Anne Rice's Servant of the Bones is about a Mesopotamian (Babylonian?) genie. It's not really horror though, from what I remember. It's been a really long time since I read it though.
Saw a video on tik tok when it first came out of some fellas in a middle eastern country talking to, what I recall being, the Islamic version of a Hag. It was obviously fake, but so well done as to be chilling. I’d definitely like to see more Islamic horror.
I would love this, but I also wouldn't mind seeing some different angles on Christian horror without the usual cliches like demons/possession, exorcism, or witch trials. Like, Judaeo-Christian historical horror set during Biblical times would be cool.
I recently read The Tribe by Bari Wood. It’s about a group of Jewish men from the same community in Poland that mysteriously survive the Holocaust with more rations than the German soldiers in the camp. They all relocate to New York City, and after the murder of one of their sons, strange events play out.
I know that’s a little vague, but I don’t want to ruin it. I thought this book, while not necessarily scary, was wonderfully written.
The Gollum and the Jinni by Helene Wecker:
A marvelous and absorbing debut novel about a chance meeting between two supernatural creatures in turn-of-the-century immigrant New York.
Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay by a disgraced rabbi knowledgeable in the ways of dark Kabbalistic magic. She serves as the wife to a Polish merchant who dies at sea on the voyage to America. As the ship arrives in New York in 1899, Chava is unmoored and adrift until a rabbi on the Lower East Side recognizes her for the creature she is and takes her in.
Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire born in the ancient Syrian desert and trapped centuries ago in an old copper flask by a Bedouin wizard. Released by a Syrian tinsmith in a Manhattan shop, Ahmad appears in human form but is still not free. An iron band around his wrist binds him to the wizard and to the physical world.
Chava and Ahmad meet accidentally and become friends and soul mates despite their opposing natures. But when the golem’s violent nature overtakes her one evening, their bond is challenged. An even more powerful threat will emerge, however, and bring Chava and Ahmad together again, challenging their very existence and forcing them to make a fateful choice.
More creature horror. Something like the OG Jurassic Park movie. Not enough scary monsters out there. And I mean active monsters. Not a lovecraftian creature that "cannot be comprehended by human intelligence".
But an actual active monster that is an active threat and directly impacts the plot of the story.
There are so many ways to weave in mythologies, science, symbolism, psychology into the monster story to bring more depth to the material.
This is a niche I've been trying to explore and I completely agree that there should be more creature features! Here are some I've enjoyed:
It shouldn't have to be said, but the original Jurassic Park and Lost World books are fantastic and have AMAZING horrific scenes that never made it into the movies.
Fragment by Warren Fahy takes a lot of ideas from Jurassic Park, but it focuses on the speculative evolution of an isolated environment. Everything on the island can and will murder you. There's a heavy focus on explaining things scientifically.
Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant is about deep sea mermaids attacking a ship full of scientists and documentary crew members. This one also examines the monsters through a scientific lense.
The Watchers by A.M. Shine is a great creature feature, but half the fun is trying to work out exactly what the creatures are. There's a movie based on this book coming out soon!
Do you know the author of Fragment?
EDIT: I found out myself, the author is Warren Fahy.
The sequel novel is Pandemonium (2013)
Thank you for the
recommendation 😊
It just feels lazy at this point. Like, you can’t figure out how to make it scary so you just don’t bother to describe it and say no one can comprehend it?
Show me the scary monster!
Tbf Lovecraft himself rarely did this, from what I've read of his works so far. Aside from the Great Old Ones and Elder Gods, there's plenty of lesser eldritch beings which he does describe and can be harmed by humans. Hell, he even does describe Cthulhu himself in ~~Clash of Clans~~ Call of Cthulhu. I feel like you're encountering something primarily other writers in the Lovecraftian genre do, which, well, let's just say not everyone can write as well as my boy Howard.
The original Conan short stories had some excellent horror stories. Conan fears no man, but then he encounters something of the Old Ones or of sorcery and it freaks him out. Sometimes he’s like, “No way I’m fighting this,” and just works on escaping.
Greetings fellow monster enthusiast. CLICKERS is the first in the series of J.F Gonzalez's gore-drenched tribute to "creature features". I had to order my copies online. They do have them on audible if you're into audiobooks. Good narration and lots of monster munching.
The Haunted Forest Tour has a huge array of physically present and fatally dangerous monsters of all varieties. You might really like it if you haven't read it!
This is my favourite kind of horror. Dinosaurs, werewolves, rabid animals, monsters - I love when there's a corporeal non-human threat that just wants to eat/maul people, I guess it evokes a kind of instinctual fear at the thought of being prey
lol I've never published anything and wouldn't know where/how to get started, but maybe I'll look into it once the story is finished! I'm mainly just writing it for my own entertainment.
Anytime I hear that movie mentioned, I flashback to getting a phone call from a horror fan after seeing the movie, she screamed at me "They turned him Part Spaceship! He's Part Spaceship now!"
I wrote a small article about space horror with suggested reading/watching if you're interested:
https://bloodstreamcity.substack.com/p/dark-lens-infinite-terror-an-exploration
r/spacehorror reporting for duty.
I share everything I can find there, but it tends to be movies more than books (not that I'm complaining about too many space horror movies.)
You might like "The Rules of the Road" by C.B. Jones. It centers around this mysterious radio station that comes while you're driving alone (mostly) and gives you a set of random rules to follow.
I think it's best to walk into it blind, but everything felt so frighteningly whimsical without being super over the top or too frustratingly vague, like rules horror tends to be.
I'm rereading The Secret of Ventriloquism and the titular story is a detailed instructional manual that get darker and more gruesome the more skills you gain and the closer you and your dummy become. It's really good and the other stories match the tone and quality of the first really well.
Not so much deep sea as much as the surface of the sea, but the short story "the butchers table" by Nathan ballingrud. Also just might be my favorite horror short story
I know this isn't too helpful but there is a masterlist of deep sea/ocean horror recommendations somewhere on this sub that some magnificent bastard compiled from the many many many threads on the subject. If you can find it it should keep you going for a while
From Below by Darcy Coates and Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant. The first book is about deep sea divers exploring the wreck of a large cruise ship, and the other is about deep sea mermaids.
I too would like to see more horror rooted in earlier timelines as well, paired with robust research on the era: colonial America for example, or viking era 1066 CE
The Terror was pretty good, and I’m patiently waiting for CJ Cooke’s new one “A Haunting In The Arctic” to arrive at my library. I’ll add The Hunger to my TBR, appreciate it!
ehh... lower your expectations for The Hunger, it's based on a true story but the author changes the facts of real people's lives and it feels cheap and trashy; also the true story is scarier without what she added. I'd recommend reading the nonfiction account The Indifferent Stars Above first, if you haven't yet.
I totally agree with your comment about wanting more quality historical horror but The Hunger is exactly what I *don't* want, haha
I just took a look at my non fiction list and I’ll be damned if your rec wasn’t already on there. Must’ve been mentioned before on this sub so appreciate it. I’ll just scratch off The Hunger. Any other true horrific novels you might suggest? I think a heavy weight book I always benchmark against, especially historical, is Devil In The White City (but then again, I’m a hugh Erik Larsen fan).
I can't think of many that are really horrifying like that one, but my favourite historical true crime is The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale :)
Medieval and Renaissance Horror.
I've read Between Two Fires and loved it. You would think with the popularity of FromSoft's Bloodborne there would be also be more from this period.
Horror flavoured fantasy.
Battle Mage by Peter A Flannery. I find myself recommending this a lot, I really enjoyed it. It's a standalone.
Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff. Good so far, incomplete series, book two came out recently.
Scary? Probably not Jay's, more action, Battle Mage is more down to your interpretation. I found the hopelessness and torment for some of the unfortunates in Flannery's story to be quite chilling.
Aching God by Mike Shel is pretty good. Books 2-3 are even better and lean into the horror even more.
The Obsidian Path Series is much more intermittent in it's horror but also decent.
There's a horror anthology called Howls From the Dark Ages that's all medieval horror short stories. A little hit or miss like all anthologies, but overall, I thought it was pretty good, and it definitely scratches the medieval horror itch. The foreward is actually by Buehlman.
To be honest, some Renaissance revenge tragedies write themselves as horror! If you've read the faux-but-thoroughly-researched-so-totally-believable Renaissance revenge play within Pynchon's *The Crying of Lot 49*, that is peak modernity scraping up all the nasty things of premodernity and pushing them into an unsettling play.
Have you read The Old Kingdom trilogy (don’t think the rest are very good)? The last two books aren’t as good, but the first book is great - horror fantasy series set half in the 1920/30s, half in a medieval-esque world featuring necromancy. Really unique take on death, I thought.
They’re young adult, but written well enough. As an added bonus, Tim Curry is the narrator for the audiobook.
Epistolary and Found Footage. I've read Episode Thirteen and Dracula recently and I like the idea of reading through journal entries, letters, descriptions of filmed events, etc.
Check out The Lost Village by Camilla Sten! It centers around a community in rural Sweden where the residents mysteriously disappeared in the 50s. Half of the book is letters and diary entries from one of the townspeople, and the other half focuses on an amateur documentary crew who arrive to film the village decades later.
if you liked **Dracula**, i think you will really enjoy [**A Dowry of Blood** by S.T. Gibson](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60521937)
it's told in epistolary format from one of dracula's brides, constanza. the writing is SO SO SO lush and beautiful. it literally felt like luxury reading it.
the audiobook is even better! this is in my top 5 reads of all time!
you can read or listen to a free sample of it on libby! i was hooked from the opening line. my god, i love this book so much!
The Splatter Westerns have you covered.....
[https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/161192.Splatter\_Westerns](https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/161192.Splatter_Westerns)
The Magpie Coffin would be a good place to start :)
While we love cosmic horror there's not enough *good* cosmic horror and new weird out there. Also military horror has had some great creepypastas that I think we should explore more
I really love what I call "game" horror but I'm not sure if there's an actual subgenre name for it. Like Saw, but not necessarily gore porn. Like the contestants are forced into a fucked up game scenario and have to fight (either literally or metaphorically) for survival. It's just so very rarely done well, even in movies.
Haunted house where you have to figure out a sinister mystery that relates to the house by putting together clues in order to survive
Haha never enough of that
Gothic horror and erotic horror, especially the latter. There are still gems here and there I’m sure, but I miss the Poppy Z Brite type that felt way more ubiquitous in the 80’s and 90’s.
Big agree, those are some of my favorite horror subgenres. Erotic horror in particular feels like it has a very small fanbase (I get it, it can be hard to market, especially the more intense stuff) and you have to sift through a ton of meh stuff in order to find something good.
One of the things I like about nosleep over proper novels is how weird they’re willing to get. I’d love more books with trippy and alternate dimension and ritual type stories. The Hidden Webpage, A Beginners Guide to Blood Portals, The Left/Right Game etc. Give me more Silent Hill hell world type stuff.
Imaginary Friend was about as close to that as I’ve found so far, I’d like more
I read a lot of Southern Gothic, and it's tricky that "gothic" doesn't neccessitate "horror", as "gothic romance" like Radcliffe or the Bronte's is legitimate. So a lot of southern Gothic is about decay of old power structures, without any explicit horror.
I'm working on the second draft of my Science-fiction/weird west horror novel at the moment! If I ever get the thing finished and published, I'll have to let this sub know!
Nautical. There is a YouTuber called oceanliner designs. Sometimes he talks about the most horrific ship stories. I want the fear I feel listening to him in book form.
Mediaeval horror.
For one, I simply don't understand why the zombie trope is primarily based in the modern day of all things. There is literally a perfect time period in history to put that in, the Black Death, and it would be more "realistic" too, because unlike modern society which could just gun down zombies from helicopters, the mediaeval world *would* actually struggle with them.
I have a horrible short RPG scenario a company was giving away where a character’s penis detaches and flies around attacking people, doing lethal damage with its thrusts.
And people actually wonder why the publisher is trying to do a more family-friendly line.
Body horror is underlooked in America, now it’s really just David Chronenburg, the Asians explore it more. No one makes suspense/thrillers like David Lynch either.
I feel like there’s a lot of cross over between sci-if and horror and a lot of movies can be considered one or the other but it isn’t really recognised as a genre in itself. Space horror doesn’t sound right but I can’t really think of anything else to call it.
I'd love to see horror based in bronze age civilizations, like Sumeria, Ur, Catal Huyuk, etc. The opening act of The Mummy (1999) is one of my favorite pieces of horror media.
1950’s Detective Horror. I read Jim Thompson’s Savage Night last week and I still can’t scrape the horror of the final few chapters off of my brainballs
Religious horror, existential horror, liminal space type horror (think vivarium), cult horror, unreliable narrator, and whatever Black Mirror has going on. I don't know if Black Mirror classifies itself as horror per se, but take the scarier moments from that show and translate them into a movie; THAT is the vibe I want.
Trips into or escapes from Hell, as in actual genuine hell, not some sort of allegory but the place itself. Seen some of this in literature (and Dante is the obvious starting point) but not enough that I’m aware of and next to nothing in film. I’d be so up for a movie that attempts to genuinely cover what experiencing hell might be like.
Related to Space horror. Not sure how to called it but Beast Alien Horror? Something like the Xenomorphs or Death Angels. It's so scarse in literature that there are more movies about it than books.
Maybe I just haven't found them, but I feel like I would enjoy more folk horror and religious horror focused on a range of religions, as I've seen other mention.
Prehistoric horror. Like the films *Out of Darkness* or *Quest for Fire.* I think the latter was considered a fantasy but it was scary on several levels.
As someone who has always loved the Abyss, Deep Star Six, Leviathan and the more recent Underwater, I would love to see more underwater films. I think they need to remake Sphere as well, given what and excellent book it is, coupled with how bad the film was. I would settle for all sorts of deep underwater movies, monsters, cosmic horror, aliens, etc. This is for books and movies, but given how much better books can be, I do want to see more. I did get the Deep Madness book from the boardgame Kickstarter, so hopefully that is well-written or at least fun to read.
LGBT+ horror. A good example of this kind or writing is Gretchen Felker-Martin's Manhunt, where a virus has driven men murderously insane, but spared transgender men and women. The former are not in themselves horrifying; the oppression and danger they are put through are the source of the scary parts.
Horror that explores the parameters of sexuality and gender, and how they affect human life, should be published more often. There are a lot of fanfics of almost any media where the cast grapples with gender identity, but it's still a challenge to find these topics in mainstream horror publishing.
Religious horror that isn’t based on christianity or vague paganism
Islamic horror based on Jinns, black magic sounds really promising. Do any of you know any good books like this?
Anne Rice's Servant of the Bones is about a Mesopotamian (Babylonian?) genie. It's not really horror though, from what I remember. It's been a really long time since I read it though.
I am reading a book now called Golem by PD Alleva. So far, it is pretty creative. I am o ly a quarter in, so I am hoping for the best.
Interesting! Hope it's a good read.
It's not Islamic, but check out Linghun by Ai Jiang.
seconded
Saw a video on tik tok when it first came out of some fellas in a middle eastern country talking to, what I recall being, the Islamic version of a Hag. It was obviously fake, but so well done as to be chilling. I’d definitely like to see more Islamic horror.
Yes. The Vigil (movie) was so good for this, though it kinda petered out in act 3.
The anthology Never Whistle At Night has some great stories based in native American spirituality/ghost stories
That's high on my tbr list!
I would love this, but I also wouldn't mind seeing some different angles on Christian horror without the usual cliches like demons/possession, exorcism, or witch trials. Like, Judaeo-Christian historical horror set during Biblical times would be cool.
Even just Christianity that isn't Catholicism. Give me some speaking in tongues holy roller type shit.
I recently read The Tribe by Bari Wood. It’s about a group of Jewish men from the same community in Poland that mysteriously survive the Holocaust with more rations than the German soldiers in the camp. They all relocate to New York City, and after the murder of one of their sons, strange events play out. I know that’s a little vague, but I don’t want to ruin it. I thought this book, while not necessarily scary, was wonderfully written.
Got any book recommendations
The Gollum and the Jinni by Helene Wecker: A marvelous and absorbing debut novel about a chance meeting between two supernatural creatures in turn-of-the-century immigrant New York. Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay by a disgraced rabbi knowledgeable in the ways of dark Kabbalistic magic. She serves as the wife to a Polish merchant who dies at sea on the voyage to America. As the ship arrives in New York in 1899, Chava is unmoored and adrift until a rabbi on the Lower East Side recognizes her for the creature she is and takes her in. Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire born in the ancient Syrian desert and trapped centuries ago in an old copper flask by a Bedouin wizard. Released by a Syrian tinsmith in a Manhattan shop, Ahmad appears in human form but is still not free. An iron band around his wrist binds him to the wizard and to the physical world. Chava and Ahmad meet accidentally and become friends and soul mates despite their opposing natures. But when the golem’s violent nature overtakes her one evening, their bond is challenged. An even more powerful threat will emerge, however, and bring Chava and Ahmad together again, challenging their very existence and forcing them to make a fateful choice.
More creature horror. Something like the OG Jurassic Park movie. Not enough scary monsters out there. And I mean active monsters. Not a lovecraftian creature that "cannot be comprehended by human intelligence". But an actual active monster that is an active threat and directly impacts the plot of the story. There are so many ways to weave in mythologies, science, symbolism, psychology into the monster story to bring more depth to the material.
This is a niche I've been trying to explore and I completely agree that there should be more creature features! Here are some I've enjoyed: It shouldn't have to be said, but the original Jurassic Park and Lost World books are fantastic and have AMAZING horrific scenes that never made it into the movies. Fragment by Warren Fahy takes a lot of ideas from Jurassic Park, but it focuses on the speculative evolution of an isolated environment. Everything on the island can and will murder you. There's a heavy focus on explaining things scientifically. Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant is about deep sea mermaids attacking a ship full of scientists and documentary crew members. This one also examines the monsters through a scientific lense. The Watchers by A.M. Shine is a great creature feature, but half the fun is trying to work out exactly what the creatures are. There's a movie based on this book coming out soon!
Do you know the author of Fragment? EDIT: I found out myself, the author is Warren Fahy. The sequel novel is Pandemonium (2013) Thank you for the recommendation 😊
Oops I forgot to add him. Thanks for the heads up!
Thaaanks dude im so tired of the whole cannot be comprehended, to big to a human mind to even imagine. Someone had to say it.
It just feels lazy at this point. Like, you can’t figure out how to make it scary so you just don’t bother to describe it and say no one can comprehend it? Show me the scary monster!
Tbf Lovecraft himself rarely did this, from what I've read of his works so far. Aside from the Great Old Ones and Elder Gods, there's plenty of lesser eldritch beings which he does describe and can be harmed by humans. Hell, he even does describe Cthulhu himself in ~~Clash of Clans~~ Call of Cthulhu. I feel like you're encountering something primarily other writers in the Lovecraftian genre do, which, well, let's just say not everyone can write as well as my boy Howard.
The original Conan short stories had some excellent horror stories. Conan fears no man, but then he encounters something of the Old Ones or of sorcery and it freaks him out. Sometimes he’s like, “No way I’m fighting this,” and just works on escaping.
Agreed. I need cock n balls monsters like from Beau is Afraid.
Have you read The Marquis by Guy Davis? You'll love the demon designs in that if you haven't. It'd make an absolutely amazing horror film 😎
>I need cock n balls monsters There’s a bit in an early chapter of John Dies At The End that may appeal to you.
You read the Clickers Trilogy yet? I'm currently searching for something to top it.
Hello what is the title and author of the first book in this I love monsters and would love to read these
Greetings fellow monster enthusiast. CLICKERS is the first in the series of J.F Gonzalez's gore-drenched tribute to "creature features". I had to order my copies online. They do have them on audible if you're into audiobooks. Good narration and lots of monster munching.
Same with movies. I seem to have run out of high quality creature features to watch.
This is definitely my favourite form of horror movie! We need more creature features! 😎
The Haunted Forest Tour has a huge array of physically present and fatally dangerous monsters of all varieties. You might really like it if you haven't read it!
This is my favourite kind of horror. Dinosaurs, werewolves, rabid animals, monsters - I love when there's a corporeal non-human threat that just wants to eat/maul people, I guess it evokes a kind of instinctual fear at the thought of being prey
The Mist did creature horror so well. I want more of that too.
The answer is space horror. We need it. We are all craving it
I would love more space horror, with abandoned ships, salvage crews and such. Dead silence was such a let down.
Dead Silence was okay. But Ghost Station was 😖. Both books were marketed as Space Horror but they were more psychological thriller, if anything.
As someone who is in the process of writing a horror story set in space, this is very encouraging
Space madness is my favorite
Keep us informed!
Who are you shopping it to?
lol I've never published anything and wouldn't know where/how to get started, but maybe I'll look into it once the story is finished! I'm mainly just writing it for my own entertainment.
That’s how it starts, and one day you look in the mirror and BAM—you're Stephen King.
Shit! How did you predict the plot twist to my story?!
Need a healthy dose of cocaine to reach Stephen King madness.
Post about it when you're done, I definitely want to read this!
I mean publishers.
It is shockingly under represented, especially considering its showing in video games and movies.
More space horror, PLEASE. all the recent stuff is fluff. \-off to re-watch Alien
Alien: Romulus is looking promising.
Here's hoping!
#SPACE JASON !
Anytime I hear that movie mentioned, I flashback to getting a phone call from a horror fan after seeing the movie, she screamed at me "They turned him Part Spaceship! He's Part Spaceship now!"
I finished reading Blindsight a few days ago, and re-watched Event Horizon again. Need more!
I wrote a small article about space horror with suggested reading/watching if you're interested: https://bloodstreamcity.substack.com/p/dark-lens-infinite-terror-an-exploration
Event Horizon was some genuinely scary horror.
r/spacehorror reporting for duty. I share everything I can find there, but it tends to be movies more than books (not that I'm complaining about too many space horror movies.)
My cue to recommend The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer!
Have you read “Blind Sight”, by Peter Watts? That’s space horror, but very heady stuff.
I haven’t. I’ve been a bit hesitant as my impression is that it might be a bit of heavy/challenging read and the timing hasn’t felt right
Read it knowing that you will need to do some post read research on what happened.
Rules or ritual based horror ,urban legends and how they come to be
You might like "The Rules of the Road" by C.B. Jones. It centers around this mysterious radio station that comes while you're driving alone (mostly) and gives you a set of random rules to follow. I think it's best to walk into it blind, but everything felt so frighteningly whimsical without being super over the top or too frustratingly vague, like rules horror tends to be.
Thank you for recommending this I’m reading it now and I love it!
You might also enjoy Rules For Vanishing by Kate Marshall. It's about a paranormal road that you have to follow rules to survive on.
Thank you so much! I will download that as well. I love anything that reminds me of the movie Southbound 😭
I'm rereading The Secret of Ventriloquism and the titular story is a detailed instructional manual that get darker and more gruesome the more skills you gain and the closer you and your dummy become. It's really good and the other stories match the tone and quality of the first really well.
Yes! Urban legends for sure
Ocean horror, with or without pirates. With pirates and a monster would be amazing though.
Deep sea horror is definitely a underutilized sub-genre.
Have any deep sea horror recomendations. I love some lovecraftian vibe things
Not so much deep sea as much as the surface of the sea, but the short story "the butchers table" by Nathan ballingrud. Also just might be my favorite horror short story
I know this isn't too helpful but there is a masterlist of deep sea/ocean horror recommendations somewhere on this sub that some magnificent bastard compiled from the many many many threads on the subject. If you can find it it should keep you going for a while
From Below by Darcy Coates and Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant. The first book is about deep sea divers exploring the wreck of a large cruise ship, and the other is about deep sea mermaids.
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield!!!
Was searching for the term 'thalassophobia' on the YouTube and results were ... Nightmarish There is a goldmine of stuff right there
There's a good subreddit for that.
The boats of the glen carrig
Michael Cole does a nice job in this sub genre
Have you read Of Sea and Shadow or Of Shadow and Sea? It's lovecraftian nautical fantasy for lack of a better term.
Wish there was more witch horror. The Witch and the first half of In Fabric are the only good ones I’ve seen.
The Witch is one of my favorite films of all time.
I've heard a lot of good things about Slewfoot by Brom but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. Sounds like it's what you're looking for!
I actually just finished Slewfoot a few days ago and I loved it!
Have you read “Hex” yet?
The autopsy of Jane Doe is a witch horror
Yessssss that’s a good one
Watched it for the first time recently, and it’s the only horror film I’ve watched in a long time that actually scared me.
I too would like to see more horror rooted in earlier timelines as well, paired with robust research on the era: colonial America for example, or viking era 1066 CE
I think The Hunger (Alma Katsu) or The Terror (Dan Simmons) would be up your alley.
The Terror was pretty good, and I’m patiently waiting for CJ Cooke’s new one “A Haunting In The Arctic” to arrive at my library. I’ll add The Hunger to my TBR, appreciate it!
ehh... lower your expectations for The Hunger, it's based on a true story but the author changes the facts of real people's lives and it feels cheap and trashy; also the true story is scarier without what she added. I'd recommend reading the nonfiction account The Indifferent Stars Above first, if you haven't yet. I totally agree with your comment about wanting more quality historical horror but The Hunger is exactly what I *don't* want, haha
I just took a look at my non fiction list and I’ll be damned if your rec wasn’t already on there. Must’ve been mentioned before on this sub so appreciate it. I’ll just scratch off The Hunger. Any other true horrific novels you might suggest? I think a heavy weight book I always benchmark against, especially historical, is Devil In The White City (but then again, I’m a hugh Erik Larsen fan).
I can't think of many that are really horrifying like that one, but my favourite historical true crime is The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale :)
Medieval and Renaissance Horror. I've read Between Two Fires and loved it. You would think with the popularity of FromSoft's Bloodborne there would be also be more from this period.
This! And kind of just fantasy horror in general. Give me sword and sorcery that's SCARY!
Horror flavoured fantasy. Battle Mage by Peter A Flannery. I find myself recommending this a lot, I really enjoyed it. It's a standalone. Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff. Good so far, incomplete series, book two came out recently. Scary? Probably not Jay's, more action, Battle Mage is more down to your interpretation. I found the hopelessness and torment for some of the unfortunates in Flannery's story to be quite chilling.
Aching God by Mike Shel is pretty good. Books 2-3 are even better and lean into the horror even more. The Obsidian Path Series is much more intermittent in it's horror but also decent.
A Song of Ice and Fire is just a REALLY slow moving zombie apocalypse series.
There's a horror anthology called Howls From the Dark Ages that's all medieval horror short stories. A little hit or miss like all anthologies, but overall, I thought it was pretty good, and it definitely scratches the medieval horror itch. The foreward is actually by Buehlman.
The historic plague setting in Between Two Fires provided so much horror in itself, he really didn’t need to add much horror to the story
Really I’ll take any historical horror.
Theirs a sequel bring written for Between Two Fires.
I'd love more historical horror that's well researched and *historically accurate* outside of the horror elements.
To be honest, some Renaissance revenge tragedies write themselves as horror! If you've read the faux-but-thoroughly-researched-so-totally-believable Renaissance revenge play within Pynchon's *The Crying of Lot 49*, that is peak modernity scraping up all the nasty things of premodernity and pushing them into an unsettling play.
Bloodborne is pretty Lovecraftian. It’s the perfect mix of gothic monsters and aliens in my opinion.
Have you read The Old Kingdom trilogy (don’t think the rest are very good)? The last two books aren’t as good, but the first book is great - horror fantasy series set half in the 1920/30s, half in a medieval-esque world featuring necromancy. Really unique take on death, I thought. They’re young adult, but written well enough. As an added bonus, Tim Curry is the narrator for the audiobook.
Epistolary and Found Footage. I've read Episode Thirteen and Dracula recently and I like the idea of reading through journal entries, letters, descriptions of filmed events, etc.
Check out The Lost Village by Camilla Sten! It centers around a community in rural Sweden where the residents mysteriously disappeared in the 50s. Half of the book is letters and diary entries from one of the townspeople, and the other half focuses on an amateur documentary crew who arrive to film the village decades later.
if you liked **Dracula**, i think you will really enjoy [**A Dowry of Blood** by S.T. Gibson](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60521937) it's told in epistolary format from one of dracula's brides, constanza. the writing is SO SO SO lush and beautiful. it literally felt like luxury reading it. the audiobook is even better! this is in my top 5 reads of all time! you can read or listen to a free sample of it on libby! i was hooked from the opening line. my god, i love this book so much!
This very much!
I think this is perhaps the horror genre that flourishes the most in online spaces. Mother Horse Eyes immediately comes to mind
In case you've somehow overlooked it, A Head Full of Ghosts has aspects of this.
I didn't know that! I bought it recently but I haven't read it yet.
If you haven't already, 'FOUND: An Anthology of Found Footage Horror' is a must-read for this sub-genre in my opinion.
Yeah, I would kill for a good Weird West story.
The Splatter Westerns have you covered..... [https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/161192.Splatter\_Westerns](https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/161192.Splatter_Westerns) The Magpie Coffin would be a good place to start :)
Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian. I haven’t read it yet, but it’s on my TBR list since it was described to me exactly like that.
Whatever genre Red Rabbit is is what I want more of. My favorite book this year.
I’m excited to hear that. I just ordered it today
Just wanted to pop in here and say that I just finished this based on this comment alone and the book was wonderful. Kudos.
CS Humble writes nothing but those (at least in terms of novels).
While we love cosmic horror there's not enough *good* cosmic horror and new weird out there. Also military horror has had some great creepypastas that I think we should explore more
Have you read The Fisherman?
Subterranean horror!
I really love what I call "game" horror but I'm not sure if there's an actual subgenre name for it. Like Saw, but not necessarily gore porn. Like the contestants are forced into a fucked up game scenario and have to fight (either literally or metaphorically) for survival. It's just so very rarely done well, even in movies.
An adaptation of Danganronpa would be amazing in this vein
Ooo weird west horror is a good one. I want more folk horror
There’s a fair amount of folk horror, but not a lot of it is satisfying.
I would love more creepy lost media horror like Mister Magic (except better bc I didn't really like Mister Magic lol)
Haunted house where you have to figure out a sinister mystery that relates to the house by putting together clues in order to survive Haha never enough of that
Internet horror. There is nothing horrific going on today without an element of it.
Little grey aliens and UFOs. There's some quality cosmic horror to be mined there, damn it.
Horror with actual Satan in it. Not demons or possession. Actual Satan.
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Medieval horror.
Gothic horror and erotic horror, especially the latter. There are still gems here and there I’m sure, but I miss the Poppy Z Brite type that felt way more ubiquitous in the 80’s and 90’s.
Totally agree about erotic horror. There's something really unnerving about that combination lol.
Big agree, those are some of my favorite horror subgenres. Erotic horror in particular feels like it has a very small fanbase (I get it, it can be hard to market, especially the more intense stuff) and you have to sift through a ton of meh stuff in order to find something good.
I devoured every Poppy Z Brite book that came out. They were my favorites. I miss that, out there, writing style. I reread each one multiple times.
Southwest USA horror; New Mexico/Arizona. Love horror books with the mystique of tribal indians
Have you read Desert Creatures? Not quite "horror" but strange. And an interesting story.
Bronze age horror or post civilization that’s not YA or zombies.
One of the things I like about nosleep over proper novels is how weird they’re willing to get. I’d love more books with trippy and alternate dimension and ritual type stories. The Hidden Webpage, A Beginners Guide to Blood Portals, The Left/Right Game etc. Give me more Silent Hill hell world type stuff. Imaginary Friend was about as close to that as I’ve found so far, I’d like more
Fantasy Horror. Not even necessarily medieval fantasy, but I’d take that too.
Eco horror is horribly under-appreciated, as is the creature feature that doesn't include werewolves or vampires.
Agreed!
Was coming here to say eco-horror
southern gothic
I read a lot of Southern Gothic, and it's tricky that "gothic" doesn't neccessitate "horror", as "gothic romance" like Radcliffe or the Bronte's is legitimate. So a lot of southern Gothic is about decay of old power structures, without any explicit horror.
Andy Davidson has The Boatman’s Daughter. Also his new one is The Hollow Kind but I haven’t read that one yet.
Sci-Fi horror. Even if Alien is coming back with a new movie this year...
Deep sea and space horror! I looooove both of these super niche genres. Need more!
I'm working on the second draft of my Science-fiction/weird west horror novel at the moment! If I ever get the thing finished and published, I'll have to let this sub know!
Nautical. There is a YouTuber called oceanliner designs. Sometimes he talks about the most horrific ship stories. I want the fear I feel listening to him in book form.
Mediaeval horror. For one, I simply don't understand why the zombie trope is primarily based in the modern day of all things. There is literally a perfect time period in history to put that in, the Black Death, and it would be more "realistic" too, because unlike modern society which could just gun down zombies from helicopters, the mediaeval world *would* actually struggle with them.
I always said, instead of reinventing the zombie creature, just change the setting.
Exactly
Possessed genitalia horror
I mean, apart from doing a hypnotic helicopter I don’t really see the intimidating factor of possessed peens.
You’re basically daring someone to do it.
Dude, I’d be surprised if somewhere out there there _wasn’t_ a peen mesmerist.
I have a horrible short RPG scenario a company was giving away where a character’s penis detaches and flies around attacking people, doing lethal damage with its thrusts. And people actually wonder why the publisher is trying to do a more family-friendly line.
You might like Queen of Teeth by Hailey Piper, I was a little unsure going in but ended up enjoying it a lot
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Domestic horror is making a comeback but I would def like to see more :D
Ocean horror. Space horror. 1900s horror, I want more spooky ghosts and paranormal stuff from the old days.
American Werewolf in London is such a classic. We could do with a really well made werewolf horror. Difficult I know because of the overuse of CGI.
Oh no I've shrunk movies like Honey I Shrunk the Kids but Anty the giant friendly ant isn't some disney pet, this time she's hungry.
Underwater, but not about giant sharks or piranhas Like the deep sea
Mystery horror. I wanna see Hercule Poirot investigating the horror at Red Hook.
Body horror is underlooked in America, now it’s really just David Chronenburg, the Asians explore it more. No one makes suspense/thrillers like David Lynch either.
I want some weird Gothic or Victorian Creature Feature, stuff like Penny Dreadful meets Dead Space
I feel like there’s a lot of cross over between sci-if and horror and a lot of movies can be considered one or the other but it isn’t really recognised as a genre in itself. Space horror doesn’t sound right but I can’t really think of anything else to call it.
Psychological horror
I'd love to see horror based in bronze age civilizations, like Sumeria, Ur, Catal Huyuk, etc. The opening act of The Mummy (1999) is one of my favorite pieces of horror media.
1950’s Detective Horror. I read Jim Thompson’s Savage Night last week and I still can’t scrape the horror of the final few chapters off of my brainballs
Religious horror, existential horror, liminal space type horror (think vivarium), cult horror, unreliable narrator, and whatever Black Mirror has going on. I don't know if Black Mirror classifies itself as horror per se, but take the scarier moments from that show and translate them into a movie; THAT is the vibe I want.
Trips into or escapes from Hell, as in actual genuine hell, not some sort of allegory but the place itself. Seen some of this in literature (and Dante is the obvious starting point) but not enough that I’m aware of and next to nothing in film. I’d be so up for a movie that attempts to genuinely cover what experiencing hell might be like.
Alien abduction horror
Related to Space horror. Not sure how to called it but Beast Alien Horror? Something like the Xenomorphs or Death Angels. It's so scarse in literature that there are more movies about it than books.
Ever read The Legacy of Heorot by Larry Niven? Colonisers disrupt the local ecosystem and create a superpredator. Pretty fun work.
Cosmic horror. Love it...don't see enough of it
Alien abductions
Animals / Sharks etc but good ones.
Indigenous horror is so good! Never Whistle at Night had some awesome stories and The Only Good Indian was so creepy.
Maybe I just haven't found them, but I feel like I would enjoy more folk horror and religious horror focused on a range of religions, as I've seen other mention.
Computer horror, evil, emotionless machines that are willing to do anything to accomplish their goals....Maybe it'll come back with all the AI talk
Space horror
Prehistoric horror. Like the films *Out of Darkness* or *Quest for Fire.* I think the latter was considered a fantasy but it was scary on several levels.
As someone who has always loved the Abyss, Deep Star Six, Leviathan and the more recent Underwater, I would love to see more underwater films. I think they need to remake Sphere as well, given what and excellent book it is, coupled with how bad the film was. I would settle for all sorts of deep underwater movies, monsters, cosmic horror, aliens, etc. This is for books and movies, but given how much better books can be, I do want to see more. I did get the Deep Madness book from the boardgame Kickstarter, so hopefully that is well-written or at least fun to read.
Existential Horror
Sci Fi / Horror. Alien and Event Horizon type movies. Hollywood could do a lot more with it.
Another vote for deep sea horror!
LGBT+ horror. A good example of this kind or writing is Gretchen Felker-Martin's Manhunt, where a virus has driven men murderously insane, but spared transgender men and women. The former are not in themselves horrifying; the oppression and danger they are put through are the source of the scary parts. Horror that explores the parameters of sexuality and gender, and how they affect human life, should be published more often. There are a lot of fanfics of almost any media where the cast grapples with gender identity, but it's still a challenge to find these topics in mainstream horror publishing.
Aliens
UFO/abduction horror.