Get Out meets Parasite in this eerily haunting debut and Reddit hit—soon to be a Netflix original movie starring Blake Lively—about two homeowners whose lives are turned upside down when the house's previous residents unexpectedly visit.
As a young, queer couple who flip houses, Charlie and Eve can't believe the killer deal they've just gotten on an old house in a picturesque neighborhood. As they're working in the house one day, there's a knock on the door. A man stands there with his family, claiming to have lived there years before and asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around. People pleaser to a fault, Eve lets them in.
As soon as the strangers enter their home, uncanny and inexplicable things start happening, including the family's youngest child going missing and a ghostly presence materializing in the basement. Even more weird, the family can't seem to take the hint that their visit should be over. And when Charlie suddenly vanishes, Eve slowly loses her grip on reality. Something is terribly wrong with the house and with the visiting family—or is Eve just imagining things?
Title : We Used To Live Here
Author : Marcus Kliewer
Format : ARC
Page Count : 320
Genre : horror / thriller
Publisher : Atria
Release Date : June 18, 2024
Reviewer : Hollis
Rating : ★ ★ ★ ★
Hollis' 4 star review
So, normally when I finish a book and go ".. but it would make a great movie" or "I would totally still watch this", I'm usually trying to make up for the fact that somehow the writing didn't work, but the story and potential was there, just in the wrong medium. In this case? The writing did work. And I want to watch this movie (and looks like I'll be able to!). Though, oddly, I wonder if it'll be as scary..
Because yeah this got under my skin. This plays on all the little weird moments we experience all the time but with a sinister intent, in an eerie setting, and with devastating and unexplainable consequences. What are those moments you ask? You put something down and, minutes later, can't find it. You notice something one day and are convinced something about it has changed, is different from what you've always known, making you question your memory. And, worst of all, you see shapes in shadows and the reflection of eyes where there shouldn't be.
We Used To Live Here has all this and even more.
What adds to the vibes and uncertainty as to what is going on are the mixed media elements that act as chapter breaks and make you question what, why, and how. Which isn't to say you get answers to, uh, anything. Part of what is so weird about this experience is how many questions we're left with at the end. Like, so many. But unlike the last haunted house (or whatever) story I read, this was convincing, creepy, and consuming.
This is definitely not the kind of horror I would recommend to people who are on the fence about horror because this isn't just paranormal spookies or ghouls, something so out of the realm of reality to dismiss, and instead this is a perfect mash up of the every day mundane and the unnerving (plus, you know, some spookies) -- and it's so perfectly blended that makes it hard to not be tricked into believing it could, in some way shape or form, happen to you. It feeds into your fears, your anxieties, and increases your likelihood of scurrying into bed a little quicker to avoid the gathering of shadows.
And for those of you who are into horror? Definitely get this on your spooky season TBR. It's one you don't want to miss.
I can't believe this was a debut (a Canadian debut no less!) and I'll definitely be all over whatever Kliewer releases next.
** I received an ARC from the publisher (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. **
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