn't - "
"He's the only one it could be. The improbable possible. So he got himself a hang glider and a javelin, an ostrich and a lance. T-bars and some guide wire" - gesturing to the suddenly apparent electric/phone wires laced back and forth above them - "poetic, really. Because a father's supposed to be responsible for the life of his child, his daughter, he became what you blamed for her death."
________
"Someone, please. Okay, okay. The reason why med school then. Because it takes the longest. Because it costs the most, because it changes your name . . . because I don't want . . . because doctors aren't supposed to die . . . please . . . "
________
She instinctively flinches back upon realizing what it is and with zero effort it opens up the side of her face, allowing an unwanted flash of ivory molar before the blood. And the blood is everywhere now,
________
And it is ugly:
"Shit," Egan says, half in appreciation almost . . .
________
"I'm freezing my livelihood off. And your fucking paranoid. Guilt, anger, then paranoia. Like a windup toy. I shouldn't have given you my stuff (he holds his pill bottle out, in display). It makes some people paranoid. You'd be better off asleep. Next you'll be wondering if any of this is even real. Us, I mean."
"Don't anticipate me," Hale says, "I've had enough of that already."
"There," Egan says, giddy with it, "it's already starting. How could I anticipate you if this wasn't all some mind trip? If I wasn't some construct . . . some mental projection, someone programmed into the game just to fuck with you?" He hunkers down further into himself. "I'll be here when you come up," he says as good-bye, "if".
________
"Been thinking," Egan says. "Angels and demons are phylogenically similar. I mean, the Bible tells me so."
________
"Have you looked in the mirror? Have you looked in the cellar?"
________
"The idea is that if you balance a sack of flour on your head and knock on the table sixteen times, a demon will appear. Like the Candyman. Bloody Mary."
________
-> bridging us into her head, where a lemon wedge is being soundlessly squeezed into a tall glass of what looks like water.
________
"A little rural autoerotic nonspontaneous geriatric combustion to cap off an otherwise eventless weekend?"
________
"This where you tell me about the therapeutic power of those sexy little elf costumes, Dr. Curtis?"
________
"I see you're in the spirit," Vangelesti says.
"I am the spirit," Con says, unsmiling.
________
The doctor taps confidently on the blue splinter with his pen. "The good news is it's shatterproof," he tells her. "And you don't have to worry about rust or metal detectors. The bad news is there's a windshield in your head."
________
. . . on a shelf by the door, are rows and rows of jars, each containing a different organ of the human body, the organs all floating, the jars arranged bilaterally, gonads to eyeballs, with a musculoskeletal schematic sketched in behind. A whole person there, in pieces.
________
"Please let me just be delusional," she says to herself.
________
"Get away from him you sick figment - " she says, hurling the flowerpot at the patient, who slithers around, easily avoiding impact.
________
"You're enabling me here, y'know," Con says.
"I'll enable my foot right up your ass," Metatron says back.
________
"You should have seen them," she says. "Serious. They were pulling a wagon with their wheelchairs, Nona. It was so cute I almost got pregnant just standing there."
"Yeah," Nona says, eyeing the faint green wheelchair tracks leading out the door, "cute. They do everyone?"
"On this floor," Lin says.
________
"Because it makes sense," Markum says. "Why burn calories digesting when you can get it predigested? Like with baby birds. If this patient did in fact lose all that mass - which I seriously doubt - then he's looking to put it back on as efficiently as possible."
________
"While you were looking in the window of the girl's locker room I was playing Nintendo."
"You had your joystick, I had mine," Con says.
________
"Demons," Vangelesti laughs. "That's why I got out. All that BS."
"BS?" Nona asks.
"Bachelor of Science," Vangelesti says, "biology. My thesis was on the naked mole rat. You've heard of it?"
________
"Like with Jurassic Park, right?" Nona says to Vangelesti, back in the supply closet. "When the velociraptors needed a male in their social structure so one of the females -"
"Strapped one on and filled in," Con finishes.
"Strapped one on?" Nona asks.
"Filled in," Con repeats, more suggestively.
________
"Plan D," he says, "as in die, dying, death, dead, done for . . . "
________
It's still dark in there too. A wrong kind of dark.
Hale senses this, senses motion in the room with him, then looks down to his feet: from his angle there's black footsteps, a child's feet. In blood is the idea. All this blood.
________
"Multiple choice, then," Nona says, leaning down in front of her, "Was it A, him, or B, them?"
________
"He'd have been in . . . costume," Hale says.
"Undead too," Con adds. "Don't forget undead."
________
"And he wasn't a psychologist," Seri continues. "Your little Nancy Drew Etch A Sketch at the asylum got that part wrong. Try neurosurgeon."
________
"I am an escaped mental patient, Sare. Remember that. We have a certain . . . liberty in stories like this."
________
"Listen to the sounds: death, devil, demon. The forms are locked in our unconscious."
. . . .
"The demonic archetype is a Judeo-Christian device," Nona continues, almost reciting. As if this is all so basic to her. "But it goes older than that too. Look at the hominid skulls from five-hundred thousand years ago." She taps two fingers like fangs into the crown of her skull. "Leopard bites," she says. "Which translates to death from above. We finally stood up and then had to hunch over in fear. But the association was made. Up is death."
_________
Con readjusts his feet and kicks the syringe rolling across the hardwood.
"Type one or type two?" he asks Nona, and she turns to him, confused. "Your diabetes," he clarifies.
Nona looks to the syringe, to her arm, making connections.
Con smiles, shakes his head in disbelief. "Type three," he says, "imaginary."
________
"I'm sorry," he says, real regret there in his voice, and then scans around until he finds the syringe. He raises it, empties the last of the insulin professionally. Next is an unopened can of corn on the coffee table.
- Murray Head
But it seemed fun to take it one step further.
- John Carpenter
_________
And is not that a mother's gentle hand that withdraws your curtain, and a mother's sweet voice that summons you to rise? To rise and forget, in the bright sunlight, the ugly dreams that frightened you so when all was dark.
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
_________
"If you're frightened of dying and holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away."
- Jacob's Ladder, 1990
This Three-Part Horror Film Screenplay Novel is pretty insane! Richly written with a library of curious information in the footnotes. A few readers felt that part three was the best, but I side with the majority that the beginning sequences are the strongest.
Related Note: My favorite SCREAM films are the original and the most recent, one and five.
Favorite Passages:
She holds her gown up just enough, steps, steps, and on maybe the fifth step out from the porch her right foot when it comes up is without a slipper, and instead of moving forward with her we stay with that slipper, already a high-definition terricoat-blue smudge, a color framed by sound, by her crunching footsteps, still crumbling at the edges, one after the other. There's no music at this point, only a pensive strain to hear, to be warned. Anything. Even more laboring over the silent tracks.
_______
The cabdriver ashes directly onto the radio knob, adjusts his pirate eye patch, and is busy admiring himself in the rearview when he's blinded by reflected headlights.
_______
From their midst a bold six-year-old superhero emerges, climbs onto a chair, and changes the station to cartoons before any of them can react.
________
Down the hall a drunken MUMMY lurches through a curtain, trailing interns and nurses and one security guard.
________
He brakes hard, tires squealing, nose diving. Virginia's breasts are all disarranged; in her hand is most of the braided rattail, a bloody patch of skin at the root.
________
"And we need some candy and shit. A convenience store. Doctor's orders."
________
. . . Virginia's false breasts are pushed out the window, roll and settle. The shot lingers on the unattached body parts long enough that we get it, but just in case:
-> the convenience store CLERK is standing dutifully at his station. On the counter before him is an unopened pack of cigarettes, their receipt, and the cadaver forearm with a lit cigarette in hand, trailing smoke.
"Fucking Halloween," he says, and doesn't touch the forearm.
________
-> Egan, in the living room, the Wizard of Oz on the ancient VCR, heads screaming with the tornado. It's early in the show yet . . .
"In an alternate world Betamax dominates, y'know. The only reason it lost out in this one is that my dad liked to record football, which is longer than beta's two hours."
"Meaning we're all living in your father's world?" Nora halfheartedly objects.
"We all have fathers," Egan says, and then Hale is upon them, counting heads.
________
"For those of us who remain, however, knowing where these things come from might just make the difference. No bullshit, now. Tell me about some hillbilly Moreau, about bats and men and menbats. Stone gargoyles come to life. Indian curses, disturbed graveyards, buried spaceships, pterodactyl eggs. Whole Boy Scout troops lost and forgotten."
________
"Well fuck me," Egan says after a digestive pause. "Then it is the caretaker . . . your dad. Your father's world . . . "
"It couldn't - "
"He's the only one it could be. The improbable possible. So he got himself a hang glider and a javelin, an ostrich and a lance. T-bars and some guide wire" - gesturing to the suddenly apparent electric/phone wires laced back and forth above them - "poetic, really. Because a father's supposed to be responsible for the life of his child, his daughter, he became what you blamed for her death."
________
"Someone, please. Okay, okay. The reason why med school then. Because it takes the longest. Because it costs the most, because it changes your name . . . because I don't want . . . because doctors aren't supposed to die . . . please . . . "
________
She instinctively flinches back upon realizing what it is and with zero effort it opens up the side of her face, allowing an unwanted flash of ivory molar before the blood. And the blood is everywhere now,
________
And it is ugly:
"Shit," Egan says, half in appreciation almost . . .
________
"I'm freezing my livelihood off. And your fucking paranoid. Guilt, anger, then paranoia. Like a windup toy. I shouldn't have given you my stuff (he holds his pill bottle out, in display). It makes some people paranoid. You'd be better off asleep. Next you'll be wondering if any of this is even real. Us, I mean."
"Don't anticipate me," Hale says, "I've had enough of that already."
"There," Egan says, giddy with it, "it's already starting. How could I anticipate you if this wasn't all some mind trip? If I wasn't some construct . . . some mental projection, someone programmed into the game just to fuck with you?" He hunkers down further into himself. "I'll be here when you come up," he says as good-bye, "if".
________
"Been thinking," Egan says. "Angels and demons are phylogenically similar. I mean, the Bible tells me so."
________
"Have you looked in the mirror? Have you looked in the cellar?"
________
"The idea is that if you balance a sack of flour on your head and knock on the table sixteen times, a demon will appear. Like the Candyman. Bloody Mary."
________
-> bridging us into her head, where a lemon wedge is being soundlessly squeezed into a tall glass of what looks like water.
________
"A little rural autoerotic nonspontaneous geriatric combustion to cap off an otherwise eventless weekend?"
________
"This where you tell me about the therapeutic power of those sexy little elf costumes, Dr. Curtis?"
________
"I see you're in the spirit," Vangelesti says.
"I am the spirit," Con says, unsmiling.
________
The doctor taps confidently on the blue splinter with his pen. "The good news is it's shatterproof," he tells her. "And you don't have to worry about rust or metal detectors. The bad news is there's a windshield in your head."
________
. . . on a shelf by the door, are rows and rows of jars, each containing a different organ of the human body, the organs all floating, the jars arranged bilaterally, gonads to eyeballs, with a musculoskeletal schematic sketched in behind. A whole person there, in pieces.
________
"Please let me just be delusional," she says to herself.
________
"Get away from him you sick figment - " she says, hurling the flowerpot at the patient, who slithers around, easily avoiding impact.
________
"You're enabling me here, y'know," Con says.
"I'll enable my foot right up your ass," Metatron says back.
________
"You should have seen them," she says. "Serious. They were pulling a wagon with their wheelchairs, Nona. It was so cute I almost got pregnant just standing there."
"Yeah," Nona says, eyeing the faint green wheelchair tracks leading out the door, "cute. They do everyone?"
"On this floor," Lin says.
________
"Because it makes sense," Markum says. "Why burn calories digesting when you can get it predigested? Like with baby birds. If this patient did in fact lose all that mass - which I seriously doubt - then he's looking to put it back on as efficiently as possible."
________
"While you were looking in the window of the girl's locker room I was playing Nintendo."
"You had your joystick, I had mine," Con says.
________
"Demons," Vangelesti laughs. "That's why I got out. All that BS."
"BS?" Nona asks.
"Bachelor of Science," Vangelesti says, "biology. My thesis was on the naked mole rat. You've heard of it?"
________
"Like with Jurassic Park, right?" Nona says to Vangelesti, back in the supply closet. "When the velociraptors needed a male in their social structure so one of the females -"
"Strapped one on and filled in," Con finishes.
"Strapped one on?" Nona asks.
"Filled in," Con repeats, more suggestively.
________
"Plan D," he says, "as in die, dying, death, dead, done for . . . "
________
It's still dark in there too. A wrong kind of dark.
Hale senses this, senses motion in the room with him, then looks down to his feet: from his angle there's black footsteps, a child's feet. In blood is the idea. All this blood.
________
"Multiple choice, then," Nona says, leaning down in front of her, "Was it A, him, or B, them?"
________
"He'd have been in . . . costume," Hale says.
"Undead too," Con adds. "Don't forget undead."
________
"And he wasn't a psychologist," Seri continues. "Your little Nancy Drew Etch A Sketch at the asylum got that part wrong. Try neurosurgeon."
________
"I am an escaped mental patient, Sare. Remember that. We have a certain . . . liberty in stories like this."
________
"Listen to the sounds: death, devil, demon. The forms are locked in our unconscious."
. . . .
"The demonic archetype is a Judeo-Christian device," Nona continues, almost reciting. As if this is all so basic to her. "But it goes older than that too. Look at the hominid skulls from five-hundred thousand years ago." She taps two fingers like fangs into the crown of her skull. "Leopard bites," she says. "Which translates to death from above. We finally stood up and then had to hunch over in fear. But the association was made. Up is death."
_________
Con readjusts his feet and kicks the syringe rolling across the hardwood.
"Type one or type two?" he asks Nona, and she turns to him, confused. "Your diabetes," he clarifies.
Nona looks to the syringe, to her arm, making connections.
Con smiles, shakes his head in disbelief. "Type three," he says, "imaginary."
________
"I'm sorry," he says, real regret there in his voice, and then scans around until he finds the syringe. He raises it, empties the last of the insulin professionally. Next is an unopened can of corn on the coffee table.
July 6, 2021
It’s Halloween and Hale and his classmates rush out to his out-of-the way creepy childhood home to check on his diabetic mom after a disturbing call.
Honestly, the blurb on the back of this book sold this story short. It’s so much more than that and will take you on quite a trip.
A complex, multilayered and 3-part slasher story that both keeps you turning the page to figure out just what tf is going on with Hale, his companions, family and demon-gargoyles, as well as a paper on horror and horror movies with A LOT of footnotes. Reading both a complex story like this, as well as paying attention to the footnotes took some getting used to for me. It’s not an easy read by any stretch of the imagination, but it is an interesting one if you can handle the format and have a solid interest in horror and it’s movies. I think having read The Last Final Girl unknowingly prepared me just a bit for this story as they both have their feet firmly planted in slashers and to an extent read like formed scripts.
Honestly, the blurb on the back of this book sold this story short. It’s so much more than that and will take you on quite a trip.
A complex, multilayered and 3-part slasher story that both keeps you turning the page to figure out just what tf is going on with Hale, his companions, family and demon-gargoyles, as well as a paper on horror and horror movies with A LOT of footnotes. Reading both a complex story like this, as well as paying attention to the footnotes took some getting used to for me. It’s not an easy read by any stretch of the imagination, but it is an interesting one if you can handle the format and have a solid interest in horror and it’s movies. I think having read The Last Final Girl unknowingly prepared me just a bit for this story as they both have their feet firmly planted in slashers and to an extent read like formed scripts.
February 12, 2021
I found it really suspenseful and compelling. I also didn't quite understand the full implications of the end. I may not be enough of a horror aficionado for this book. But again, I found it really compelling.
January 3, 2016
This started out really good, but then kind of fizzled towards the middle and never got it's mojo back. Bummer.
January 21, 2012
This is the first book that I've ever "Not wanted to put down." The first part of this book simply sucked me in, sank it's gargoyle fangs into my neck, and wouldn't let me stop reading until I reached Part 2. After that, though, the feeling lessened.
Even if things slowed down a bit after that first portion, this is an excellent tribute/homage to all the classics--cult and otherwise--of horror films. The film nerd in me was giddy with all the references and explanations, while the book nerd in me simply loved the fast-pace, playfulness, frightening moments, and the twisting of basic traditions.
Jones has written a horror novel that pays tribute and pulls from every film out there, while at the same time builds something very original--and something that I would love to see hit the big screen in the full, trilogy form.
An excellent read by an excellent author. Make me wish I'd had my tenure at CU Boulder just a few years later...
Even if things slowed down a bit after that first portion, this is an excellent tribute/homage to all the classics--cult and otherwise--of horror films. The film nerd in me was giddy with all the references and explanations, while the book nerd in me simply loved the fast-pace, playfulness, frightening moments, and the twisting of basic traditions.
Jones has written a horror novel that pays tribute and pulls from every film out there, while at the same time builds something very original--and something that I would love to see hit the big screen in the full, trilogy form.
An excellent read by an excellent author. Make me wish I'd had my tenure at CU Boulder just a few years later...
July 23, 2022
"Demon Theory" is an experimental horror novel that reads like a narrated screenplay. It reminds me a bit of "The Last Final Girl."
I listened to the audiobook as this novel is out of print and the audiobook is on hoopla. As other reviews have indicated there is a lot to miss out on in going this route because the text relies heavily on footnotes. This story is very much a love letter to classic horror films and even without the full text I enjoyed it for what it was.
If you like 80s slasher movies and enjoyed "My Heart is a Chainsaw" this book is well worth your time even if you only have access to the audiobook.
I listened to the audiobook as this novel is out of print and the audiobook is on hoopla. As other reviews have indicated there is a lot to miss out on in going this route because the text relies heavily on footnotes. This story is very much a love letter to classic horror films and even without the full text I enjoyed it for what it was.
If you like 80s slasher movies and enjoyed "My Heart is a Chainsaw" this book is well worth your time even if you only have access to the audiobook.
July 29, 2021
Can imagine this is a good representation of SGJ's brain. Horror and references absolutely everywhere, never a single moment wasted to link it to somewhere else. Think I wasn't in the right headspace for something so analytical and detailed, so any parts that didn't click with me is more on me, but the love he has for horror shines through and, as always, the voice is so catchy. Incredibly excited for his latest this year.
January 30, 2019
Hear the complete review on our website: https://bookedpodcast.podbean.com/e/4...
August 17, 2020
Awesome read! Ending blew my mind. After this read, I think I may have discovered a new favorite author with Stephen Graham Jones.
May 26, 2023
Until I read this for a second time, which I will inevitably do, I’m keeping my rating at four stars. This book will not be for everyone, in fact it will not be for most people. If you are looking at a deconstruction of the horror genre or the slasher in particular then look no further. But if you don’t want to read over 400 footnotes referring other horror or related stories then this probably isn’t for you.
I went into this book with the right expectations and that is key. It is a novelization of a fictional horror film trilogy and so there are scene breaks and abbreviations like a script but it is for the most part written like a novel.
The story lost me a few times and I really spent a ton of time focusing on this so that I caught every single detail but I still think this is impossible to grasp fully after just one read through. I really liked each of the three parts of the novel but I think the second part was my favorite. Each part was confusing in its own way but I decided to just be along for the ride as it was. Stephen Graham Jones continues to blow me away and I can’t wait to read everything of his I can get my hands on.
I went into this book with the right expectations and that is key. It is a novelization of a fictional horror film trilogy and so there are scene breaks and abbreviations like a script but it is for the most part written like a novel.
The story lost me a few times and I really spent a ton of time focusing on this so that I caught every single detail but I still think this is impossible to grasp fully after just one read through. I really liked each of the three parts of the novel but I think the second part was my favorite. Each part was confusing in its own way but I decided to just be along for the ride as it was. Stephen Graham Jones continues to blow me away and I can’t wait to read everything of his I can get my hands on.
June 13, 2022
SGJ does it again!!!
I am so excited to be thrown for a loop and out of my comfort zone by this author!!! I’ve honestly never read an author who can make me feel so uncomfortable( and that’s not about how scary the novel is but about my understanding. )
This is going to be a rambling way of saying that Stephen Graham Jones really challenges me to think in a way that’s outside of my comfort zone and I could not love it more. I think this horror author is making me a better person/smarter?!
I was struggling with this as an audiobook not that it was poorly read or written but that it just seems to be like some thing I would love to hold my hand and be able to look at on the page for myself. I do hope to be able to find an affordable copy of this one day. But I’m very happy that I at least got to hear the story!
Amazing. I love this man.
Also weather intentional or not there are some amazing Twin Peaks Easter eggs in here that really tickled me!
I am so excited to be thrown for a loop and out of my comfort zone by this author!!! I’ve honestly never read an author who can make me feel so uncomfortable( and that’s not about how scary the novel is but about my understanding. )
This is going to be a rambling way of saying that Stephen Graham Jones really challenges me to think in a way that’s outside of my comfort zone and I could not love it more. I think this horror author is making me a better person/smarter?!
I was struggling with this as an audiobook not that it was poorly read or written but that it just seems to be like some thing I would love to hold my hand and be able to look at on the page for myself. I do hope to be able to find an affordable copy of this one day. But I’m very happy that I at least got to hear the story!
Amazing. I love this man.
Also weather intentional or not there are some amazing Twin Peaks Easter eggs in here that really tickled me!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 21, 2025
Not bad but I couldn't really connect with this one. BUT, I HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMEND his book, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter! If you haven't read that one yet, get it today, maybe right now. I like this author but there is a wide margin of love between my second favorite SGJ book and The Buffalo Hunter Hunter. And, I really liked my second fav. So, even if you're just kind of a fan of his or still not sure, make that your next read. You won't regret it.
Using the star system as follows: 0 = trash, I read it but I wish I hadn't, 1 = tolerable as a distraction but little more, 2 = an OK read, preferable to not reading but I'm not likely to recommend it, 3 = a good and enjoyable read, I'd recommend it under the right conditions, 4 = important, enhancing, and/ or a great read, I'd strongly recommend it and may read it again, 5 = transcendent, incomparable, and/ or life changing.
Using the star system as follows: 0 = trash, I read it but I wish I hadn't, 1 = tolerable as a distraction but little more, 2 = an OK read, preferable to not reading but I'm not likely to recommend it, 3 = a good and enjoyable read, I'd recommend it under the right conditions, 4 = important, enhancing, and/ or a great read, I'd strongly recommend it and may read it again, 5 = transcendent, incomparable, and/ or life changing.
January 2, 2025
Stephen Graham Jones' DEMON THEORY is one of the most unique fictional experiments I've encountered. I was fascinated by the narrative style, as if a director is bringing every moment to life by explaining the shots, the angles, etc... but it went on a little long, I think. I would have been perfectly happy with just the first of the three versions was the entire book. As it progresses, the characters remembering the earlier entries in the "franchise" interrupt the story.
I listened to the audio, and though I have liked Richard Ferrone in the past, his characterizations of the young medical students is distracting, a little too monotone at times, too detached, even though detached was the point.
Still, I enjoyed this, and it left me with interesting thoughts. For instance... if you believe there is no God, that all of it comes from us... what about that devil?
I listened to the audio, and though I have liked Richard Ferrone in the past, his characterizations of the young medical students is distracting, a little too monotone at times, too detached, even though detached was the point.
Still, I enjoyed this, and it left me with interesting thoughts. For instance... if you believe there is no God, that all of it comes from us... what about that devil?
January 31, 2024
Meh. I have been reading other people’s reviews that say to read and not listen too so I want to give it another chance by actually reading it.
June 28, 2025
I was surprised at how many refences i knew.
March 9, 2017
I hate to even shelve this one as "read" since I really didn't get very far into it. I don't often give up on books, but one of the most valuable skills a reader can have is knowing when it's appropriate to do so. This was one of those cases.
The book itself is a strange experiment in style and the author writes this novel as though it were a screenplay then packs it full of footnotes. It just didn't work for me. I found it incredibly tedious. Which is too bad since the story showed some potential.
The book itself is a strange experiment in style and the author writes this novel as though it were a screenplay then packs it full of footnotes. It just didn't work for me. I found it incredibly tedious. Which is too bad since the story showed some potential.
October 23, 2011
(Re-posted from http://theturnedbrain.blogspot.com/)
The problem with loving an unconventional book is that it's so hard to find other books like it. This is the problem with me and Mark Z. Danielewski's 'House of Leaves' (which I swear I'm going to review one day...). I feel like I'm on a constant quest to find books that move in the same circles as 'House of Leaves,' and what books I do find rarely come close. Like Stephen Graham Jones' 'Demon Theory,' for example.
I had really high hopes for this one. The thing I loved most about 'House of Leaves' was the faux film analysis that took up the bulk of it. 'Demon Theory' features a similar conceit. It operates both as an analysis of a fictional horror movie trilogy, but also as a rumination on the history of horror films.
This book has footnotes up the wazoo. Unlike in 'House of Leaves' the footnotes are all factually accurate, and actually really interesting. Well, interesting if you have more than a passing interest in horror and or films, that is. The problem was that instead of being on the bottom of the page, they were all listed in the back of the book. I'm a lazy reader guys, I couldn't be bothered flicking to the back of the book every five minutes. There were a lot of them, but I still think it would have been better to have them in the main text.
But that's a layout thing, and there's every chance that Jones had no control over it. As for what he did have control over... Things start in a promising enough way. It's Halloween, and a bunch o kids are at a party when one of them gets a phone call from his creepy diabetic mother. So it's off to a creepy, middle of nowhere farmhouse! Things, as I'm sure I don't need to tell you, do not go well.
I don't know, maybe it's just that I went into the book expecting (hoping) to find a more subtle creepy brand of horror, but for the most part the over the topness of the books horror elements just had me rolling my eyes. Plus, the characters were insanely two dimensional. Which, ok, on the one hand I get it. Jones clearly went to great lengths to make his trilogy of fake demon movies feel exactly like a classic horror film, which included cardboard characters. But the difference between books and movies is that its just so much easier to create "real" characters in books. I feel like he really missed an opportunity with his mostly forgettable cast.
My other major gripe isn't entirely Jones' fault. I went in to this looking for a 'House of Leaves-esque' experience, and that's not what Jones' was trying to do. But still. 'House of Leaves' did not just offer up a line by line summery of the fake documentary it revolved around. It analysed it, it linked it to philosophic schools thought and compared it to other films and critiqued the film making techniques used. And if that sounds too pretentious and post-modern to be stomached, well, it kinda is. But I loved it! In Demon Theory the three movies it features are just given summaries, with no kind of depth. I feel like Jones wasted the 'analysing a fake movie' gimick a bit. Sure, it helped tie the narrative to the history of horror films that he also had going on, but I just wanted a lot more from it.
The plot of the fake movies themselves started out easy to follow and end up just completely batshit insane. I had almost no idea what was going on by the end, but lets be honest, that's how most horror movie franchises go.
I do think my reaction to this book was heavily influenced by my wish for a second 'House of Leaves.' So if you can go into it "blind," then you might get more out of it than me.
The problem with loving an unconventional book is that it's so hard to find other books like it. This is the problem with me and Mark Z. Danielewski's 'House of Leaves' (which I swear I'm going to review one day...). I feel like I'm on a constant quest to find books that move in the same circles as 'House of Leaves,' and what books I do find rarely come close. Like Stephen Graham Jones' 'Demon Theory,' for example.
I had really high hopes for this one. The thing I loved most about 'House of Leaves' was the faux film analysis that took up the bulk of it. 'Demon Theory' features a similar conceit. It operates both as an analysis of a fictional horror movie trilogy, but also as a rumination on the history of horror films.
This book has footnotes up the wazoo. Unlike in 'House of Leaves' the footnotes are all factually accurate, and actually really interesting. Well, interesting if you have more than a passing interest in horror and or films, that is. The problem was that instead of being on the bottom of the page, they were all listed in the back of the book. I'm a lazy reader guys, I couldn't be bothered flicking to the back of the book every five minutes. There were a lot of them, but I still think it would have been better to have them in the main text.
But that's a layout thing, and there's every chance that Jones had no control over it. As for what he did have control over... Things start in a promising enough way. It's Halloween, and a bunch o kids are at a party when one of them gets a phone call from his creepy diabetic mother. So it's off to a creepy, middle of nowhere farmhouse! Things, as I'm sure I don't need to tell you, do not go well.
I don't know, maybe it's just that I went into the book expecting (hoping) to find a more subtle creepy brand of horror, but for the most part the over the topness of the books horror elements just had me rolling my eyes. Plus, the characters were insanely two dimensional. Which, ok, on the one hand I get it. Jones clearly went to great lengths to make his trilogy of fake demon movies feel exactly like a classic horror film, which included cardboard characters. But the difference between books and movies is that its just so much easier to create "real" characters in books. I feel like he really missed an opportunity with his mostly forgettable cast.
My other major gripe isn't entirely Jones' fault. I went in to this looking for a 'House of Leaves-esque' experience, and that's not what Jones' was trying to do. But still. 'House of Leaves' did not just offer up a line by line summery of the fake documentary it revolved around. It analysed it, it linked it to philosophic schools thought and compared it to other films and critiqued the film making techniques used. And if that sounds too pretentious and post-modern to be stomached, well, it kinda is. But I loved it! In Demon Theory the three movies it features are just given summaries, with no kind of depth. I feel like Jones wasted the 'analysing a fake movie' gimick a bit. Sure, it helped tie the narrative to the history of horror films that he also had going on, but I just wanted a lot more from it.
The plot of the fake movies themselves started out easy to follow and end up just completely batshit insane. I had almost no idea what was going on by the end, but lets be honest, that's how most horror movie franchises go.
I do think my reaction to this book was heavily influenced by my wish for a second 'House of Leaves.' So if you can go into it "blind," then you might get more out of it than me.
June 4, 2015
Well written and with a unique (not necessarily original as Mr. Jones would be the first to concede and in fact does in later footnotes) spin, Stephen Graham Jones' Demon Theory combines the ethos of the modern horror film with a healthy dose of post-modern meta-fiction and shakes it up into a cocktail sure to please the MLA crowd and horror community. The book is presented in three parts, and purports to be a novelization of a horror movie trilogy which was in turn adapted from a best-seller inspired by the case notes of a psychiatrist which had been published in an academic journal. The first part, Demon Theory 16, follows a group of medical students who leave off partying to head out to a desolated country home of one of their fellow to check in on his sick mother - death and mayhem ensues. The second part, Demon Theory 17, follows some of those same characters brought back but playing different roles and this time in a hospital around Christmas time for a sort of Halloween II/Aliens/Demons follow up. The third part, Demon Theory 18, finds the characters scrambled again in different roles, but with a growing awareness of their past actions in the other two sections, and once again back at the old dark house in the country. All three sections are peppered with footnotes which place the tropes of the "films" into their pop cultural context. Mr. Jones' command of the pop cultural connections at play in the horror genre is impressive and the work while clearly, in parts, means to poke fun at the conventions of the genre, as well as the current state of post-modern literary analysis, it never descends into mockery or self-referential condescension as Mr. Jones is clearly a fan of the genre. Enjoyable and recommended.
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