One of Us Is Already Dead

Twenty-five years after the making of a notorious found-footage horror movie, the estranged cast return to the site of filming – including the former final girl, whose dreams are still haunted by that night. One of Us is Already Dead is a propulsive and chilling horror novel from a new star in horror, perfect for fans of The Final Girl Support Group and The Blair Witch Project.

Twenty-five years ago, four college kids snuck into an abandoned house to film a found footage horror movie. Only three returned.

Now, newly divorced Josie Wu’s life is monotonous, and her time as the Final Girl in the cult classic The Bleeker House Tapes is firmly in her past. Her main concerns these days are paying the bills, raising her daughter, and the real-life horrors of perimenopause.

So when hotshot director and former crush Sean Maher invites her back to the abandoned house for a reunion shoot, Josie can’t resist. She misses the reckless, daring girl she used to be, as much as she denies it, and the sizable paycheck certainly doesn’t hurt.

But not all the terror in the original film was scripted, and there’s a reason Josie left her Final Girl days behind. Something lingers in the shadows of the Bleeker House – something dangerous.

As the cast and crew retrace the making of their indie movie, haunting memories blur into the present, and one thing becomes clear: someone needs to pay the price for what happened in the Bleeker House.

E. L. Chen is the author of Summerwood/Winterwood and Sweetside Motel. Her short fiction has appeared in venues like Strange Horizons and The Dark, and her adult horror novel Slasher Summer will be published in 2026. She lives in Toronto, Canada with her son.