Jamie Prescott is a cinephile who hopes her extensive knowledge of what not to do in a slasher will help her survive a speed-dating event that turns into a bloodbath.
That's the premise of a novel written by debut author Shailee Thompson.
"It's a killer love story," Thompson quipped.
"It's all of those things that you love from a slasher and all of the things that you love from a rom-com."
The novel is called How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates, a nod to that brilliant rom-com How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey.
Thompson has never been speed dating herself, but the former high school teacher has plenty of friends who've tried it.
"I don't know if I want to now, after writing this," she smiled.
"I kind of say it is a bit of a joke, but I've done parent-teacher interviews as a teacher and you have 10 minutes per parent and there's about 28 in a night.
"And I feel like that's very similar to speed dating in a way as well, because you have to have those quick conversations and you have to connect with people really quickly."
Thompson did drop in on a speed-dating event in New York, where participants were each given an advance copy of her book.
"It was a very surreal moment," she said.
The novel is a genre mash-up, given the main character Jamie is an expert in slashers and rom-coms.
The idea came to Thompson while she was on social media.
"I saw a tweet, of all things, on Instagram, because I'm a millennial and the poster said that there were too many Christmas rom-coms and not enough Halloween rom-coms," Thompson said.
"And I don't think they meant a slasher rom-com, but it was something that just kind of got stuck in my head."
Two genres that shouldn't go together
Thompson used to teach English, literature and drama to students aged 12 to 18.
"So genre is something that's an interest of mine," she said.
"I think that it was setting a challenge for myself, that these genres shouldn't go together, but can they?"
Thompson shares an interest in film with her protagonist.
"I love films," she said.
"I grew up in the '90s and so films and watching DVDs and videos was always a very huge part of my childhood and my teenager years.
"And I think I kind of grew up in the golden age of that kind of rom-com that we're very familiar with.
"And then later in life I really got into horror films because of a good friend of mine."
Thompson did have to do a lot of research, however, for the novel.
"I don't think I'm as much of a cinephile as Jamie — she's on a completely different level," she said.
"But I'm the kind of person who will throw out quotes and whip out references to movies all the time."
There are quotes at the beginning of each chapter, which may draw in fans of romantic movies such as When Harry Met Sally and P.S. I Love You, but Thompson puts a sinister spin on them.
"I found that a lot of rom-com quotes, some of the famous ones, could be used in a horror film anyway," Thompson said.
"It's all about context and it's all about tone."
A hopeful romantic
The novel touches on toxic masculinity and the power of female friendships but Thompson shuns attempts to pit men and women against each other.
She considers her book a romance novel despite the clash with horror.
"I'm gonna go full Jamie now," Thompson said.
"There's a film from the '80s called Romancing the Stone and there is a romance novelist in that called Joan Wilder and her publisher calls her a hopeless romantic and she's like, 'No, I'm a hopeful romantic.'
"And that's kind of how I see myself."
She says there's a whole community of people who feel this way.
"That's why romantasy is so big. That's why romance is so big," she said.
"And all of these subgenres, you know, we're hopeful romantics."
How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates is out now.
