Elle’s Audiobook Review of Behind the Horror: Real Stories Behind the Big Screen’s Greatest Screams by Lee Mellor, Narrated by Adam Sims
Welcome to our 2nd Annual Birthday Bash as Divination Hollow Reviews!
We’ll be celebrating all month long with a series of posts by our team and esteemed colleagues and this year’s theme is “Going to the Movies!” Join us as we share themed content with special “tickets” for each category inspired by cinema.
Celebrate with us!
Behind the Horror: Real Stories Behind the Big Screen’s Greatest Screams
By Lee Mellor, Narrated by Adam Sims
I really enjoyed this. It was actually a great choice to listen to the audiobook – I liked Adam Sims’ narration, and I think he conveyed the information well, not rushing through it, and taking care over pronunciations where applicable.
This is less about the films themselves and more about the crimes and events that inspired (or may have inspired) them. There’s a wide range here too, starting with 1931’s A City Searches for A Murderer and ending with The Witch (2015) and The Lighthouse (2019). Some chapters go into great detail on the crimes, whereas others give a more cursory glance over the historical events that served as inspiration.
I really liked the focus on the events rather than the films. Mellor does give a brief overview of the films talked about, but not into so much detail it outweighs the crimes being discussed. In some cases the ‘true facts’ behind the films can be directly linked, in others it’s more providing slight inspiration. Mellor talks about serial killers along with historical and paranormal events, and weaves them in really well. There was a lot here I didn’t know about (including the full story behind The Lighthouse), and others where I know a fair bit and Mellor’s information completely matched up (such as the true involvement – or lack of - of the Warrens with the events depicted in the second Conjuring movie).
I liked the way he discussed the paranormal, too, with a healthy dose of scepticism but not massively overly critical of those who were involved. Instead, we are given facts and facts alone, which happens to include some further details that might disprove some of the ‘paranormal’ aspect.
If you’re a film lover and happen to be interested in True Crime, this is a really good melding of the two, showing how for some creators inspiration really can come from everywhere. The chapters are presented per film, starting with the earliest and working up to the most recent, and it works really well, giving a really good overview of the evolution of cinema, along with an idea of trends in inspiration throughout film history.
I purchased this book via Audible.
Review by Elle Turpitt
Twitter & Instagram: @elleturpitt
Esbat: A Bookish Podcast is a fortnightly podcast discussing SFF & Horror books by diverse writers. Every two weeks, we bring you discussions with fantastic guests about the books they want to highlight.
