To this day, Wes Craven’s 1996 meta slasher, Scream, still holds up as one of the most unique and memorable horror films, not just of the 1990s, but of all time. At their core, early slashers relied on the classic whodunit formula, keeping the viewer guessing the killer’s identity throughout the film. Not only did Scream nail that formula in a surprising way by revealing two killers, but it did so with self-awareness and tropey patterns, almost making fun of itself, while somehow staying serious and scary.
The popularity of whodunits has been widespread in fiction literature since the days of Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and still flourishes today from authors like Riley Sager (With a Vengeance) and Stephanie Wrobel (The Hitchcock Hotel). However, it takes a special kind of blend with the horror genre, adding gore, iconic masked killers, or tropey story mechanisms, to match Scream’s energy. Finding horror books in the same vein as Scream isn’t easy, as most slasher novels end up more like Friday the 13th or Halloween. But there are a few I can recommend if you love Wes Craven’s meta masterpiece.
6My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones
Although Stephen Graham Jones’ Indian Lake trilogy goes a little more into supernatural territory than Scream, the similarities from the meta feel of its main character using her horror knowledge and slasher logic to unravel a town murder mystery can’t be ignored. Jones himself admitted that he saw Scream seven times at the theater when it was released, and the film was a core inspiration for his many slasher books, including My Heart Is a Chainsaw.
Related: Book Review: ‘My Heart is a Chainsaw’ is an Emotional, Jaw-Dropping Slasher
The trilogy has a fantastic final girl in Jade Daniels, who spends most of her time fitting different characters into the roles she thinks they’re playing in a real-life slasher. The ending goes off the rails in a great way, delivering on a gorefest that Ghostface would be proud of. Jones clearly has a passion for the subgenre, releasing both Killer on the Road/The Babysitter Lives and I Was a Teenage Slasher in the last few years, but many readers consider My Heart Is a Chainsaw his best.
5Heads Will Roll by Josh Winning
Granted, Josh Winning’s Heads Will Roll does take place at a repurposed summer camp and channeling a Friday the 13th vibe, its backstory for getting the characters to Camp Castaway (or “Camp Cancel,” as it’s referred to) and the media-related, almost trivial motives behind why they’re stalked and murdered by an unknown killer is very Scream-esque.
The main character is a massive horror fan, and her love for the genre serves as both a preparation and an integral part of her traumatic backstory. The story doesn’t go as deep as it could have, but sometimes, the light, fast-paced slaughter of disgraced and shame-filled influencers and Hollywood elites is what does the trick. Burn the Negative, another of Winning’s novels, draws similarities to Scream as well, but Heads Will Roll is a little more perfect for the season.
4There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins
The similarities between Scream and Stephanie Perkins’ There’s Someone Inside Your House couldn’t be more apparent. It takes place in a small town (much like Woodsboro), the victims are high school students being individually picked off by an unknown killer, and the reveal weaves with the main character’s dark and hazy past.
There’s Someone Inside Your House doesn’t have the most original playout of events, but it does have creative kills that seem to get more gruesome as the story unfolds, and the cast of characters is diverse and fun. The book also received its own Netflix adaptation by the same name in 2021, but it wasn’t loved by critics or viewers. I’d stick to the book for this one.
3The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
I like to refer to Grady Hendrix as an author who makes Goosebumps books for adults, and The Final Girl Support Group is a great example of why. The book takes classic slasher movie plots, like Silent Night, Deadly Night, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and Scream, tweaks them to make them more realistic, and sets them as the backstories of this novel’s main characters.
Related: Why You Should Be Reading Grady Hendrix if You Love Horror
The book follows the group of “Final Girls” who are being hunted several years after the survival of their own horror stories. The story is filled with red herrings (much like Scream), self-aware horror tropes, and great shoutouts to the slasher genre’s fan favorites. Even the chapters are cleverly titled to match the silly sequels in horror franchises, including The Final Girl Support Group 3-D and The Final Girl Support Group VII: Son of the Final Girls.
2Night Film by Marisha Pessl
This one is for the film aficionados, and honestly, it gives a little more of a Scream 3 vibe than the original. Marisha Pessl’s Night Film follows a disgraced journalist’s investigation into the death of an elusive, Kubrick-esque director’s daughter. The director is known for going to extremes to get the perfect shot, even to the point of having his films blacklisted to the public.
As the twists and turns of the story move along, the journalist begins to wonder if he, himself, has become a part of the director’s new film, and questions whether the bodies that are beginning to turn up are all part of some elaborate cinematic ruse. Night Film is a much more serious story than any movie in the Scream franchise, but the whodunit feel and the focus on horror and suspense films bring a similar ambience.
1Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare
A novel that feels eerily similar to the Scream series is Adam Cesare’s Clown in a Cornfield. Another small-town teen high school slasher, this one is filled with fun, tropey motives, a new slasher icon in Friendo the Clown, and an unexpected ending that transitions well into two excellent sequels.
Related: Author Adam Cesare Talks ‘Clown in a Cornfield’: “A Bit of a Perfect Storm” (Exclusive Interview)
The story includes a fun cast of supporting characters, a great final girl in Quinn, a ton of red herrings, multiple reveals, and a layer of comedy that is extremely present in Wes Craven’s franchise. Though Clown in a Cornfield is labeled as YA, it’s incredibly gory and gruesome, more so than any YA book I’ve ever read. There’s also a solid movie adaptation that was released earlier this year, directed by Zombieland and Tucker and Dale vs. Evil’s Eli Craig.
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