“He saw his own death flickering on the edges of the light
but mother maid and crone
gently lead him to a hut he hadn’t seen.
Inside the same sour smell of something on the brazier
warm water for his bath, oil for his skin
they washed and braided his long hair.
This is how you prepare a corpse for burial.”
—A Presentment of Englishry by Liam Guilar
(The above quote is taken from the wonderful epic poem by Liam Guilar, which I highly recommend. A sweeping overview of ancient English mythology told like a slightly modernized epic, medieval poem. Chapter four, in which the captain encounters The Red Queen, is my favorite.)
All book recommendations are above the cut. If you’re a paid member, you’ll be able to see the bonus film and television recommendations below the paywall. I hope you can find something you’ll enjoy!
I. Books (etc.)
The Fisherman by John Langan
A personal favorite of mine. Partly a traditional horror novel and partly an epistolary novel in the tradition of Lovecraft, Blackwood, et al. Absolutely wonderful. It’s better if you go into it knowing nothing.Adam Nevill
While he used to be an excellent horror writer, Adam Nevill’s most recent work is not up to his original standards (in my opinion). However, many of his older novels are exceptional. Part of the reason he’s so good is his ability to dig into the psychology of horror’s effects on the mind. We experience every second of the narrative from a uniquely introspective view. And the clarity with which he writes these inner elements is part of the reason I used to read him so religiously (especially in October). The following are my two favorites of his:
Under a Watchful Eye
This one is a surreal, psychological story with careful hints of the supernatural. The best psychological story Nevill ever wrote, in my opinion. As the main character’s peace is chipped away one splinter at a time, we experience each agonizing scratch. This one is also a little hard to describe without giving too much away. It follows a man living in a coastal house whose life is upended when a figure from his past returns...Last Days
My actual favorite. I love the idea of dangerous investigations and lost cults, there’s something very Weird (capital W) there and it always draws me in. But, again, Nevill’s grip on the psychology of his main character is incredibly engrossing.
Robert Aickman
A hidden gem almost left to gather dust in the out-of-print tragedy pile. Aickman is widely considered a master of the atmospheric short story and his handsome, recently reprinted collections are worth picking up. These are the four I own and my favorite stories from each:
Dark Entries offers “Ringing the Changes” and “The View”
The Wine-Dark Sea offers “Your Tiny Hand is Frozen” and “The Inner Room”
Cold Hand in Mine, one of Aickman’s most famous collections, offers to the stout of heart “Pages from a Young Girl’s Journal” and also “The Clock Watcher”
I have only started to read The Unsettled Dust. Though the titles are very alluring.
Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton
Another all-time favorite. Written by the author of Jurassic Park, this slim novel is constructed as if it was nothing more than a translation of a very old manuscript. “Written by” a young ambassador from an Arab court who finds himself accompanying a Beowulf-esque figure and his band of warriors as they take on an unspeakable evil that is terrorizing the north. This book combines my love for history and atmospheric horror (and fantasy) into one wonderful novel.
As an aside, the 2000 film The 13th Warrior that is based on this book is also absolutely wonderful.
Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
My favorite of the Hannibal Lector books (that I’ve read). I vastly preferred Will Graham to Clarice Starling. This was a moody, interesting, readable book.
Night Film by Marisha Pessl
One of the only modern novels I’ve read that I really enjoyed. A strange, ominous, odd, dangerous story that follows a washed-up reporter looking into a young woman’s recent suicide. The young woman in question happened to be the only daughter of a reclusive, legendary filmmaker (think: David Lynch meets Francis Ford Coppola). What follows is a strange, dreamlike foray into an alien world of poisoned otherness that lurks just beneath the glossy veneer of beautiful Hollywood.
14 by Peter Clines
I got this book based on a friend’s recommendation that it “reminded him of The Lost Room”, which was high praise indeed. Turns out, he wasn’t really wrong.
Like most Weird horror, 14 is better if you know very little. The simple synopsis is that it follows a guy stuck in a dead-end job, with scant funds, as he moves into an odd apartment building as the new handyman.
The occupants are a motley bunch, but likable. It’s the building itself that defies logic. That, and the mysteriously boarded and locked apartment 14. This isn’t a mere haunted apartment building, this is something else entirely…
There are three things that set this book apart from other simple popcorn books:
First, the characters. This is a group of truly likable people who are all different and all have their own issues and weaknesses. But when the, uh, defecation hits the oscillation, some of these people really did shine.
Second, the story. Clines really did have fun with this one. It was such an out-there concept with every turn bringing something else unexpected. Every chapter was a joy.
Third, the writing. Clines is not Hemingway, nor does he try to be. This was the first novel I read where I experienced this wonderful sensation: the words disappeared. At some point I realized that I was no longer reading the book in my head, but the scenes were playing out like a little movie. His prose disappears so completely that the mind can effortlessly see the pictures he’s painting with it. It’s perfect for a book like this.
p.s. The Fold is this book’s sequel, somewhat. To avoid spoilers, I suggest you don’t read the synopsis of that book before you read 14. That one is pretty good, too. But 14 is my favorite.
Darkness on the Edge of Town by Brian Keene
Like 14 this unassuming book is greater than the sum of its parts. An epistolary novel that relates, from the perspective of a Regular Guy, all that comes to pass after the small town of Walden, Virginia is completely cut off from the entire rest of the whole world by a thick, inky, total blackness. Aside from the panic and confusion, the story does a remarkable job charting very interesting and believable character arcs in the midst of these horrible times which are at once realistic and not at all bleak. Some people are reduced to their worst selves, some remain constant, and some find it in them to become better. This one is unavailable on Bookshop.com, for some reason. The link above takes you to the author’s site where you can choose how to buy the book.
(The prose of this novel isn’t really anything to write home about, but the storytelling is outstanding. Personally, I love both epistolary novels and stories that follow dangerous, possibly supernatural exploration. So this book was very fun for me, while also being a pleasant surprise.)
Penpal by Dathan Auerbach
This incredible, unsettling story began as a creepypasta by 1000vultures and quickly grew into one of the most legendary stories in the history of nosleep. That was how I originally read it.
The story follows a young man who has begun to remember a series of strange events from his childhood that involved, among other things, a mysterious and increasingly predatory penpal. This story has to be experienced as blindly as it was originally posted; it’s better to know as little as possible before you read.Search and Rescue Woods
Not a book, per se, this multi-part nosleep post is my all-time favorite creepypasta. Incredibly well-told stories, incredibly well-written. One of those creepypastas that might just be partly true. It presents itself as a collection of stories related by an anonymous person who works search and rescue for the US Forest Service. These stories generally revolve around strange things that happened when search parties went looking for missing hikers and campers. Outstanding late-night reading.
Honorable Mentions:
I love a lot of Lovecraft, but a favorite of mine is At the Mountains of Madness
The Borges stories The Immortal and Ibn-Hakam al-Bokhari, Murdered in His Labyrinth, both from The Aleph are two I could recommend for this time of year. But as far as I’m concerned, there are no bad Borges stories.
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
The Willows by Algernon Blackwood
A masterpiece of atmosphere and elegant description, this longer short story tells a simple tale with such stunning beauty that it will always be my favorite Blackwood. Bonus: the finest description of the Danube ever put to paper (probably)
Note: All book recommendations, as I said, are featured above. Below the paywall are movie and series recommendations only.
II. Films and Television
The Ritual, 2017
Based on a novel by Adam Nevill, this is one the last great Netflix horror films. Exceedingly, almost oppressively, atmospheric, it follows a group of regular guys who are going on a walking holiday through the northern woods in remembrance of their friend who died some months earlier. While out in the frigid, unwelcoming woods, they come to realize that they are being hunted by something ancient and nameless. And it will test them in every possible way.
The 13th Warrior, 1999
One of my all time favorite movies. It is a loose, imaginative retelling of Beowulf in which a (semi) banished poet from an Arab court finds himself compelled by prophecy to join a group of Norsemen who have been asked to help a northern king rid his lands of some great, unnameable foe. Along the way our soft, snobby Arab finds himself irrevocably changed by his circumstances and the influence of the rough, noble warriors he is lucky enough to call friends.
Outlander, 2008
I will fight to the death anyone who doesn’t like this movie. Yet another Beowulf reimagining, and just as original as the above. However this one absolutely kills the execution.
Jim Caviezel (a favorite actor of mine since I saw Frequency when I was younger) plays a man from a distant human civilization from another planet whose entire outpost was devastated by a fierce and terrible monster. Crash landing on earth in our ancient times, he accidentally brings the monster with him. And now it’s laying waste to the Norse villages. Compelled by a strong sense of duty and guilt, he sets out to hunt and kill the monster, but first he’ll need to earn the trust of the northmen, who are already at war with each other.
Sure, aspects of this story aren’t historically accurate. But it’s an incredible story and very well told.
The Lost Room, 2006
One of my favorite American television productions of all time. This simple miniseries told such a wonderfully unique story so well that it immediately became a cult classic.
When a homicide detective finds himself in possession of a mysterious motel key that “opens every door”, he also finds himself hunted by those who would do anything to get the key for themselves. What begins as a curiosity becomes a desperate obsession when his daughter (tiny Elle Fanning) becomes lost in the “the room”, the strange non-existent motel room accessed only by the key. He soon learns that the motel key is just one of many seemingly ordinary “objects” each of which has strange power. Cults worship them, others devote their lives to destroying them. But one thing is for certain: one of these objects has the power to bring his daughter back.
Aside from being an incredibly good story, The Lost Room is a clinic in worldbuilding. Some of the most inventive and deftly handled worldbuilding I’ve ever seen.
The Endless, 2017
Moorhead and Benson’s masterpiece, and the film that put them on the map. Everything they’ve made since pales in comparison. The Endless is an enormously original film executed with genius-level perfection.
The story follows two brothers who are invited to return to the cult that raised them before the rest of the cult members “leave”. While there, they begin to unravel the mind-bending secrets of the mountain, as well as their own strained relationship.
Perfect storytelling in addition to outstanding characters and beautiful character development. This one is a high I’ll chase forever.
The Mothman Prophecies, 2002
Very, very early-aughts in feel, for anyone who’s been craving that in a movie. I’m a huge fan of John Keel (who wrote the original book on which this movie is somewhat, loosely, a little bit based), and his theories about ultradimensional beings. That is, I’m a proponent of the theory that Mothman is not a cryptid, but a being from another dimension.
Anyway, this movie is one of Richard Gere’s best. Laura Linney also helped elevate it from a simple autumn popcorn movie to something with style and substance. It follows a highly respected Washington D.C. political journalist (Gere) recovering from a devastating loss as he drives out of state to interview a governor. Somehow he ends up hundreds of miles off course in the tiny, sleepy town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia… which is being plagued by strange visions of a freakishly tall figure with glowing red eyes, as well as strange phone calls and other inexplicable occurrences. The reporter decides to stay in West Virginia in an effort to figure out what’s happening. What follows is a deeply atmospheric story with strange, mind-bending twists and turns.
Cure (Japanese) 1997
Imagine if David Lynch had been Japanese and made a film that had a more concrete plot and narrative. That’s Cure. Difficult to describe, strange to experience, but certainly stays with you.
A troubled detective whose wife is experiencing some kind of early onset dementia finds himself up to his eyeballs in murder victims that follow a bizarre, nonsensical pattern. As his investigation draws nearer to the culprit, the truth about what’s really happening gets more and more unclear.
This one needs a couple watches. But it actually delivers (unlike some Lynch).
House of the Disappeared (South Korea) 2017
You might recognize the leading lady here as Kim Yunjin (or Yoon Jin) from Lost. She is the jewel in this film; her performance elevated this straightforward ghost story into something very memorable.
Having served most of a life sentence for the murder of her husband and child, an aged woman dying of cancer is released from prison to live out the remainder of her days in her family’s old home. While she admitted to killing her husband, she has always maintained that not only did she not kill her son, but that he’s still alive.
When she arrives home, the house immediately greets her with a flurry of inexplicable activity. As if to torture her, it forces her to relive the horrible events that led up to that terrible night all those years ago. But with the help of a young, local priest, there just might be a way to finally find out what happened to her son.
Rampant (South Korea) 2018
Listen, we all got tired of zombie movies eventually. But Rampant, which came out somewhere near the end of the trend’s lifespan, is one of the best entries. Hyun Bin, a noted Korean action star, carries this movie through a story that could have been a b-movie, but instead managed to be an excellent blockbuster with a lot of heart and substance.
The carefree son of the Joseon king returns from his (very pleasant) time as a royal hostage in the Qing court to find his country strangely empty. That is, until the hordes of zombies begin to attack. He then has to team up with a ragtag group of survivors to try to fight his way back to the king’s palace. However, the king’s court is dealing with just as many threats from within…
Sleep (South Korea) 2023
So. Good. This one came out a little while after the leading actor’s scandal and then suicide, which, I think, prevented it from spreading as it should have.
The story is simple: a husband begins to develop very alarming sleepwalking habits. What begins as something slightly odd very quickly escalates to all-consuming terror. His pregnant wife becomes convinced that some supernatural force has taken over him. Her investigation leads to even more disturbing discoveries in their apartment building.
He remains convinced, however, that the only thing plaguing him is a rare and terrible sleep disorder. Their disagreement creates a strain that worsens the situation.
As his night behavior becomes more and more violent and bizarre, they know that something must be done. But is the problem medical? or supernatural?
The psychological understory here is what makes this film sing. Exceptional performances from both leads, especially in the insane climax, push it over the edge. A very, very good film.
The Closet (South Korea) 2020
After the death of his wife in a car accident, a workaholic architect moves with his traumatized young daughter into a remote country house. This doesn’t help matters, however, as his relationship with his daughter only gets worse. Until one day, she goes into her bedroom closet… and never comes out.
What begins as a search that captures the attention of the country quickly devolves into tabloid accusations against the father. With nowhere left to turn, he reluctantly accepts the help of an odd young shaman who insists that this very thing has happened many times before. What’s more, he has spent years trying to find these missing children, and stop the powerful force that keeps taking them. The father will have to find a way to work with him if he wants to find his daughter before she’s gone forever.
Besides being a very good story, this one shines in its characters. From the quirky shaman to the cold, flawed father, the characters elevate this film a great deal. Individual development, wonderful chemistry, and wonderfully rich storytelling all come together to make a film that is greater than the sum of its parts.
The Grotesque Mansion (South Korea) 2021
I typically do not like anthology movies. I prefer a single, continuous story. This one, however, manages to be both. Known by many English names, including The Haunted Apartment and The Ghost Mansion, this film felt like a collection of short stories written by Lovecraft and Aickman, all of which came together to tell a larger, overarching story.
A struggling webtoon writer decides to interview the manager of a rundown old apartment building where many have reported strange occurrences. Each story unfolds as related by the manager to the writer. And all the stories are connected to the central mystery of the building. I think it’s best to know nothing going in. The stories themselves are very good and unique, and the connecting larger story certainly doesn’t disappoint. I usually rewatch this one every October.(Note: they attempted a sequel, The Grotesque Station, but it is — let me tell you — abysmally bad. All except for one of the stories, about a homeless man who finds a very strange vending machine…)
Svaha: The Sixth Finger (South Korea) 2019
A personal favorite. A cynical but devoted priest (Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae) makes his living exposing predatory cults posing as real branches of their religions. Hired by a Buddhist friend to look into a strange Buddhist cult that’s gaining popularity, he finds himself thrust into a maelstrom of human greed, supernatural evil, and the ominous power of fulfilled prophecies.
A very unsettling film that tells a horror story in an unusual way. Following at least three plot threads, the relevance of all the pieces doesn’t become clear until the final horrible revelation.
Honorable Mentions:
As Above, So Below (America) 2014
Hellhouse LLC (America) 2015
Noroi: The Curse (Japan) 2005
Bestseller (South Korea) 2010
Stay, (America) 2005
The Empty Man, (America) 2020
Another favorite. Very Weird, very good. Incredible fifteen minute prologue.
Borges and The Lost Room are among my all time favorites too. I wish more like these existed. Loved 14 too.