I picked this up shortly after its release date, having read and enjoyed another of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's books. However, I went into it with an open mind and not really knowing what to expect—Moreno-Garcia has said herself that all her books are very different from one another.
While the styles and genres may differ, Moreno-Garcia certainly knows how to tell a story! This was an incredible ride from start to finish.
“Montserrat had three loves. One was horror movies. The other was her car. The third was Tristán.”
The story is set in 1990's Mexico City, and follows Montserrat and Tristán, best friends since childhood.
Montserrat is a sound editor struggling to make a living in the male-dominated industry. As her hours start to be cut more and more, she finally stands up to her boss, resulting in her being laid off indefinitely.
Tristán is a former actor whose career is in tatters after a car accident in which his girlfriend, a fellow actor, was killed.
The two bond over their mutual love of film, and when Tristán moves into a new apartment, he is shocked to discover that his new neighbor is Abel Urueta, an obscure horror director.
Montserrat and Tristán are both very familiar with Abel's work, including the rumors of a cursed film that was never completed.
“I feel so alone sometimes, you have no idea. And the loneliness seems to seep into my bones and I get scared because I feel numb. Not depressed or upset: I’m a blank tape. Like someone dragged a magnet against the tape inside my brain and erased all the information. There’s nothing left to feel. I felt it all and I’ll never feel anything new again and I’ll always be alone.”
Tristán, Montserrat, and Abel quickly form a friendship, and Abel recruits them to help complete his final project—the alleged cursed film.
According to Abel, Beyond the Yellow Door was not just a film, but a spell. Shot on silver nitrate film, the dialogue, the actors, and the runes that appear on screen all come together to cast a magic spell, powered by the audience as they view the film. All of this was carefully designed by Wilhelm Ewers, the film's scriptwriter and a powerful sorcerer.
However, the film was never completed, and the careers of everyone involved with Beyond the Yellow Door fell apart—including Abel's.
Abel recruits Montserrat and Tristán to help dub the audio to complete the film, and by so doing, complete the spell and lift the curse.
"He thought when the image and sound are shot separately and then brought together, it's like closing a circuit."
At first, it seems to be working: Tristán has been offered a leading role in a soap opera, and Montserrat's sister's cancer has mysteriously disappeared.
However, when Tristán starts seeing the ghost of his long-dead girlfriend, Montserrat is followed by a mysterious figure in a trench coat, and Abel is found dead in his apartment, they begin to wonder if completing the film released a sinister presence.
When two of the actors in the film, now rival sorceresses, start hunting down the completed roll of film, Tristán and Montserrat find themselves on the run from a Nazi black magic cult that will stop at nothing to resurrect their leader: Wilhelm Ewers.
“You made a haunted house out of your own flesh and bones.”
Now, I'll admit: the first few chapters were a bit slow, and I wasn't sure where the author was trying to go, but I'm so glad I stuck with it. This was an incredible story that kept me on the edge of my seat right until the end.
I really enjoyed that it was set in the 90's, before the age of cell phones and the internet we know today. Stories with minimal technology have a special place in my heart.
Please let me know if you decide to give this a read, and be sure to join me on Discord so we can talk about it—and so many other books!
'•.¸♡ Thanks for reading! ♡¸.•'