Common Sense Media Review
By Brian Costello
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Cliched horror tale has graphic violence, language.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 16+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
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Killer Book Club
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In KILLER BOOK CLUB, Angela (Veki Velilla) attends a college with seven friends. She's a novelist with one novel to her credit, but has had writer's block for quite some time, and takes writing classes and starts a book club to get ideas to write again. But when her professor, claiming to have received a suggestive email from her, makes unwanted sexual advances, Angela's friends plot revenge. Obsessed with coulrophobia, the irrational fear of clowns, the eight friends decide to go to a costume shop, buy eight matching Killer Clown outfits, and give the professor the scare of his life. But when the prank on the professor results in his gruesome death, the friends start receiving cryptic texts linking them to chapters of a "book" on the internet in which each of their murders is described. Now, Angela and her friends must find out who is behind this, even as they are getting murdered one at a time.
Is It Any Good?
This is a horror movie with all the self-awareness of Scream but without the humor. Killer Book Club is a Spanish horror movie that tries to mine humor out of being endlessly referential about the cliches and conventions of horror movies, while, at the same time, telling a story that fully embraces the cliches and conventions of horror movies, from the teen archetypes to the obvious plot twists. It has style, but not a lot of substance, so the overall story fails to land.
This kind of thing has been done often enough since Scream emerged from the hyper-self-aware 1990s, so it's unclear why this movie was made. It isn't really offering anything new. It might work as part of a double- or triple-feature horror movie night with friends around Halloween, but there are so many horror movies out there with similar humor that are better, so the whole thing seems kind of pointless.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about horror movies like Killer Book Club. How is this similar to other horror movies you've seen? How is it different?
How does the movie try to poke fun at the cliches and conventions of horror movies?
How does the violence compare with other horror movies? Was it necessary, or needlessly excessive? Why?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : August 25, 2023
- Cast : Veki Velilla , Álvaro Mel , Priscilla Delgado
- Director : Carlos Alonso Ojea
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s) , Latino Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Horror
- Topics : Fantasy
- Run time : 89 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : September 18, 2025
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