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The Remaking
Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Horror (2019)Inspired by a true story, this supernatural thriller for fans of horror and true crime follows a tale as it evolves every twenty years—with terrifying results.
Ella Louise has lived in the woods surrounding Pilot’s Creek, Virginia, for nearly a decade. Publicly, she and her daughter Jessica are shunned by their upper-crust family and the Pilot’s Creek residents. Privately, desperate townspeople visit her apothecary for a cure to what ails them—until Ella Louise is blamed for the death of a prominent customer. Accused of witchcraft, both mother and daughter are burned at the stake in the middle of the night. Ella Louise’s burial site is never found, but the little girl has the most famous grave in the South: a steel-reinforced coffin surrounded by a fence of interconnected white crosses.
Their story will take the shape of an urban legend as it’s told around a campfire by a man forever marked by his boyhood encounters with Jessica. Decades later, a boy at that campfire will cast Amber Pendleton as Jessica in a �70s horror movie inspired by the Witch Girl of Pilot’s Creek. Amber’s experiences on that set and its meta-remake in the �90s will ripple through pop culture, ruining her life and career after she becomes the target of a witch hunt. Amber’s best chance to break the cycle of horror comes when a true-crime investigator tracks her down to interview her for his popular podcast. But will this final act of storytelling redeem her—or will it bring the story full circle, ready to be told once again? And again. And again�
Ella Louise has lived in the woods surrounding Pilot’s Creek, Virginia, for nearly a decade. Publicly, she and her daughter Jessica are shunned by their upper-crust family and the Pilot’s Creek residents. Privately, desperate townspeople visit her apothecary for a cure to what ails them—until Ella Louise is blamed for the death of a prominent customer. Accused of witchcraft, both mother and daughter are burned at the stake in the middle of the night. Ella Louise’s burial site is never found, but the little girl has the most famous grave in the South: a steel-reinforced coffin surrounded by a fence of interconnected white crosses.
Their story will take the shape of an urban legend as it’s told around a campfire by a man forever marked by his boyhood encounters with Jessica. Decades later, a boy at that campfire will cast Amber Pendleton as Jessica in a �70s horror movie inspired by the Witch Girl of Pilot’s Creek. Amber’s experiences on that set and its meta-remake in the �90s will ripple through pop culture, ruining her life and career after she becomes the target of a witch hunt. Amber’s best chance to break the cycle of horror comes when a true-crime investigator tracks her down to interview her for his popular podcast. But will this final act of storytelling redeem her—or will it bring the story full circle, ready to be told once again? And again. And again�
305 pages, Paperback
First published October 8, 2019
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About the author
Clay McLeod Chapman
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 694 reviews
October 13, 2022
"We all become ghost stories one day." What an enigmatic sentence in a very interesting horror novel. It started with the burning of a witch, goes to the making of a trashy 70s horror flic (Don't Tread on Jessica's Grave) and turns into a remake 20 years later. Amber Pendleton is Jessica, the daughter of the witch, in 1971. Later on in the remake she's acting as her mother. What happened while the remake was shot? Why did Amber lose her way in her life? What is so extremely eerie in her experiences at the film set? The author comes up with a brilliant novel about the horror movie industry, its fans and what occurs when a film turns cult. Everything changes, primarily for the leading actors. A very spooky creeper told in different perspectives and times with some shocking scenes and deeper philosophical insight. No easy read by far but I really enjoyed it. This was a very good one. Highly recommended!
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May 23, 2020look at the cover!!!
it's a danger noodle
but it could be a nope rope
who's to say
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it's a danger noodle
but it could be a nope rope
who's to say
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January 7, 2020
The Remaking by Clay McLeod Chapman is a horror story I was prepared to enjoy but, unfortunately, I found it to be stagnant and boring. This is the story of Ella Louise Ford and her daughter Jessica who were burned at the stake under suspicion of being witches. This crime was committed by some of the townspeople of Pilot’s Creek in Virginia who subsequently met their end in grim fashion. Twenty years later, an ambitious director comes to town to make a movie about the unfortunate mother and child. Things do not go well and twenty years after that, a remaking of the movie is undertaken. I read the entire book because many reviewers found this novel to be excellent and I wanted to be fair by making sure that I was not missing anything. Unfortunately, it only seemed to repeat itself, at a slow pace, over and over again. Maybe this is not my kind of book and please remember that this is only my own opinion. Thank you to Quirk Books and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
August 12, 2019
"These woods whisper...the woods know what the people of Pilot's Creek have done." The residents of Pilot's Creek, Virginia, a superstitious town, felt that Ella Louise Ford was "touched". As a child, she made dolls that looked like totems. (like effigies) Shunned by the populace, disowned by her parents, she raised her daughter Jessica, supporting the family of two, with Ella's Apothecary Shop nestled in the woods. There were"...miracle cures...roots and leaves and fungi of all kinds." Unfortunately, a pregnant woman died after taking Ella's suggested cure. On October 16, 1931, at four minutes past midnight,...five men went beyond the law...Tonight they were going to burn a witch." Both Ella Louise and nine year old Jessica were burned alive. Thinking that Jessica was "more powerful", she was buried in the cemetery in a steel-reinforced coffin under six feet of concrete. A metal fence of more than one hundred interlocking connected crosses was installed to prevent Jessica's ghost from searching for and reuniting with her mother who was buried somewhere deep in the woods. "Until they are reunited, her soul won't be at peace." Based upon a true witch burning, an urban legend was born. "...a legend that is told and retold without knowledge of what really happened-and why."
"The Remaking" by Clay McLeod Chapman is a ghost story divided into four chapters. The first part is a "campfire" style version of the legend of "The Witch Girl's Grave at Pilot's Creek". Subsequent retellings include the tale as a horror film, a horror film "remake", and a podcast. Amber Pendleton, a nine year old budding actress, is chosen to star as Jessica in the flick "Don't Tread on Jessica's Grave"." [Amber] was a vessel, a conduit for her character, for Jessica Ford, the Little Witch Girl...Whispers of dialogue had followed her into her dreams." Amber is "swept up in their history". She acts as the thread binding and connecting the embellished remakes of Ella Louise and Jessica's haunting story.
Although the writing was uneven at times, on the whole, this reader was impressed with the concept of four reworkings of an urban legend, one remake every twenty years. Be careful where you are at four minutes past midnight! A creepy, spooky read. Most enjoyable.
Thank you Quirk Books and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "The Remaking".
"The Remaking" by Clay McLeod Chapman is a ghost story divided into four chapters. The first part is a "campfire" style version of the legend of "The Witch Girl's Grave at Pilot's Creek". Subsequent retellings include the tale as a horror film, a horror film "remake", and a podcast. Amber Pendleton, a nine year old budding actress, is chosen to star as Jessica in the flick "Don't Tread on Jessica's Grave"." [Amber] was a vessel, a conduit for her character, for Jessica Ford, the Little Witch Girl...Whispers of dialogue had followed her into her dreams." Amber is "swept up in their history". She acts as the thread binding and connecting the embellished remakes of Ella Louise and Jessica's haunting story.
Although the writing was uneven at times, on the whole, this reader was impressed with the concept of four reworkings of an urban legend, one remake every twenty years. Be careful where you are at four minutes past midnight! A creepy, spooky read. Most enjoyable.
Thank you Quirk Books and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "The Remaking".
October 8, 2019
I was hooked by the concept of The Remaking. It tracks the evolution of a local ghost story about a 'little witch girl' through several decades. We hear the original 1930s campfire tale first: a suspected witch, Ella Louise Ford, was hounded out of the town of Pilot's Creek after bringing disgrace upon her family. She lived in the woods, helping desperate locals with herbal remedies, until she was accused of causing a woman's miscarriage and became the subject of a literal witch-hunt. Ella Louise and her young daughter Jessica were burned at the stake, and Jessica (whom the locals suspected of being even more powerful than her mother) was buried in a reinforced, fenced-off grave. According to lore, the two ghosts are still searching for one another.
This allegedly true story is adapted into two films: a low-budget 70s slasher and, two decades later, an ironic proto-Scream remake. Amber Pendleton, the child actor who plays Jessica in the first film, goes on to play her mother in the second. Finally, in 2016, there's a podcast which seeks to uncover the truth behind the Jessica story and the legends that have sprung up around it.
I loved the idea and I loved the story. Unfortunately, I did not love the style. In this book, nothing is ever stated once when it can be phrased in five different ways and repeated to death (with line breaks). To give an example of what I mean, it's this sort of thing:
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýAmber glanced back up and realised Miss Lambert was still holding her arms out.
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýReaching out for her.
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýFor her. For a hug. An embrace.
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýTo hold Amber.
Why are any of the words after '... holding her arms out' necessary? Why do they need to be on separate lines? Occasional use to emphasise a particular point would be fine, but it's no exaggeration to say most of the book is written like this. I ended up skim-reading a lot of the text, focusing solely on the important plot points, which I remained interested in despite my irritation.
Get a ruthless editor to remove all the reiteration, and this would be an excellent creepy tale with an irresistible concept. As it is, the style gets in the way of the story. But I did really like the story.
I received an advance review copy of The Remaking from the publisher through .
| | |
This allegedly true story is adapted into two films: a low-budget 70s slasher and, two decades later, an ironic proto-Scream remake. Amber Pendleton, the child actor who plays Jessica in the first film, goes on to play her mother in the second. Finally, in 2016, there's a podcast which seeks to uncover the truth behind the Jessica story and the legends that have sprung up around it.
I loved the idea and I loved the story. Unfortunately, I did not love the style. In this book, nothing is ever stated once when it can be phrased in five different ways and repeated to death (with line breaks). To give an example of what I mean, it's this sort of thing:
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýAmber glanced back up and realised Miss Lambert was still holding her arms out.
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýReaching out for her.
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýFor her. For a hug. An embrace.
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýTo hold Amber.
Why are any of the words after '... holding her arms out' necessary? Why do they need to be on separate lines? Occasional use to emphasise a particular point would be fine, but it's no exaggeration to say most of the book is written like this. I ended up skim-reading a lot of the text, focusing solely on the important plot points, which I remained interested in despite my irritation.
Get a ruthless editor to remove all the reiteration, and this would be an excellent creepy tale with an irresistible concept. As it is, the style gets in the way of the story. But I did really like the story.
I received an advance review copy of The Remaking from the publisher through .
| | |
October 21, 2020
1.5 stars
The Remaking had all of the ingredients to make a hit—a ghost story, a spooky film myth, and the Groundhog Day-type concept of repeated actions. (But I hated it.)
Concept: ★★★★
Writing: � 1/2
Pacing: ★★
Alright, so the setup is this: A urban legend about a woman named Ella Louise and her daughter, Jessica, is told around the campfire to young boys. Ella Louise and Jessica were burned alive one night by a group of scared men and they haunt the woods still. Spooky.
There's power in the telling, and the first chapter of this book is amazing—it's told as if it's a ghost story at camp, complete with narrative asides.
But then we immediately lose the plot as the real story starts to unfold. Now we're following a young girl named Amber in the 1970s who's been cast as "Jessica" in the film adaptation. The pacing starts to flub and falter, as we're in this girl's head way too much and not much happens.
In general, this book felt like a screenplay montage that just never - quite - paced - itself - out.
Amber's story is interesting, I guess, but the choppy non-sentences and bizarre lack of pacing left me extremely irritated. I was waiting for something to happen, but then when things DID happen, I was taken for a ride with extremely distracting writing. I think it was trying to be dramatic...but instead it just came across like someone was pausing for false emphasis every few words.
Guys, this just really rubbed me the wrong way. I wanted horror. If you count horror as dead bodies, blood, trauma—I got it. But the writing, the pacing, and the strange male gaze throughout (I didn't even touch on this, but this is a story about a woman-driven ghost story and a woman being haunted and yet every single element of this story was from a seriously pushy male gaze that both trivialized the female portions and weirdly sexualized them at the same time so yeah let's just screw that, thanks) really stopped me from even mildly enjoying this story. It felt like it fetishized a story of female pain and suffering, and it wasn't even done well.
Ugh. I'm sorry for the rant, folks. This was a huge miss.
|
The Remaking had all of the ingredients to make a hit—a ghost story, a spooky film myth, and the Groundhog Day-type concept of repeated actions. (But I hated it.)
Concept: ★★★★
Writing: � 1/2
Pacing: ★★
Alright, so the setup is this: A urban legend about a woman named Ella Louise and her daughter, Jessica, is told around the campfire to young boys. Ella Louise and Jessica were burned alive one night by a group of scared men and they haunt the woods still. Spooky.
There's power in the telling, and the first chapter of this book is amazing—it's told as if it's a ghost story at camp, complete with narrative asides.
But then we immediately lose the plot as the real story starts to unfold. Now we're following a young girl named Amber in the 1970s who's been cast as "Jessica" in the film adaptation. The pacing starts to flub and falter, as we're in this girl's head way too much and not much happens.
In general, this book felt like a screenplay montage that just never - quite - paced - itself - out.
Amber's story is interesting, I guess, but the choppy non-sentences and bizarre lack of pacing left me extremely irritated. I was waiting for something to happen, but then when things DID happen, I was taken for a ride with extremely distracting writing. I think it was trying to be dramatic...but instead it just came across like someone was pausing for false emphasis every few words.
Guys, this just really rubbed me the wrong way. I wanted horror. If you count horror as dead bodies, blood, trauma—I got it. But the writing, the pacing, and the strange male gaze throughout (I didn't even touch on this, but this is a story about a woman-driven ghost story and a woman being haunted and yet every single element of this story was from a seriously pushy male gaze that both trivialized the female portions and weirdly sexualized them at the same time so yeah let's just screw that, thanks) really stopped me from even mildly enjoying this story. It felt like it fetishized a story of female pain and suffering, and it wasn't even done well.
Ugh. I'm sorry for the rant, folks. This was a huge miss.
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September 9, 2020
1930's Pilot's Creek, Virginia
Odd Ella Louise lives in a cabin in the woods with her even stranger daughter, Jessica. Ella Louise runs an apothecary from her home that the towns folks visit secretly as no one wants to be seen visiting them in fear of being ostracized by the town. When a pregnant woman in terrible pain visits Elle Louise in need of help the tincture that she is given ends up killing her and the baby. The town is in an uproar and they demand death to the witches. Five men stalk their cabin in the night and burn them at the stake in the name of justice. Ella Louise's body is buried somewhere in the woods that only the men know of. Jessica, being a child and in fear of her returning from the grave to get her revenge, they bury under concrete and gravel and they erect a fence of crucifixes around the grave so her spirit can't escape.
Mother and Daughter continue to search for one another in the woods. This is a tale they tell at campfires.
1971
Lee Ketchum has made it his life's work to bring the tale of the Witch Girl of Pilot’s Creek to life on the big screen. He casts Amber Pendleton as the young Jessica in his movie Don't Tread on Jessica's Grave. During shooting something happens to Amber that casts shadows over the rest of her life.
1996
Amber is now an adult and suffers from panic attacks and anxiety. She abuses pharmaceutical drugs and drinks way more than she should. At a recent Terrorcon she attended and as she is signing autographs one of her fans tells her that they are remaking the movie. About a week later, her agent whom she hadn't heard from in a year, says the director wants her to star as Ella Louise.
In this film a young girl named Danielle is to play the part of Jessica. Once again, things go terribly on set.
Present Day
A true crime investigator wants to get to the bottom of this story so he hunts down the reclusive Amber Pendleton for an interview on his podcast. Will he get the answers he's looking for?
This book has great bones and I found the premise interesting. Sadly, I did not find the execution nearly as satisfying. The author is a fine writer but there was so much repetition. Let me give you some examples of what I mean:
'The woods were cold. She walked on. It was cold. So cold. The woods were cold. She thought of her mother, who was cold, and how they had walked these woods. The cold woods."
"Amber glanced back up and realized Miss Lambert was still holding her arms out.
Reaching out for her.
For her. For a hug. An embrace.
To hold Amber."
"It’s only a movie �
Only a movie �
Only a movie �
Only �"
"I’m going to take you back home.
home
home
home"
Stuff like that irks the shit out of me.
Also, this book isn't remotely spooky or scary which is what I was hoping for. It felt more like the ins and outs of movie making which I have absolutely no interest in.
My verdict: Not a bad book, not a great book, it is the okay-est of books. 3 stars!
Thank you to Quirk Books for granting my wish for an ARC on NetGalley.
Odd Ella Louise lives in a cabin in the woods with her even stranger daughter, Jessica. Ella Louise runs an apothecary from her home that the towns folks visit secretly as no one wants to be seen visiting them in fear of being ostracized by the town. When a pregnant woman in terrible pain visits Elle Louise in need of help the tincture that she is given ends up killing her and the baby. The town is in an uproar and they demand death to the witches. Five men stalk their cabin in the night and burn them at the stake in the name of justice. Ella Louise's body is buried somewhere in the woods that only the men know of. Jessica, being a child and in fear of her returning from the grave to get her revenge, they bury under concrete and gravel and they erect a fence of crucifixes around the grave so her spirit can't escape.
Mother and Daughter continue to search for one another in the woods. This is a tale they tell at campfires.
1971
Lee Ketchum has made it his life's work to bring the tale of the Witch Girl of Pilot’s Creek to life on the big screen. He casts Amber Pendleton as the young Jessica in his movie Don't Tread on Jessica's Grave. During shooting something happens to Amber that casts shadows over the rest of her life.
1996
Amber is now an adult and suffers from panic attacks and anxiety. She abuses pharmaceutical drugs and drinks way more than she should. At a recent Terrorcon she attended and as she is signing autographs one of her fans tells her that they are remaking the movie. About a week later, her agent whom she hadn't heard from in a year, says the director wants her to star as Ella Louise.
In this film a young girl named Danielle is to play the part of Jessica. Once again, things go terribly on set.
Present Day
A true crime investigator wants to get to the bottom of this story so he hunts down the reclusive Amber Pendleton for an interview on his podcast. Will he get the answers he's looking for?
This book has great bones and I found the premise interesting. Sadly, I did not find the execution nearly as satisfying. The author is a fine writer but there was so much repetition. Let me give you some examples of what I mean:
'The woods were cold. She walked on. It was cold. So cold. The woods were cold. She thought of her mother, who was cold, and how they had walked these woods. The cold woods."
"Amber glanced back up and realized Miss Lambert was still holding her arms out.
Reaching out for her.
For her. For a hug. An embrace.
To hold Amber."
"It’s only a movie �
Only a movie �
Only a movie �
Only �"
"I’m going to take you back home.
home
home
home"
Stuff like that irks the shit out of me.
Also, this book isn't remotely spooky or scary which is what I was hoping for. It felt more like the ins and outs of movie making which I have absolutely no interest in.
My verdict: Not a bad book, not a great book, it is the okay-est of books. 3 stars!
Thank you to Quirk Books for granting my wish for an ARC on NetGalley.
August 15, 2019
*Received an ARC through a Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ giveaway, as run by Quirk Books. Thank you!
The Remaking... Where do I start with The Remaking?
I suppose I should say right up front that I'm extremely conflicted about this book. It's this odd mixture of a poignant theme and an underwhelming story that I usually only find in classic literature. That is to say, I could write essays on this book and thoroughly enjoy exploring the implications, but the reading experience itself was somewhat lacking. As a result, I've been wondering what to rate this for a while now, and I'm still not sure what I settled on is right. This book is just too nuanced to be limited by a five-star rating system.
So buckle down for a long review as I try to break down the nuances.
(And if that's not for you, as always, there's a bolded tl;dr at the bottom.)
Firstly, it is a disservice to this book to describe it as a supernatural thriller. The supernatural entities that exist in The Remaking have very little sway over the actual story or the horror therein. In fact, for the first couple encounters, you're left wondering if what happened was real or just a product of Amber's fear and trauma. It isn't until the last portion of the book that there's any evidence that anyone else can see and hear the things she has seen and heard.
The real horror of this book has nothing to do with the ghosts of Jessica and Ella Louise Ford; rather, it has everything to do with egotistical male creatives who believe they have the right to romanticize the wrongs committed against women.
There are three male creatives who attempt to recreate the story of the Little Witch Girl of Pilot's Creek: Lee Ketchum, Sergio Gillespie, and Nate Denison. There is very little difference between the three of them: they's all overconfident in their creative abilities, they all believe they were destined to tell Jessica's story, and they all actively use Amber to their own ends. I think the best part of their characterization is that they all seem like decent men - if a tad egotistical - when they're first introduced. They all practically worship Amber in their own ways, but as soon as she gets in the way of their goals, suddenly she's a bitch, a witch, and everything in between for preventing them from telling a story that is rightfully theirs.
Except, no, it's not.
Which brings me to my second point: The Remaking is a masterpiece of parallelism.
Amber's story follows much the same track as that of the Fords: she is ostracized for the trauma that society has brought upon her. First, it's her mother forcing her into an acting career and not allowing her to have a childhood. Then, it's Lee's treatment of her on set. Then, it's horror fans romanticizing her trauma, Sergio to the point where he thinks he loves her. Then, it's the disaster of the remake and the failure of the cast, crew, and court system to recognize her distress.
It goes on and on and on, until Amber identifies herself as a Ford - seen as a witch and murderer when she's just trying the deal with the traumas that everyone else refuses to recognize. And thus, she follows the same course: people hate her, but believe they are entitled to their romanticized version of her story.
It's more than a little sick.
(Just a side note, a large part of me is convinced that Jessica and Ella Louise were not witches, despite the supernatural elements of this story. Why? Because of the role of rumors in Amber's story and the way everything else lines up.)
As for the story itself, the plot's execution just isn't as good as it could have been. I know, I know: that sounds weird after I just praised the implications of the story, but it really is something separate that I have to consider. Chapman clearly set his sights high for The Remaking: a story like this requires subtlety, nuance, attention to detail. It's not supposed to be an in-you-face story, but one where the tension builds gradually, dread and anger swelling in your heart. I can admire the intentions that were obviously there, and it pains me to say this, but the intention wasn't enough. It just... it wasn't quite there. A result of pacing? Style? Personal preference? That, I can't quite pin down, but despite the implications and intrigue, the story itself was rather underwhelming.
I also have no clue what's going on with POV in this book. Seriously. I've examined and re-examined the points where the POV switches again and again, and I can't think of any rational reason it was done.
"But Mae, I thought you loved when you got the POV of different characters!"
I do. But as it turns out, I'm less of a fan of the changing between types of POV.
I'm serious. This book goes from second-person to third-person to first-person. The only switch that makes sense is having the first part of the book in second-person - it serves almost as a prologue, told as though you're sitting by a campfire with a drunk old man who's telling you the story of the Fords. It has an awesome effect, but... I have no clue why the book later went from third to first. And to make things absolutely clear, it has nothing to do with the character - Amber has sections that are both third and first POV. After part one, there should have been either third or first chosen. No switches. Just one or the other.
(I also think we could have done with some more of Amber's POV in the last section. Her unraveling is a big part of this story, and being cut off from her thoughts for so long feels wrong somehow. I truly think we need Nate's POV, because a lot of the horror comes from the bullshit that goes through the head of him and those that came before him, but while the other parts feel balanced between, this one... Doesn't.)
To make it perfectly clear, I'm glad I read The Remaking, even if I'm not entirely sure I'd read it again. As a woman who takes interest in the happenings of the TV/film industries, I admire Chapman for bringing up the problem our entertainment industries have with the careless romanticizing of real-world tragedy. Because it is a problem. We have a habit of making these things glamorous and heart-wrenching while willfully ignoring how ugly the story really is. And honestly, kudos to the author for basing this story on a true story with that theme without falling into the same trap. You have to admire the attention-to-detail that takes.
The Remaking speaks to some very real issues of the entertainment industry: namely, the romanticizing of tragedy and men's entitlement to a woman's trauma. This theme manifests through careful parallelism and glimpses into the characters' psychs. Despite some shortcomings of the story itself, it's an important message that Chapman presents in a way that it cannot be ignored.
The Remaking... Where do I start with The Remaking?
I suppose I should say right up front that I'm extremely conflicted about this book. It's this odd mixture of a poignant theme and an underwhelming story that I usually only find in classic literature. That is to say, I could write essays on this book and thoroughly enjoy exploring the implications, but the reading experience itself was somewhat lacking. As a result, I've been wondering what to rate this for a while now, and I'm still not sure what I settled on is right. This book is just too nuanced to be limited by a five-star rating system.
So buckle down for a long review as I try to break down the nuances.
(And if that's not for you, as always, there's a bolded tl;dr at the bottom.)
Firstly, it is a disservice to this book to describe it as a supernatural thriller. The supernatural entities that exist in The Remaking have very little sway over the actual story or the horror therein. In fact, for the first couple encounters, you're left wondering if what happened was real or just a product of Amber's fear and trauma. It isn't until the last portion of the book that there's any evidence that anyone else can see and hear the things she has seen and heard.
The real horror of this book has nothing to do with the ghosts of Jessica and Ella Louise Ford; rather, it has everything to do with egotistical male creatives who believe they have the right to romanticize the wrongs committed against women.
There are three male creatives who attempt to recreate the story of the Little Witch Girl of Pilot's Creek: Lee Ketchum, Sergio Gillespie, and Nate Denison. There is very little difference between the three of them: they's all overconfident in their creative abilities, they all believe they were destined to tell Jessica's story, and they all actively use Amber to their own ends. I think the best part of their characterization is that they all seem like decent men - if a tad egotistical - when they're first introduced. They all practically worship Amber in their own ways, but as soon as she gets in the way of their goals, suddenly she's a bitch, a witch, and everything in between for preventing them from telling a story that is rightfully theirs.
Except, no, it's not.
Which brings me to my second point: The Remaking is a masterpiece of parallelism.
Amber's story follows much the same track as that of the Fords: she is ostracized for the trauma that society has brought upon her. First, it's her mother forcing her into an acting career and not allowing her to have a childhood. Then, it's Lee's treatment of her on set. Then, it's horror fans romanticizing her trauma, Sergio to the point where he thinks he loves her. Then, it's the disaster of the remake and the failure of the cast, crew, and court system to recognize her distress.
It goes on and on and on, until Amber identifies herself as a Ford - seen as a witch and murderer when she's just trying the deal with the traumas that everyone else refuses to recognize. And thus, she follows the same course: people hate her, but believe they are entitled to their romanticized version of her story.
It's more than a little sick.
(Just a side note, a large part of me is convinced that Jessica and Ella Louise were not witches, despite the supernatural elements of this story. Why? Because of the role of rumors in Amber's story and the way everything else lines up.)
As for the story itself, the plot's execution just isn't as good as it could have been. I know, I know: that sounds weird after I just praised the implications of the story, but it really is something separate that I have to consider. Chapman clearly set his sights high for The Remaking: a story like this requires subtlety, nuance, attention to detail. It's not supposed to be an in-you-face story, but one where the tension builds gradually, dread and anger swelling in your heart. I can admire the intentions that were obviously there, and it pains me to say this, but the intention wasn't enough. It just... it wasn't quite there. A result of pacing? Style? Personal preference? That, I can't quite pin down, but despite the implications and intrigue, the story itself was rather underwhelming.
I also have no clue what's going on with POV in this book. Seriously. I've examined and re-examined the points where the POV switches again and again, and I can't think of any rational reason it was done.
"But Mae, I thought you loved when you got the POV of different characters!"
I do. But as it turns out, I'm less of a fan of the changing between types of POV.
I'm serious. This book goes from second-person to third-person to first-person. The only switch that makes sense is having the first part of the book in second-person - it serves almost as a prologue, told as though you're sitting by a campfire with a drunk old man who's telling you the story of the Fords. It has an awesome effect, but... I have no clue why the book later went from third to first. And to make things absolutely clear, it has nothing to do with the character - Amber has sections that are both third and first POV. After part one, there should have been either third or first chosen. No switches. Just one or the other.
(I also think we could have done with some more of Amber's POV in the last section. Her unraveling is a big part of this story, and being cut off from her thoughts for so long feels wrong somehow. I truly think we need Nate's POV, because a lot of the horror comes from the bullshit that goes through the head of him and those that came before him, but while the other parts feel balanced between, this one... Doesn't.)
To make it perfectly clear, I'm glad I read The Remaking, even if I'm not entirely sure I'd read it again. As a woman who takes interest in the happenings of the TV/film industries, I admire Chapman for bringing up the problem our entertainment industries have with the careless romanticizing of real-world tragedy. Because it is a problem. We have a habit of making these things glamorous and heart-wrenching while willfully ignoring how ugly the story really is. And honestly, kudos to the author for basing this story on a true story with that theme without falling into the same trap. You have to admire the attention-to-detail that takes.
The Remaking speaks to some very real issues of the entertainment industry: namely, the romanticizing of tragedy and men's entitlement to a woman's trauma. This theme manifests through careful parallelism and glimpses into the characters' psychs. Despite some shortcomings of the story itself, it's an important message that Chapman presents in a way that it cannot be ignored.
November 6, 2019
I've been watching The Haunting of Hill House and it reminded me how much I utterly love horror/ghost stories. It used to be my "go to" genre of choice. I thought I had left it behind, but it's back: my craving for a good, well told ghost story. The Remaking is a fantastic tale, the type you tell around a campfire to scare the heebie-jeebies out of everyone else. From the very first line in the story until the very last, I was captivated, enthralled with the story and the method the author used to tell his scary tale - and retell it.... and retell it again. I thought it might be a bit boring, the same story told over and over again but isn't that what we do with a good ghost story? The kind that never lets us go... that is what The Remaking is - a good, horrifying ghost story and it is one that you will not want to miss.
Post Note - I love the dedication page and the artwork almost as much as the story itself.
Post Note - I love the dedication page and the artwork almost as much as the story itself.
October 24, 2019
I won this as a goodreads giveaway. Thank you Quirk Books and Penguin Random House.
After you read the book make sure you study the cover on the dust wrapper.
Once I got into it, the story was a fast read. And while reading it I kept thinking about all of the off kilter 1970’s horror flicks that I have seen. Especially “Let’s Scare Jessica To Death�.
I see this book as an homage to the horror film genre and good set piece for the fall season.
After you read the book make sure you study the cover on the dust wrapper.
Once I got into it, the story was a fast read. And while reading it I kept thinking about all of the off kilter 1970’s horror flicks that I have seen. Especially “Let’s Scare Jessica To Death�.
I see this book as an homage to the horror film genre and good set piece for the fall season.
April 28, 2023
"The flames had chewed through her lips. What was left of her flesh now petaled outward, her cheeks peeling back until she saw her own teeth lined crookedly along her jaw.
An eternal grin."
Urban Legends are some of my favorite things to investigate. To travel to certain areas and be in the same place where strange and macabre happenings took place is what I do for fun. So this book was calling to me from beyond the grave and from deep in the woods. It called out to me, faint at first and the callings only got louder as I got closer to the lady buried below. It stopped my beating heart for a mere second and made my body tremble. And then it was all over and I was left with the feeling of meh.
An eternal grin."
Urban Legends are some of my favorite things to investigate. To travel to certain areas and be in the same place where strange and macabre happenings took place is what I do for fun. So this book was calling to me from beyond the grave and from deep in the woods. It called out to me, faint at first and the callings only got louder as I got closer to the lady buried below. It stopped my beating heart for a mere second and made my body tremble. And then it was all over and I was left with the feeling of meh.
February 29, 2020
This book was so deeply unpleasant to read and not at all in the way the author probably intended.
1. The writing style is diabolical.
I think the author once heard that repetition can be used for dramatic effect and decided that he could just beat that horse into the ground. An example of a standard paragraph in this book:
'The woods were cold. She walked on. It was cold. So cold. The woods were cold. She thought of her mother, who was cold, and how they had walked these woods. The cold woods.
Cold.
She walked.
Cold, cold woods.'
I am not exaggerating when I say this happens every four lines.
2. This guy cannot decide what the hell this book is critiquing.
This book is firing shots so wildly it could be a stormtrooper on the death star. Was this book trying to critique hollywood? the horror genre? abusive parents? substance abuse? true crime podcasters? It also never bothers to analyse these things any further than 'they are bad and everyone involved in them is also bad and you should hate them.'
Which also leads us to...
3. This guy clearly doesn't like horror
It's a complicated beast, horror. You can go in circles talking about the representation of women, but boiling it down to 'it's bad because women die in it' and then deciding to write an entire book set in the genre is a.....unique move to say the least. This book is also full of characters who loathe the genre, even people who are working within it talking about how it's 'a dead genre' with 'endless repetitive slasher flicks and no real art.' This book does take place in the 70s and 90s, but it was *published* in 2019, which means it was probably written in what....2016, if we're being super generous. That means, in the time that this dude wrote this book, the following films came out:
- IT Chapter 1
- Get Out
- Hereditary
- A Quiet Place
- Train to Busan
And that's not even including things like The VVitch and It Follows which came out a few years before, or anything in 2019 like US and Midsommar. I just find it baffling to have this perspective during what is widely considered to be a genre renaissance, especially when....
4. It's super obvious the writer is a dude
Look, men *can* write women. There are men out there who are capable of it. This...is not one of those guys. The epic critique of misogyny in horror also falls completely flat when it lacks all nuance and is being voiced by a dude who has his women characters say things like 'you men always get our stories wrong, it's time for us to speak for ourselves' (except in this book that sentence takes 8 lines, because he has to repeat himself)
#awkward
1. The writing style is diabolical.
I think the author once heard that repetition can be used for dramatic effect and decided that he could just beat that horse into the ground. An example of a standard paragraph in this book:
'The woods were cold. She walked on. It was cold. So cold. The woods were cold. She thought of her mother, who was cold, and how they had walked these woods. The cold woods.
Cold.
She walked.
Cold, cold woods.'
I am not exaggerating when I say this happens every four lines.
2. This guy cannot decide what the hell this book is critiquing.
This book is firing shots so wildly it could be a stormtrooper on the death star. Was this book trying to critique hollywood? the horror genre? abusive parents? substance abuse? true crime podcasters? It also never bothers to analyse these things any further than 'they are bad and everyone involved in them is also bad and you should hate them.'
Which also leads us to...
3. This guy clearly doesn't like horror
It's a complicated beast, horror. You can go in circles talking about the representation of women, but boiling it down to 'it's bad because women die in it' and then deciding to write an entire book set in the genre is a.....unique move to say the least. This book is also full of characters who loathe the genre, even people who are working within it talking about how it's 'a dead genre' with 'endless repetitive slasher flicks and no real art.' This book does take place in the 70s and 90s, but it was *published* in 2019, which means it was probably written in what....2016, if we're being super generous. That means, in the time that this dude wrote this book, the following films came out:
- IT Chapter 1
- Get Out
- Hereditary
- A Quiet Place
- Train to Busan
And that's not even including things like The VVitch and It Follows which came out a few years before, or anything in 2019 like US and Midsommar. I just find it baffling to have this perspective during what is widely considered to be a genre renaissance, especially when....
4. It's super obvious the writer is a dude
Look, men *can* write women. There are men out there who are capable of it. This...is not one of those guys. The epic critique of misogyny in horror also falls completely flat when it lacks all nuance and is being voiced by a dude who has his women characters say things like 'you men always get our stories wrong, it's time for us to speak for ourselves' (except in this book that sentence takes 8 lines, because he has to repeat himself)
#awkward
January 20, 2020
3.4 Stars is about right. I was really liking this, especially the formatting and the way it was written, but then the ending happened and it just didn't really make sense to me. Maybe I need to re-read it a couple of times, but I just didn't understand the last chapter. Overall it had a pretty solid creepy vibe throughout, loved the cemetery setting, and I really enjoyed it as a horror novel, but overall felt like it was just an average read. Didn't really connect with any of the characters at any point and didn't really know which direction this was heading. I felt like it could have been much better had the last part been a bit more detailed, but again, I felt like it stopped quite abruptly and left me a little unsatiated, wanting more, what happened in that final scene?!! I would still give this a shot, as I'm sure some might find the ending more rewarding than I did. I'm definitely intrigued by this author and might go back and look at his other previous works.
November 5, 2023
The low ratings on this are shocking!
This is my third book from this author and I can firmly say I don't think he is capable of writing a bad book. I kind of feel like clay Chapman is the better version of Grady Hendrix lol.
TW animal cruelty
Clay Chapman is SO skilled at writing truly fascinating characters and making the reader really care about them...and I say this as a NON character-driver reader as well!!! I LOVED following Amber's story arc throughout this book and seeing the total full circle of her life unfold.
I also loved the witchy influence in this book but the plot being deeper than just another "women being persecuted and abused and violently accused and murdered as witches" - there was a brief moment of this but the story is really focused on the aftermath of that violent act of injustice.
I will say that the ending was maybe a little bit unmemorable - I say that as well because I read this no more than 2 weeks ago and I already am having trouble recollecting exactly how this wrapped up although I have vivid memories of the beginning to middle portions.
I LOVED the plot point of following this child actor with the over controlling mom and seeing the on-set stuff, following Amber when she was a kid was my favorite part of the book as it was so gripping and suspenseful and so much meat to really latch onto as a reader with the troubled mother/daughter relationship aspect.
I have one book left I need to read from this author and I am so excited for anything he comes out with in the future! Truly one of the best horror authors of our time!
This is my third book from this author and I can firmly say I don't think he is capable of writing a bad book. I kind of feel like clay Chapman is the better version of Grady Hendrix lol.
TW animal cruelty
Clay Chapman is SO skilled at writing truly fascinating characters and making the reader really care about them...and I say this as a NON character-driver reader as well!!! I LOVED following Amber's story arc throughout this book and seeing the total full circle of her life unfold.
I also loved the witchy influence in this book but the plot being deeper than just another "women being persecuted and abused and violently accused and murdered as witches" - there was a brief moment of this but the story is really focused on the aftermath of that violent act of injustice.
I will say that the ending was maybe a little bit unmemorable - I say that as well because I read this no more than 2 weeks ago and I already am having trouble recollecting exactly how this wrapped up although I have vivid memories of the beginning to middle portions.
I LOVED the plot point of following this child actor with the over controlling mom and seeing the on-set stuff, following Amber when she was a kid was my favorite part of the book as it was so gripping and suspenseful and so much meat to really latch onto as a reader with the troubled mother/daughter relationship aspect.
I have one book left I need to read from this author and I am so excited for anything he comes out with in the future! Truly one of the best horror authors of our time!
August 8, 2020
If you get too close to this urban legend, you risk becoming part of it.
The residents of Pilot’s Creek always knew there was something strange about Ella Louise Ford. Rumoured to be a witch, she became an outcast, but that didn’t stop the townsfolk from visiting Ella Louise’s apothecary shop to seek cures for what ailed them. Naturally, Ella Louise pays the price for being different.
[Image source: ]
I was captivated by the story of this mother and daughter in Part One, but was disappointed when their story was subsumed by that of Amber Pendleton, a child actress. The rest of the story follows Amber, who played Jessica in a B grade movie. Later there is a reboot and finally a podcast, each delving into the urban legend but ultimately focusing more on Amber than the Fords. I really wanted Ella Louise and Jessica to be given more space in this story.
I didn’t find this story scary although, to be fair, I’m not easily scared by fiction. As the story progressed it began to feel more like a social commentary: on child actors and overbearing stage parents, horror movies, their reboots and sequels, horror fans, the victimhood of women, and the injustice of the justice system.
My main niggle was the reliance on repetition in this book. I don’t generally have a problem with repetition, but here it was overdone. It seemed like every other page I was finding passages like:
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Quirk Books for granting my wish to read this book.
Blog -
The residents of Pilot’s Creek always knew there was something strange about Ella Louise Ford. Rumoured to be a witch, she became an outcast, but that didn’t stop the townsfolk from visiting Ella Louise’s apothecary shop to seek cures for what ailed them. Naturally, Ella Louise pays the price for being different.
Tonight, they were going to burn a witch.Ella Louise is buried in an unmarked grave. Her daughter, Jessica, who was rumoured to have been twice as powerful as her mother, is buried in the town’s cemetery. Jessica’s reinforced steel coffin is filled with concrete. Then there’s a layer of gravel and if that wasn’t enough, there’s a fence of crucifixes surrounding her grave. That little girl scared those men so much they wanted to make sure she would never escape her grave.
If you ask me, those two aren’t done.I love urban legends and ghost stories. I was even more invested when I learned Ella Louise and Jessica’s story was inspired by the real double murder of Mary Louise Ford and her daughter, Mary Ellen, which has become its own urban legend.
Not with this town.
[Image source: ]
I was captivated by the story of this mother and daughter in Part One, but was disappointed when their story was subsumed by that of Amber Pendleton, a child actress. The rest of the story follows Amber, who played Jessica in a B grade movie. Later there is a reboot and finally a podcast, each delving into the urban legend but ultimately focusing more on Amber than the Fords. I really wanted Ella Louise and Jessica to be given more space in this story.
I didn’t find this story scary although, to be fair, I’m not easily scared by fiction. As the story progressed it began to feel more like a social commentary: on child actors and overbearing stage parents, horror movies, their reboots and sequels, horror fans, the victimhood of women, and the injustice of the justice system.
My main niggle was the reliance on repetition in this book. I don’t generally have a problem with repetition, but here it was overdone. It seemed like every other page I was finding passages like:
It’s only a movie �
Only a movie �
Only a movie �
Only �
I’m going to take you back home.
home
home
home
Keep it spinning. Spinning.Content warnings include mention of .
Spinning.
Spinning.
Spinning.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Quirk Books for granting my wish to read this book.
Blog -
October 4, 2021
I really liked this book. It was horror but yet not horror. Creepy would best describe it but I don’t believe that is a genre. If sitting around a camp fire telling ghost stories is something you like...or have ever liked to do... then this book is diffidently written just for you. Some of the facts in the story are true...and yes...I asked “Mr. Google.� I learned that it is based on an unsettling horror story and does contain true events that took place in 1931 in Pilot’s Creek, Virginia. The townspeople accuse Ella Louise Ford and her daughter, Jessica, of witchcraft and burn them at the stake. This begins an urban legend that echoes through the decades. I love a good ghost story. I am the “Ghost Story Junkie�.
July 9, 2019
*Received via NetGalley for review*
The Remaking focuses on the titular remaking of an urban legend about two women, Ella Louise and Jessica, who were accused of being witches and burned at the stake. A first, failed movie is made that achieves cult status, a second is permanently stalled by a death, and an attempted debunking podcast finds out the truth but is unable to pass it along.
Much is made of how ignorant the people of Pilot's Creek were in burning the two women, but much of the novel focuses on how their story has touched people and remained in the subconscious mind. Amber, who played Jessica in the first movie and was slotted to cameo as Ella Louise in the second, is the most touched, being in contact with the ghosts of both women throughout her career.
Chapman seems to have bit of a bit more than he could cover, however. In wanting to discuss the impact of failed cult films on their actors, in addition to the story of the two tragic women, in addition to Amber's trauma stemming from both the film and her mother, in addition to the satirization of true crime podcasts... it's all too much, and just gets muddled in the delivery.
The Remaking focuses on the titular remaking of an urban legend about two women, Ella Louise and Jessica, who were accused of being witches and burned at the stake. A first, failed movie is made that achieves cult status, a second is permanently stalled by a death, and an attempted debunking podcast finds out the truth but is unable to pass it along.
Much is made of how ignorant the people of Pilot's Creek were in burning the two women, but much of the novel focuses on how their story has touched people and remained in the subconscious mind. Amber, who played Jessica in the first movie and was slotted to cameo as Ella Louise in the second, is the most touched, being in contact with the ghosts of both women throughout her career.
Chapman seems to have bit of a bit more than he could cover, however. In wanting to discuss the impact of failed cult films on their actors, in addition to the story of the two tragic women, in addition to Amber's trauma stemming from both the film and her mother, in addition to the satirization of true crime podcasts... it's all too much, and just gets muddled in the delivery.
September 16, 2020
Are you ready for a ghost story? How about a ghost story within a ghost story within a ghost story?
Welcome to the weird and chilling world of The Remaking, now out in paperback, in which an urban legend refuses to die, no matter how many times the story is retold.
In 1931 in the lumber-rich town of Pilot’s Creek, Virginia, a mother and her nine-year-old daughter are burned at the stake by vengeful townspeople (men, of course). For years, it’s been an open secret that Ella Louise Ford can cure what ails you, and her young daughter Jessica appears to be even more gifted. But witches living in the woods can only be tolerated for so long, and when Ella Louise’s treatments are suspected of causing a tragedy, the men of the town want the witches to pay.
In 1951, an old man tells ghost stories around a campfire, always coming back to the story of Jessica Ford, the Little Witch Girl. Ella Louise was buried in an unmarked grave somewhere deep in the woods, but little Jessica was buried in hallowed ground, in a reinforced coffin with cement filling in the grave and a fence of crucifixes to keep her in. Now, legend has it that the Little Witch Girl wants out, and she just needs someone to help her find her mother.
In 1971, a man who heard the ghost story as a child is determined to make a movie about Jessica � a shlocky horror film called Don’t Tread on Jessica’s Grave, filled with standard horror movie tropes, and starring an eerily perfect young actress named Amber. But something happens on set, and it’s the legend behind the movie that makes this a story that becomes a horror cult classic.
In 1995, Amber is a drug-dependent has-been who never had a career after her early disaster, but who instead has found fame of sorts on the horror convention circuit. When an up-and-coming director decides to make a remake of Jessica’s story, Amber seems like the perfect choice to play Ella Louise � until on-set tragedy strikes again.
And finally, in 2016, a podcaster who debunks urban legends decides to tackle the story of the Little Witch Girl and prove it’s a hoax once and for all� but is he ready for what he’ll find in the woods?
I realize I’ve just outlined the entire book, but trust me, you have to read it to get the full creepy experience. The story of Ella Louise and Jessica starts with tragedy. Ella Louise is different, a disgrace to her society parents, and it’s implied but never explained that she became pregnant with Jessica as the result of a sexual assault on the night of her debutante ball. But rather than being supported as a crime victim, she’s shunned by her parents and the town, and makes a new life for herself and her daughter, out in the woods where no one can harm them.
I had a hard time getting over the origin story of Ella Louise and Jessica, because it’s so harrowing and awful. But from there, we see how the tale takes on a life of its own� and how something that may be just a story has doomed the town and everyone connected with it. Is it truly a witch’s curse, or is it the story that haunts the town and brings destruction to everyone who encounters it?
Amber’s tale is chilling in very different ways. Forced into pursuing her big break by a mother who never realized her own dream of stardom, Amber is way too young to be able to handle the horror of shooting Don’t Tread on Jessica’s Grave. From the movie’s storyline to seeing herself transformed through makeup and prosthetics into a burned corpse, this is clearly something that will scar her forever � and that’s before she has a nearly deadly encounter in the woods.
A ghost story, a consideration of urban legends, a look at the need to endlessly remake movies into something new for each generation � The Remaking provides so much to think about, even while being a chilling, creepy, intensely haunting read.
Much like the endless remakings and retellings of Jessica’s story, The Remaking will be sticking with me for a long time!
And now, if only someone would make a movie version of The Remaking, so Jessica’s story could live on�
Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley. Full review at Bookshelf Fantasies.
Welcome to the weird and chilling world of The Remaking, now out in paperback, in which an urban legend refuses to die, no matter how many times the story is retold.
In 1931 in the lumber-rich town of Pilot’s Creek, Virginia, a mother and her nine-year-old daughter are burned at the stake by vengeful townspeople (men, of course). For years, it’s been an open secret that Ella Louise Ford can cure what ails you, and her young daughter Jessica appears to be even more gifted. But witches living in the woods can only be tolerated for so long, and when Ella Louise’s treatments are suspected of causing a tragedy, the men of the town want the witches to pay.
In 1951, an old man tells ghost stories around a campfire, always coming back to the story of Jessica Ford, the Little Witch Girl. Ella Louise was buried in an unmarked grave somewhere deep in the woods, but little Jessica was buried in hallowed ground, in a reinforced coffin with cement filling in the grave and a fence of crucifixes to keep her in. Now, legend has it that the Little Witch Girl wants out, and she just needs someone to help her find her mother.
In 1971, a man who heard the ghost story as a child is determined to make a movie about Jessica � a shlocky horror film called Don’t Tread on Jessica’s Grave, filled with standard horror movie tropes, and starring an eerily perfect young actress named Amber. But something happens on set, and it’s the legend behind the movie that makes this a story that becomes a horror cult classic.
In 1995, Amber is a drug-dependent has-been who never had a career after her early disaster, but who instead has found fame of sorts on the horror convention circuit. When an up-and-coming director decides to make a remake of Jessica’s story, Amber seems like the perfect choice to play Ella Louise � until on-set tragedy strikes again.
And finally, in 2016, a podcaster who debunks urban legends decides to tackle the story of the Little Witch Girl and prove it’s a hoax once and for all� but is he ready for what he’ll find in the woods?
I realize I’ve just outlined the entire book, but trust me, you have to read it to get the full creepy experience. The story of Ella Louise and Jessica starts with tragedy. Ella Louise is different, a disgrace to her society parents, and it’s implied but never explained that she became pregnant with Jessica as the result of a sexual assault on the night of her debutante ball. But rather than being supported as a crime victim, she’s shunned by her parents and the town, and makes a new life for herself and her daughter, out in the woods where no one can harm them.
I had a hard time getting over the origin story of Ella Louise and Jessica, because it’s so harrowing and awful. But from there, we see how the tale takes on a life of its own� and how something that may be just a story has doomed the town and everyone connected with it. Is it truly a witch’s curse, or is it the story that haunts the town and brings destruction to everyone who encounters it?
Amber’s tale is chilling in very different ways. Forced into pursuing her big break by a mother who never realized her own dream of stardom, Amber is way too young to be able to handle the horror of shooting Don’t Tread on Jessica’s Grave. From the movie’s storyline to seeing herself transformed through makeup and prosthetics into a burned corpse, this is clearly something that will scar her forever � and that’s before she has a nearly deadly encounter in the woods.
Jessica had become a cinematic ouroboros. A serpent devouring its own tail, coiling round and round for an eternity. The longer I imagined that snake infinitely spinning, the more its scales slowly took on the shape of celluloid frames. The sprocket holes along either side of the film strip formed scales. When this snake shed its skin, the translucent husk would be fed through the projector. The images trapped within each scale caught the projector’s light and made their way to the big screen. Jessica filled that vast canvas, reaching her hand out to me.
This film would never end. It continued to play on its own endless loop. Jessica’s story would be told over and over, forever now. She found a new audience.
Fresh blood.
That was exactly what Jessica wanted.
To find new blood.
A ghost story, a consideration of urban legends, a look at the need to endlessly remake movies into something new for each generation � The Remaking provides so much to think about, even while being a chilling, creepy, intensely haunting read.
Much like the endless remakings and retellings of Jessica’s story, The Remaking will be sticking with me for a long time!
And now, if only someone would make a movie version of The Remaking, so Jessica’s story could live on�
Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley. Full review at Bookshelf Fantasies.
February 8, 2021
Clay McLeod Chapman's The Remaking has THE WORST writing I've ever read in a published book. It's choppy, circular, repetitive, and just plain bad. Here's an example that is indicative of the entire book (full disclosure, I copied this from listening to it with the audiobook, so the formatting is probably off, but I made sure to get every word right):
WHAT, and I cannot emphasize this enough, THE FUCK??? The editor, if they had one, was clearly sleeping through this.
And the saddest thing about this is that the idea of this book is actually quite unique and interesting. But unfortunately, the wretched writing, the repetitive construction, and the unsatisfying ending of this book far overshadowed anything that could have been good.
So what is this terribly written book about? Well, once upon a time in the olden days, a witch and her daughter are burned to death, Frankenstein style, by an angry mob of local townspeople who just don't understand them.
Fast forward, it's the 70's, and someone's making a movie about the legend of these witches and, like the lives of the witch and her daughter, it doesn't end well.
Fast forward again, it's the 90's, and someone is, once again, making a movie about the legend of the witch starring the little girl from the 70's movie, only now she is all grown up and playing the witch mother instead of the daughter. BUT it still doesn't end well.
Fast forward AGAIN, it's the 2000's, and someone is doing a true crime podcast about, you guessed it, the witch and her daughter. AND, you guessed it again, it still doesn't end well.
Like I said, the idea of this book is excellent. But, my god, they really botched the execution and the wretched writing only made it worse.
I have no desire to spend any more time on this book, so that's all I'm going to say about it. So far, this is my worst read of 2021 BY FAR. It's only February, but this one is going to be a hard one to beat for the unlucky title of Worst of the Year.
I rated Clay McLeod Chapman's The Remaking 1 out of 5 stars.
You might like this if you like: witches and.... yeah, that's it.
We found each other, didn't we? We've come this far. So I stop worrying. Stop. I let my feet simply lead the way and I let them. I let them. Let them take me home. Take me home. Take us home. Home. Home. Home. This is the role I was meant to play, born to play. I'd been preparing for this part my entire life, haven't I? All these years of drug-induced stasis, of emotional paralysis, of lies. They've all been leading to this moment in time. Showtime folks. Time to shine. Time to be a star. My life has merely been a dry run. Now it's time to play for keeps.
WHAT, and I cannot emphasize this enough, THE FUCK??? The editor, if they had one, was clearly sleeping through this.
And the saddest thing about this is that the idea of this book is actually quite unique and interesting. But unfortunately, the wretched writing, the repetitive construction, and the unsatisfying ending of this book far overshadowed anything that could have been good.
So what is this terribly written book about? Well, once upon a time in the olden days, a witch and her daughter are burned to death, Frankenstein style, by an angry mob of local townspeople who just don't understand them.
Fast forward, it's the 70's, and someone's making a movie about the legend of these witches and, like the lives of the witch and her daughter, it doesn't end well.
Fast forward again, it's the 90's, and someone is, once again, making a movie about the legend of the witch starring the little girl from the 70's movie, only now she is all grown up and playing the witch mother instead of the daughter. BUT it still doesn't end well.
Fast forward AGAIN, it's the 2000's, and someone is doing a true crime podcast about, you guessed it, the witch and her daughter. AND, you guessed it again, it still doesn't end well.
Like I said, the idea of this book is excellent. But, my god, they really botched the execution and the wretched writing only made it worse.
I have no desire to spend any more time on this book, so that's all I'm going to say about it. So far, this is my worst read of 2021 BY FAR. It's only February, but this one is going to be a hard one to beat for the unlucky title of Worst of the Year.
I rated Clay McLeod Chapman's The Remaking 1 out of 5 stars.
You might like this if you like: witches and.... yeah, that's it.
November 27, 2024
I love horror movies, if it's scary I'm in, which is why I was intrigued by
The Remaking.
Sadly, The Remaking didn't meet my standards, but then I do have high standards.
When a book is billed as horror or scary I want to feel a tingle, or something in that emotional realm.
Instead, I got a book that was 20% story, and 60% about movie-making and the rest about horror movie mythology, horror cons and how obsessed horror movie fans can get, like any genre fan.
It was as if the author was looking for a way to describe all the bureaucratic details that go into making a movie; hustling for financing, what producers do, getting the actors on the set, all the hard work the behind the scenes staff do.
And what's the story about?
Ella Louise and Jessica's vengeance, like Freddy Krueger haunting all the kids of the parents who murdered him?
Is Amber possessed by Jessica?
What's the point of the podcast investigator?
There's a lot going on and the author fails at bringing all the threads into a cohesive plot.
The book was too sparse to delve into character development, and the tropes so often found in domestic dramas (men are bad and women are victims) is painfully obvious.
The only interesting characters, Ella Louise and Jessica, are not given proper respect, ostracized by their narrow minded small town and glorified as 'witches' for tourist money and forgotten by the author himself.
This had potential; I wanted a scary, nail biting story about powerful women (witches or not, I don't care) that wreak havoc and cause beautiful destruction and chaos and all I got was...well, The Remaking.
Rim shot.
Sadly, The Remaking didn't meet my standards, but then I do have high standards.
When a book is billed as horror or scary I want to feel a tingle, or something in that emotional realm.
Instead, I got a book that was 20% story, and 60% about movie-making and the rest about horror movie mythology, horror cons and how obsessed horror movie fans can get, like any genre fan.
It was as if the author was looking for a way to describe all the bureaucratic details that go into making a movie; hustling for financing, what producers do, getting the actors on the set, all the hard work the behind the scenes staff do.
And what's the story about?
Ella Louise and Jessica's vengeance, like Freddy Krueger haunting all the kids of the parents who murdered him?
Is Amber possessed by Jessica?
What's the point of the podcast investigator?
There's a lot going on and the author fails at bringing all the threads into a cohesive plot.
The book was too sparse to delve into character development, and the tropes so often found in domestic dramas (men are bad and women are victims) is painfully obvious.
The only interesting characters, Ella Louise and Jessica, are not given proper respect, ostracized by their narrow minded small town and glorified as 'witches' for tourist money and forgotten by the author himself.
This had potential; I wanted a scary, nail biting story about powerful women (witches or not, I don't care) that wreak havoc and cause beautiful destruction and chaos and all I got was...well, The Remaking.
Rim shot.
October 9, 2019
The Remaking is told in 4 chapters, a chronological story that follows an urban legend about a woman, Ella Louise, and her daughter, Jessica, in the small town of Pilots Creek, Virginia. It starts with a man at a campfire, who requires a bottle of booze as his payment for a story about the tale of the two witches. He tells his tale in a reminiscent way - talking about the mother and daughter and how they were not only sought out for their cures but also outcast from society and eventually, burned as witches when a cure goes wrong and takes a life. And thus, an urban legend is born. Next, there is a horror film in which a young Amber Pendleton plays Jessica, only to experience a life time of trouble during and after the film; years later, a horror film remake, in which Amber plays the mother, Ella Louise and ultimately, a pod cast in which the host tries to debunk the ever-growing legend of the two witches, with Amber but is it really? - giving her experiences throughout it all.
A good book that I enjoyed and a worthy read.
A good book that I enjoyed and a worthy read.
October 29, 2019
"A good ghost story gets told...and retold. It's in the telling where the tale takes on a life of its own. A ghost story grows. It exists on the breath of those who tell it."
4.5â�
I had so much fun reading The Remaking! This book has so many things I love - horror movies, ghost stories, true crime podcasts, and a spooky setting. The cover is eye-catching, and I was hooked on the story immediately.
This story is told in 4 different sections - the original ghost story, the filming of the movie about the ghost story, the filming of the remake, and then several years after the remake. This was such an entertaining format, and I really loved reading this story.
The only reason this doesn't have a full 5â� review is because the ending was a little too confusing / vague for my taste. I went back over it a couple times, and still wasn't entirely sure what had happened. It was still such an enjoyable read, though, and I definitely recommend this book.
4.5â�
I had so much fun reading The Remaking! This book has so many things I love - horror movies, ghost stories, true crime podcasts, and a spooky setting. The cover is eye-catching, and I was hooked on the story immediately.
This story is told in 4 different sections - the original ghost story, the filming of the movie about the ghost story, the filming of the remake, and then several years after the remake. This was such an entertaining format, and I really loved reading this story.
The only reason this doesn't have a full 5â� review is because the ending was a little too confusing / vague for my taste. I went back over it a couple times, and still wasn't entirely sure what had happened. It was still such an enjoyable read, though, and I definitely recommend this book.
April 2, 2021
by is an odd duck to try to describe. I thought it got off to an amazing and creepy start, and there are some really great parts, but there was still just something off for me that left me not loving it. I thought it could be a bit repetitive at times, and the style in which it is written definitely took some getting used to, but it seemed to fit the overall vibe of the book. I loved the storyline and the idea of the plot, but the execution was not quite there for me. However, I did like the themes Chapman was trying to get across, and it definitely kept me interested. I listened to the audiobook which was very well done. There is a whole cast of narrators who are Corey Allen, Morgan Hallett, Suzy Jackson & Clay McLeod Chapman (yes, he's in there too), and the way it was recorded reminded me a bit of The Blair Witch Project.
I also really liked the paranormal aspect of The Remaking, and even though it is marketed as horror, it was a milder dose of horror in my opinion. That being said, there are definitely parts that got me more than others, and I REALLY don't recommend trying to eat while you are reading or listening to this one, I tried and ended up losing my appetite. I was also a big fan of the way it is divided up into different parts, and I kept going because I had no idea where it was going to go. You don't really get a chance to connect to any of the characters, but that wasn't much of an issue for me overall. I think The Remaking is something you need to experience and it's not something I can describe, so if it sounds good to you, I would definitely give it a shot.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
I also really liked the paranormal aspect of The Remaking, and even though it is marketed as horror, it was a milder dose of horror in my opinion. That being said, there are definitely parts that got me more than others, and I REALLY don't recommend trying to eat while you are reading or listening to this one, I tried and ended up losing my appetite. I was also a big fan of the way it is divided up into different parts, and I kept going because I had no idea where it was going to go. You don't really get a chance to connect to any of the characters, but that wasn't much of an issue for me overall. I think The Remaking is something you need to experience and it's not something I can describe, so if it sounds good to you, I would definitely give it a shot.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
October 10, 2024
i think i could’ve really enjoyed this if it wasn’t for the weird formatting. the writing just felt so choppy!! otherwise i was in to the story. it was generally okay, nothing super revolutionary
August 12, 2021
If you love film, especially horror film, especially the lore that can surround the making of a film and you dig quiet horror, you will like this.
This book opens really well with a campfire and some old dude recounting a story from back in the day about a horrible crime that happened to a young mother and her daughter. Accused of witchcraft. Then slowly, the story creeps around in the shadows, through time and film and even inside people.
I appreciated the utilization of the art of film and the industry to give this supernatural presence its hidey-hole. It begins in the 1930s and ends in 2016. We follow a child actress from her first film as the young daughter accused of witchcraft in the i970s to her last on-screen appearance in the 1990s. We met directors, fellow actors, and other storytellers who have been obsessed with the crime.
I found it to be creepy and unsettling and really enjoyed this clever story.
This book opens really well with a campfire and some old dude recounting a story from back in the day about a horrible crime that happened to a young mother and her daughter. Accused of witchcraft. Then slowly, the story creeps around in the shadows, through time and film and even inside people.
I appreciated the utilization of the art of film and the industry to give this supernatural presence its hidey-hole. It begins in the 1930s and ends in 2016. We follow a child actress from her first film as the young daughter accused of witchcraft in the i970s to her last on-screen appearance in the 1990s. We met directors, fellow actors, and other storytellers who have been obsessed with the crime.
I found it to be creepy and unsettling and really enjoyed this clever story.
April 27, 2020
3.5 🌟
This started so.good! The second half just drags though. It's still interesting, I still liked it but not as much as I wanted to.
This started so.good! The second half just drags though. It's still interesting, I still liked it but not as much as I wanted to.
July 31, 2024
This felt like an entire ode to Wes Craven, and he was even mentioned at one point. Clay McLeod Chapman is a treasure in the psychological horror genre, and this traditional ghost story that takes an oft-told witch burning and turns it into a recurring nightmare through storytelling was a fun ride.
I loved the suspense, and obviously, "Jessica" is the star of the show. However, the younger the characters, the better the tale is told.
I LOVED the initial Eloise "Home" moments, and this was the strongest time period of the novel.
I did wish that more even occurred and more people were negatively affected, but this book had just enough paranormal that it could be real-sort of a feel.
4 Stars
I loved the suspense, and obviously, "Jessica" is the star of the show. However, the younger the characters, the better the tale is told.
I LOVED the initial Eloise "Home" moments, and this was the strongest time period of the novel.
I did wish that more even occurred and more people were negatively affected, but this book had just enough paranormal that it could be real-sort of a feel.
4 Stars
October 16, 2019
“No. You’re not here for any of those stories. You want to hear about Jessica don’t you? Course you do. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? Tonight of all nights…Twenty years ago on this very evening. October 16, 1931�
The Remaking by Clay McLeod Chapmen It’s the horrifying supernatural story about Ella Louise who lived in the woods surrounding Pilot Creek, Virginia. Her and her daughter Jessica are publicly shunned by the locals and privately seeked out for her herbal medicine to help them. When she is accused of the death of a baby she is labelled a witch and burned at the stake in the middle of the night along with her daughter. Their story becomes an urban legend told around a campfire by a man who is marked by his encounters with Jessica. Many years later a boy from the campfire would cast a girl to play Jessica in a horror movie based on her story. A remake in the 90s will cause terrible consequences and years on a true crime investigator will create a podcast shedding light on Amber and the truth behind the legend as it comes full circle.
This book is full of twisted surprises. It honestly reads like a movie and is inspired by true events which makes it all the more exciting to read.
I like how the story evolves every twenty years, it begins with the terrible deaths of Ella Louise and Jessica, these two have been dealt an unfair death on the hands of the fear emanating from the towns people. This chilling reality echos throughout the book and is often touched upon in unsettling ways. From its description it may sound like a fun horror movie, it is that and so much more.
I found this book to be very gripping, I couldn’t not possibly put it down without finding out the fate of Amber. I laughed and cringed with the characters in their scenarios as well as feeling sorry for them. I was both moved and unsettled.
A definite recommended supernatural horror read.
Huge thanks to Quirk Books for sending me a copy of the book.
The Remaking by Clay McLeod Chapmen It’s the horrifying supernatural story about Ella Louise who lived in the woods surrounding Pilot Creek, Virginia. Her and her daughter Jessica are publicly shunned by the locals and privately seeked out for her herbal medicine to help them. When she is accused of the death of a baby she is labelled a witch and burned at the stake in the middle of the night along with her daughter. Their story becomes an urban legend told around a campfire by a man who is marked by his encounters with Jessica. Many years later a boy from the campfire would cast a girl to play Jessica in a horror movie based on her story. A remake in the 90s will cause terrible consequences and years on a true crime investigator will create a podcast shedding light on Amber and the truth behind the legend as it comes full circle.
This book is full of twisted surprises. It honestly reads like a movie and is inspired by true events which makes it all the more exciting to read.
I like how the story evolves every twenty years, it begins with the terrible deaths of Ella Louise and Jessica, these two have been dealt an unfair death on the hands of the fear emanating from the towns people. This chilling reality echos throughout the book and is often touched upon in unsettling ways. From its description it may sound like a fun horror movie, it is that and so much more.
I found this book to be very gripping, I couldn’t not possibly put it down without finding out the fate of Amber. I laughed and cringed with the characters in their scenarios as well as feeling sorry for them. I was both moved and unsettled.
A definite recommended supernatural horror read.
Huge thanks to Quirk Books for sending me a copy of the book.
November 18, 2019
I absolutely love the concept for this book. It’s the reiteration of a scary tale from the true story to the urban legend to a movie to a meta remake to a podcast that wants to uncover the truth about it all.
It is instantly intriguing, right? If you're into horror movies at all, I know this one is making your Spidey senses tingle. The remake concept is not really applied to books—it is weird when you think about it. It feels like it would be a violation to re-write someone else’s book, and yet it’s done all the time with movies (with varying amounts of success). Film is a much more mutable medium. Books feel like they are forever.
So Chapman, an obvious fan of film and horror, sets out to create an homage to those types of stories, only, in this story, the legend is true.
The problem is, I just didn’t find the execution of the story itself that compelling. It felt as though the idea of the concept was trying to hold the weight of the story, which simply won’t work. There needs to be substance, suspense—you can’t live in a building if only the foundation is built.
Though the book is slim and reads very quickly, I often found it repetitive, treading and retreading the same lines of thought and action for the main character and not allowing her very much room to breathe or change. Strangely, through all the metamorphosis of the story, Amber is a very static character, not very interesting to read about. I also found the writing choppy, with an over-reliance on short, simple sentences.
I still enjoyed reading The Remaking because I love horror films like Scream and the quirky, intellectual bent that they take on while still being an honest horror movie with scares and a mystery and a cast of characters you want to root for. This book didn’t feel quite developed enough on the story side, but I can tell that Chapman is interested in telling genre stories in a new way.
It is instantly intriguing, right? If you're into horror movies at all, I know this one is making your Spidey senses tingle. The remake concept is not really applied to books—it is weird when you think about it. It feels like it would be a violation to re-write someone else’s book, and yet it’s done all the time with movies (with varying amounts of success). Film is a much more mutable medium. Books feel like they are forever.
So Chapman, an obvious fan of film and horror, sets out to create an homage to those types of stories, only, in this story, the legend is true.
The problem is, I just didn’t find the execution of the story itself that compelling. It felt as though the idea of the concept was trying to hold the weight of the story, which simply won’t work. There needs to be substance, suspense—you can’t live in a building if only the foundation is built.
Though the book is slim and reads very quickly, I often found it repetitive, treading and retreading the same lines of thought and action for the main character and not allowing her very much room to breathe or change. Strangely, through all the metamorphosis of the story, Amber is a very static character, not very interesting to read about. I also found the writing choppy, with an over-reliance on short, simple sentences.
I still enjoyed reading The Remaking because I love horror films like Scream and the quirky, intellectual bent that they take on while still being an honest horror movie with scares and a mystery and a cast of characters you want to root for. This book didn’t feel quite developed enough on the story side, but I can tell that Chapman is interested in telling genre stories in a new way.
August 17, 2021
A fun take on the horror genre that utilizes an immersive and fresh concept to accomplish what it sets out to do.
There are nods to all the great horror cliches and tropes, and even some examination of them, and there is definitely an underlying nuance of the residual effects of appropriating someone else's story to make it our own for our own gain. In this case, the book examines the urban legend of a mother and daughter burned at the stake by their town's men after being accused of witchcraft (in the 1930s, no less) and the men who came after (in the 1950s across campfires, the 1970s and again in the 90s on movie sets, and in 2019 during the production of a podcast) who become infatuated with the idea of being ~the one~ to tell Ella Louise and Jessica Ford's tragic life (and death) story.
The first half is definitely its strongest, and it isn't without its minor flaws (for example, the section in which the character Amber narrates, I didn't find her voice to be believable - she sounded more often than not like an angsty young man just out of his teens than a troubled/haunted woman in her 30s). But overall, the book is written in a style that easily draws you into its story and is extremely fun to read if you're a horror fan or simply just in the mood for horror in general.
There are nods to all the great horror cliches and tropes, and even some examination of them, and there is definitely an underlying nuance of the residual effects of appropriating someone else's story to make it our own for our own gain. In this case, the book examines the urban legend of a mother and daughter burned at the stake by their town's men after being accused of witchcraft (in the 1930s, no less) and the men who came after (in the 1950s across campfires, the 1970s and again in the 90s on movie sets, and in 2019 during the production of a podcast) who become infatuated with the idea of being ~the one~ to tell Ella Louise and Jessica Ford's tragic life (and death) story.
The first half is definitely its strongest, and it isn't without its minor flaws (for example, the section in which the character Amber narrates, I didn't find her voice to be believable - she sounded more often than not like an angsty young man just out of his teens than a troubled/haunted woman in her 30s). But overall, the book is written in a style that easily draws you into its story and is extremely fun to read if you're a horror fan or simply just in the mood for horror in general.
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