The Remaking - a MUST read for horror fans!
“In the 1930s, a mother and daughter are burned at the stake as witches. Their story inspires an urban legend told around a campfire in the ‘50s, a ‘70s horror flick, a ‘90s meta remake, and a true crime podcast. But all this storytelling comes with a cost…”
The Remaking by Clay McLeod Chapman has kicked off my 2020 reading goals and I was thrilled. Chapman has an incredible career - author, creator, comic book writer, and screenplay writer. Including a favorite of mine The Boy from 2015. And The Remaking is another success to add to his list.
The story is broken up into four parts telling the story of an urban legend that continues to haunt a small town and in turn horror fans. In 1951 Ella Louise Ford is exiled and sent to the woods where she builds a small cabin and gives birth to a daughter named Jessica. No one knows who the Father is, but no one really cares. They just know Ella and Jessica are witches. After a woman visits Ella for help with her pregnancy, and that pregnancy turns into a stillborn, the town takes revenge on Ella and burns her and her daughter in the woods. They bury Ella unmarked, taking the location to their own graves, but bury Jessica in a stone coffin surrounded by crucifixes so she may never leave.
Super harsh. But also pretty typical of backwoods men back then. A woman who is a little strange and doesn’t conform….yeah, she’s a witch.
In the ‘70s a director decides his obsession with the “Legend of the Little Witch Girl of Pilot’s Creek” needs to be made into a film, titled Don’t Tread on Jessica’s Grave. But it seems like Jessica needs her story told a certain way, and when the Director casts little Amber to play Jessica, Jessica’s spirit gets involved. Amber finds herself almost dead in the woods, buried in a shallow grave, her only memory being of Ella Louise coming back from the dead guiding her “home”.
Or, was it a young girl being pushed to the brink of sanity, having to deal with expectations, no regulations, and the trauma of filming a horror film?
And when Amber, as a “washed up scream queen” is asked to act in the remake of the film in the ‘90s, something equally terrible happens. But again, is Amber unstable from years of trauma, drug, and alcohol abuse, or is Jessica really here for vengeance.
book mood board
The Remaking is an excellent story for any horror fan who will have a lot of fun seeing all the horror movie references, there’s a lot of deep cuts here. But it’s also a great statement about voracious horror fans who demand, demand, demand. Don’t shake your head, you know this happens. A studio announces a remake, the internet loses its shit and the fans pick up their pitchforks. We are rabid with our passions and obsessions. Seeing a lot of this fandom from Amber’s point of view is a wake up call that I think a lot of the fans need.
It’s also a fascinating look at what Hollywood does to women who get their start in horror, especially young girls. Amber is a sad state for sure, but nothing we haven’t seen before in the news.
It’s honestly an incredible story, with a lot of heart, a lot of passion, and a story I think all horror fans need to read. From an unreliable narrator, to really terrifying scenes, to well written prose, The Reckoning needs to go on your TBR ASAP!
Don’t want to miss anything on the site? Sign up for our newsletter HERE
Want more spooky reads? Just search below:
