If you’re looking at the cover of Ex-Boogeyman and sighing, that’s okay. It’s cartoony, yes, and I think it may have been self-published, but thankfully is seems professionally edited. The image is indicative of the content; slasher villain hunting down white woman, but if you look closely, you’ll see our victim has fallen on a pile of reel-to-reel films labeled “Lunatic.” In Kristopher Triana’s novel, he both writes in and makes fun of the slasher genre. More so than books, he’s speaking to slasher film fans, and what we get is a love letter that uses familiar 1980s tropes and an interesting look from inside the villain’s head.

It’s 2010. Former actor Jonathan Zain sits at a horror convention along his former co-star, Lola Lang. In 1982, John was the killer in Lunatic, which became a film franchise. Lola, the “final girl,” appeared in a few movies, but John was in all fifteen. Now that nearly 30 years have gone by, John recognizes that the franchise went off the rails, especially with the tell-tale “send then bad guy to space” sequel. You see it in other (real-life) franchises, from Friday the 13th to Leprechaun, Hellraiser to Critters. Sending the villain to space is a last-ditch effort to reinvigorate a franchise. Basically, the “Lunatic” films turned into a laugh, and not in a good way. John is about fifty now, he has no skills beyond playing the Lunatic character, all his income is from convention appearances, and his wife and children are out of the picture.

Nothing worse could happen, right? Then John learns that Lunatic is being remade. No one can play the villain except John! He’s outraged, though former final girl Lola tells John to let it go. Instead of letting it go, he has a break with reality, puts on his old costume, heads for the camp where the 1982 original was filmed, and does what slasher villains do.

Why should you read Ex-Boogeyman? Author Kristopher Triana obviously has a love for 1980s slasher movies and name drops film franchises and actors like crazy. You’ll feel like an expert as you read along, given that you’re also a fan. However, some of the predictions I made did not happen, so I felt Triana subverted some of the tropes just enough to match the slasher subgenre, but also keep it interesting.

And then there are the characters. Lola is our “old” final girl, but she is hired as a creative consultant to work with the new director (a thinly veiled Eli Roth, lol) on the remake. She feels honored to participate. They head to the original camp where the movie was shot to see if it could be used again. That puts both someone John is mad at (new director) and a powerful final girl (someone the villain must hunt down!) in his path.

Add Rachel and Ellie, sisters who went to camp for the summer; some handsy teen boys; a stoner; a couple who know horror movie tropes, and hey, the gang’s all here. The sisters surprised me. Rachel is sixteen, but Ellie is only twelve, meaning both are vulnerable, but differently. Rachel navigates an old, desperate boyfriend and a camp counselor who doesn’t take no for an answer. Ellie is shy and clings to Rachel, but as the novel progressives, she proves a rather angry individual.

Triana doesn’t allow us to sympathize with John after he goes full Lunatic killer. The man has no wife and kids because they won’t speak to him. He beat his wife while drunk. He assaulted Lola after she told him to let the remake be what it is. To keep John from being a fully hated individual, he does help Lola at one point when a fan tries grabbing her sexually. Readers see all the red flags, but this heroic green flag makes you doubt yourself as you read. Should you feel hope that John gets help, or is he a monster of a man before the man went full monster?

Overall, I had fun with Ex-Boogeyman, which will surely appeal to people with a good catalog of 1980s slashers on their side. My book club loved this month’s read and were enthusiastic about how readable it was. You get the predictability and variety because John is trying to make real life at the camp progress as if it were a movie script, and that doesn’t work out for him.