In November 1994, three girls visit their local movie theater to see an obscure film. Only one of them is ever seen again.
Thirty years later, Val McQueen has never forgotten the day she lost her little sister and best friend, but she’s closed the curtain on it, certain she’s moved on despite her parents’ resentment and hounding by true crime enthusiasts.
That is until a stranger’s murder brings it all screaming back—a terror she’s tried to tell herself is only a movie. Enlisting the help of cinephile and former classmate Roxie de la Fontaine to find the film, Val soon realizes that hers is not the only pursuit. Someone, or somethinginvolved with the movie is on the hunt, too…
… For the girl who got away all those years ago.
I’m still kind of buzzing from the experience of seeing Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma in the theatre on opening night (well, the first night it was playing near me at any rate). It’s probably my favorite movie of the year so far & it’s a movie that just meant a whole lot to me.
After she went to see it, Hailey Piper posted something about how she felt like her new novel, THIS MOVIE DOESN’T END THE WAY WE WANT, was “in conversation” with Camp Miasma, and I couldn’t agree more. I’ve read some of Hailey Piper’s stuff, BENNY ROSE, THE CANNIBAL KING as well as a handful of her short stories. But for sure THIS MOVIE DOESN’T END THE WAY WE WANT is my favorite thing I’ve read from her. It’s a good reminder to read more from her backlist!
I might be spacing on something, but I think this is my first horror novel that revolves around a cursed film! The film in question is a schlocky B-movie called Blood-Curse of the Toad Man. In 1994, a movie-obsessed teenager named Val McQueen drags her younger sister, Ashley, and best friend, Collette to a showing. Collette was pushing for Interview With the Vampire, but the Toad Man wins out.
The movie is…deeply strange. Surreal. Stranger still is the enormous man in the theatre, the only other person besides Val, Ashley, and Collette. He’s a hulking presence in his trench coat and crumpled fedora. And he keeps moving up to get closer to the girls.
Flash forward 30 years and Val is a queer woman in her mid-40’s, huge from years of working out, and making a living as a tattoo artist. Her life has been brutal, hounded by true crime content creators, and she’s gone nearly no-contact with her parents, who blame her.
Because somehow, Ashley and Collette disappeared from that 1994 screening of Toad Man, leaving only Val to try to explain what the fuck happened in that theatre.
In the present, Val reconnects with an old classmate, Roxie, who works somewhat-adjacent to the film industry. Roxie is no stranger to tracking down random bits of lost media, which is exactly what Toad Man is proving to be. It’s hard to find more than offhand whispers about the movie online, and those whispers are usually swiftly erased. Same goes for the ultra-creepy “music” from the movie and accompanying sing-song chants about the Toad Man.
Unsurprisingly, this one gets fucking wild. The lines between Val’s reality and the movie begin to blur, and yeah…shit gets really untethered.
There’s some really dark things happening in this story, and Val is carrying around 30 years of built-up trauma and shame and guilt. Her home life as a teenager is not good, and even feels occasionally abusive. But the book is also a lot more fun than I maybe anticipated, and you can feel how much fun Hailey Piper had writing this one. It’s full of messy relationships & messy, damaged people. But the book never feels overly self-serious. Piper also shows how a deep love for movies can almost be a type of therapy, particularly for the teenage version of Val.
This was awesome! The story sometimes gets really out there & super weird, but Val feels like a grounding presence throughout all of it. At times, this reads like a love letter to horror movies, while also incorporating a lot of mystery/crime elements. Just a really cool vibe to this one, I’m glad to have read it! And again, looking forward to reading more from Hailey Piper’s backlist!
Big thanks to Titan Books for sending this one my way!!
