What are the entertaining things that scare you?

Books, comics, TV, music
1

Just what the title of the thread says. I’m on a huge horror kick that shows know sign of receding any time soon. Thankfully, we have a great horror movie thread here, and that’s perfect for me to get my movie fix from.

But what about other stuff?

Specifically, have you read anything recently that’s a good work of scary fiction? I’m looking for novels, novellas or short stories that you might have read in the last year or two that are good. Maybe it’s something new, or perhaps it’s an older work you’ve discovered. It’d be great if you could go beyond just giving me an author, too. (“Thomas Ligotti is really great”) and instead give me something more specific, like a book or collection of stories to start with. Heck, if it’s short fiction, give me a specific story if you like! I want to read it.

And what about TV shows? What am I missing? I’d be interested in specific long-form story-arc shows, like X-Files or Fringe for sure. But, I’m also interested in just specific episodes of shows too (“Dude, Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose is awesome”), doubly so if you’re recommending some kind of non-continuous show, like something from Rod Serling’s canon. Hey, especially if you want to recommend that I watch some Grandpa shows like Twilight Zone or Night Gallery, tell me which to watch.

And also games. I know this part might belong in the games section, but whatever. I’ve played some good spooky games, but I know I’ve missed some too. Played anything scary? What was it? Give me the elevator pitch in a sentence of why it’s scary. I wanna play it! Really here, I’m looking for scary games of fairly recent vintage, like in the past 5 years or so that will feel sort of modern ish in gameplay conventions and whatnot.

And…I dunno. Anything else. Is there a good creepy pasta site that isn’t totally stupid? What about scary podcasts you might listen to? Stuff like that, I might try to take in as well.

The main thing I’d really beg though is that anything you recommend–make it something I can find. Please don’t recommend me games that can only be played by buying something off floppy discs on Ebay, or recommend me some obscure TV show that can only be bought from shady websites on VHS. Gimme stuff I can stream, buy online digitally, etc., and I’ll love you very much.

2

Existential terror wise, the best thing I have read in recent memory is this, by far:

https://www.amazon.com/Ruins-Scott-Smith-ebook/dp/B000JMKNOW

It’s by the guy who wrote A Simple Plan which is also amazing in its own right. He hasn’t written much else, but these two alone are quite a body of work.

3

Thomas Ligotti is really great!

Ha, no. But he really is though! For something easily picked up right away, I’d recommend the collection of Songs of a Dead Dreamer & Grimscribe that came out recently on Kindle. Those are his first two collections and both are excellent and a bargain at $10.

IMO, however, his absolute best collection of stories is Teatro Grottesco. Unfortunately, it’s no longer available as an e-book, so it’ll have to be ordered as a paperback. It is absolutely my favorite collection of stories, maybe of any author outside of Kafka.

If either of those work for you, then just get everything…nowadays, pretty much all of his stories are have-able for about $50 in Kindle editions, and even the lesser works (The Agonizing Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein, My Work Is Not Yet Done) are worth reading.

Ligotti’s my favorite, but there are others, oh yes!

Definitely check out Laird Barron’s Occultation collection. His other two collections The Imago Sequence and The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All are also excellent. Can’t say I’ve been impressed with his novels…they’re fine, but he does his best work in short form.

Also, a collection I just finished recently is T.E. Grau’s The Nameless Dark, which was very good. He appears to be a young guy and this his first book…looking forward to more.

I’m in the middle of Paul Tremblay’s A Head Full of Ghosts, which is pretty terrifying so far.

Also, kind of off and on working my way through the collection of Ramsey Campbell. He’s been one of the many who works in a lot of Lovecraftian themes, but he’s definitely one of the most skilled. I’m not sure there’s one book that stands out, except maybe Alone With the Horrors, which is kind of a greatest hits, picking through his short work from '61 to '91.

Those are the ones in my head right now. Horror is kind of my jam, though…I’m sure I’ll come up with some more titles as I pick through my box of books.

4

Trump might actually get elected.

5

Aw yiss. I’m gonna start with those first two Ligotti collections and also Occultation and move from there. This is excellent, thanks!

6

In general I think short fiction is better at actually being scary than novels, although I like a lot of horror novels for other reasons.

I would second the Laird Barron recs. Joe Hill is a fantastic writer generally and I would recommend both his short story collection, 20th Century Ghosts and his debut novel, Heart-Shaped Box. Stephen King may seem way too obvious, but I think a lot of people overlook The Long Walk, which I think is his best book and is a very simple idea executed in a way that brings out all its inherent horror. Brian Keene is generally good but I particularly like his Earthworm Gods books and the zombie duology The Rising and City of the Dead, both of which have really strong apocalyptic premises. The Rising books make zombies scary to me in a way they generally aren’t, because in those books they are intelligent and malicious and have all the skills and knowledge that person had in life (and potentially more). Of course, it can be argued they’re not technically zombies at that point, but still. The Devil’s Detective, by Simon Kurt Unsworth. A damned soul must investigate murders in Hell. A thankless task indeed, as you might imagine. Full of horrible things happening in Hell and existential horror - after all, does anything he’s doing actually matter?

A few online things that may appeal:
Children’s Stories Made Horrific, a occasional feature on The Toast by Mallory Ortberg. The most memorable for me? http://the-toast.net/2015/07/14/childrens-stories-made-horrific-the-house-at-pooh-corner/

Broodhollow, a webcomic by Kris Straub. Kind of a weird mix between cartoony humor and eldritch horror lurking in the corners and emerging in some really memorable ways. Seems very closely and carefully executed.
http://broodhollow.chainsawsuit.com/

Worm, Pact and possibly the third story being written by the author, Twig, though I haven’t gotten to it yet. Serialized webfiction with tons of intricate plotting and excellent writing. Not sure either are strictly horror (Worm is superpowers, Pact is kind of urban fantasy) but both lean quite dark and have plenty of horrific content. Both are complete. Twig is in progress.
Worm: https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2011/06/11/1-1/
Pact: https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2013/12/17/bonds-1-1/

You Awaken in Razor Hill: weird forum CYOA fiction that’s kind of a fusion of World of Warcraft and ideas from things like Silent Hill. There’s plenty of humor but it’s actually really fucking creepy a lot of the time. It works better than it may sound.
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r25086923-Lore-You-Awaken-In-Razor-Hill

TV-wise, I would definitely check out Outcast, on Cinemax (and wherever you would normally pick up digital TV, probably), based on the Robert Kirkman comic. Demonic possession leads to some pretty bad scenes and the whole show just oozes dread. Fortitude, which came out a year or two back on Sky in the UK and Pivot in the US, leading to most people missing it. Tons of atmosphere, great characters played by great actors, deep genre-uncertainty. American Gothic (the 90s one, I think there’s a more recent show by the same name that’s no relation). Did not get a full run and so never really answered its questions, but Gary Cole’s excellent as a creepy and possibly Satanic sheriff and there’s some other interesting weirdness going on. Ultraviolet - one season British show about modern-day vampires that’s got a pretty interesting take on the mythos and Idris Elba. The Fades, another one off British show, this time about dead people trying to re-enter the world of the living. Sharp sense of humor but legitimately creepy at times and always compelling.

7

Geez I don’t even think fast zombies are really true zombies, so this is clearly… not zombies.

8

Second Laird Barron, although I’ve only read Imagico Sequence. I think I have Occultation around here somewhere. In my small exposure to he and Ligotti I like Barron more but they’re both good.

There’s horror comics, you know. I semi-recenty read the first trade paper back of Wytches, and am eager for the next trade to appear. This is more creepy than outright scary but it’s wonderfully moody. Witches aren’t what you think, and they’re more terrible than you can imagine. Promised is promised.

Another vote for Cinemax’s Outcast. It’s a slow burner but I really enjoyed the first season. It’s based on a comic but I haven’t read it.

9

I won’t re-quote your entire excellent post, but will say thanks, so much thanks especially for the interesting web stuff and especially the guidance on TV shows. I’m familiar with the old American Gothic (I’m one of the the dozens who watched on its initial run) but I was really curious about Outcast and Fortitude and will check both out.

10

Oh holy shit yes on the comics!

If there are other titles besides Wytches to also check out–you know, besides classic EC stuff or Walking Dead–hit me up.

11

Unfortunately, there aren’t many that I have read but I have a short list I’ll discuss in time. Having said that, there is one comic I will bring up, a personal favorite.

Swamp Thing - if you haven’t ever checked out Alan Moore’s run on this comic, you really ought to. Swamp Thing was originally created by Len Wein in the early 70s. It went for 24 issues and was shelved. It came back in the early 80s to coincide with the release of the Craven movie, where it went 18 issues before changing hands. Actually, I think DC was going to cancel it but a young writer fresh off of a ground breaking run on a comic known then as Marvelman (later renamed to Miracle Man), and almost done wrapping up an intriguing graphic novel known as V for Vendetta. So DC said “sure we’ll take a chance on this Alan Moore fella”. And boy did he deliver. He insisted on full creative control, keeping the central concept seemingly intact (man is killed in a fire in his lab by thieves stealing is biorestorative formula) but completely turning it on its head (right there in issue #20; moore wrote #19 as a bridge ep to set this up, IIRC). What he did was make a comic that was only less ground breaking than his later Watchmen in small ways (Watchmen, really, continues a lot of themes he was exploring in both Miracleman and Swamp Thing). It’s a bonafide horror comic (as it has always been) only Moore ground that in issues that impact our lives, which was really unuusal for the time. This was also the first comic to say “fuck it” to the Comics Code in decades. It’s collected in 6 trades now, as I recall, which might be a little pricey (after all, tehre will be so many recommendations in this thread and only so much time and money!). The first 3 trades are best, the first 2 the best of those (by a little). But they’re all excellent.

The other things I’m listing are on my to read list but I haven’t gotten to them yet for a variety of reasons.

Afterlife With Archie - Archie, Jughead, and the rest of the gang deal with a zombie apocolypse. I’ve heard great things. Don’t forget the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

Grant Morrison’s Nameless.

Severed - by Scott Snyder, same guy who did Wytches (this is why I am interested).

Locke& Key - Joe Hill. You probably know his novels. This comic series (which has 6 volumes out now) has gotten good reviews.

Beasts of Burden - Dogs and cats protect their peculiar town from evil. I have this but haven’t read it yet.

That’s basically my short list. If I get my employment situation re-sorted in the near future, I’m treating myself to everything on it I don’t already own.

Oh, and one last suggestion you may not be familiar with. It’s not a comic or a book. It’s a series of writings by various people. The SCP Foundation. It’s simply a series of “files” about relics captured and stored by the titular group. Some of them are really awesome, and very creepy. There’s thousands of writings on the site, but there’s also “highlight” material. The object classes page., has a list of the 25 highest rated (by other writiers/readers) “Keter” (most dangerous) class articles on the site. It’s a good place to start.

More later as I remember things I used to know.

12

Locke & Key is complete, by the way. It’s fantastic, and very creepy.

Scott Snyder also did American Vampire for Vertigo, which I kinda liked but thought was uneven. Wytches is much creepier though.

Hellblazer is also one of the greats, particularly runs by Garth Ennis, Mike Carey and Warren Ellis (probably omitting a couple - it’s hundreds of issues long and I’ve not read anything like all of them). It was the basis of the short-lived Constantine series on (I think) NBC, and very very loosely the basis of the Constantine movie.

For that matter, some arcs of The Sandman are really creepy, including issue 6 (24 Hours), the second volume (The Doll’s House), portions of the fourth (Season of Mists), and the penultimate volume (The Kindly Ones). I’d recommend reading the whole thing, of course, but it’s about a lot of other things besides horror, like the nature of stories, etc.

Manga-wise, check out literally anything by Junji Ito, but his masterpiece is Uzumaki, originally published in three volumes but I think now available as two hardcovers, the tale of a small Japanese seaside town gradually falling into madness and unearthly chaos, all marked by the spiral. (which is what “uzumaki” means, apparently).

I also thought Rabbit Doubt and Fuan no Tane were pretty creepy, and The Drifting Classroom has a heck of a reputation although I’ve not actually read more than a couple of issues myself.

Oh, that reminds me, actually. You’ve probably seen the movie of Battle Royale, but if you haven’t read the book you really should. It’s significantly different and pretty chilling.

13

Agree on Laird Barron. I’d rate Imago Sequence as the best, followed by Occulation and The Beautiful Thing. I agree he’s best in short form.

Emily Carroll is a genius illustrator/story writer with lots of work in the horror genre. Her newish book (In the Woods) is amazing, but so are the illustrated shorts on the website. Try Out of Skin or Face All Red. Very highly recommended.

Speaking of dark Archie comics, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (which is ongoing) has a great 70s horror vibe. Fantastic art. Other quality comics (in addition to seconding Locke & Key, Wytches and Uzumaki) are Harrow County (ongoing) and Alan Moore’s Neonomicon and the follow-up/prequel Providence (ongoing), which both have HP Lovecraft in their dna. The Moore stuff is really dark. Not for the squeamish.

Not new, but Adam Nevill’s The Ritual is a great, creepy horror novel, as is his next: The Last Days. I don’t like the subsequent books as much (have not read Lost Girl) and even his best fade a little at the end, but that’s a problem common to the genre in all forms.

Some good new-ish kinda short stories are Helen Marshall’s The Hanging Game, and Dale Bailey’s Troop 9. They’re both terrific authors who do a lot of work in horror/horror-adjacent,and their latest collections are both well worth picking up.

14

Can’t believe I forgot to bring up Hannibal (the TV series with Mads Mikkelsen, not the movie). I guess it’s down to the fact that I don’t consider the movies involving Hannibal Lecter to be horror movies. (I know plenty of people would disagree with me, but that’s not an argument I’m interested in having here…or at all, TBH). The show really is, though, I think. All those scenes of careful, lavish meal prep full of delicious looking meat of…uncertain provenance. The actively nightmarish quality of a lot of the serial murders being investigated - and I mean that in the sense that they are surreal and dreamlike and not terribly realistic - not to mention the actual dream sequences present throughout. The monstrous things Hannibal does to the people he purports to consider friends, all without their realizing it. Etc.

It’s beautiful. It’s horrifying. It’s one of the best things ever to grace a television set.

15

I’ll second Heart-Shaped Box, that was a great, very creepy, ghost story. I love Joe Hill as a writer, he’s great. However, I’ll push back on Locke & Key being horror – it’s a great story, a spectacular read, and I’ll recommend it wholeheartedly… but aside from one or two frames it was never really “scary”.

Many Stephen King stories scared me as a youth, but I’d have to point to The Jaunt being his absolute creepiest concept. It’s in his excellent Skeleton Crew collection, which includes the also-great The Mist.

Maybe an unconventional pick, but the book that creeped me out entirely was Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Not traditional horror, but wow. I’ve actually avoided seeing the movie because I don’t want it to ruin the shivers I get from remembering the book.

16

This x 10,000. I don’t particularly like horror (I’m a gigantic wimp when it comes to TV/movies/etc.), but this got me over it based on its sheer quality. Gorgeous, unsettling, and utterly bingeable. One of my favorite shows ever.

I’ll also second the Broodhollow rec from up above. I love Krs Straub and just about everything he produces, but this is really top-notch stuff!

17

Also, when I browse through any kind of reddit or forum thread on some sort of variation on “what’s the creepiest thing your child has ever said” and suddenly the world we know is a thin layer of scum floating on a vast unfathomable darkness, where terrifying spirits are everywhere and only perceived by toddlers, or perhaps a child has an eerie knowledge about a family friend or member who passed on just before they were born. Spooooky.

Finally, that climactic scene in Dreamscape where the president faces his greatest fear—riding public transit through a post-apocalyptic atomic wasteland he was responsible for. It’s not just the nightmare you can’t wake up from, it’s not just the nuclear ghouls, it’s not that we and the Soviets lost that twilight struggle against armageddon. It’s all those plus the commute.

https://youtu.be/Ifm6298ycbk?t=4954

18

These are all so excellent, thanks! I feel like my dance card is going to be pretty full.

Still looking for any games that may have been missed in the games section, although Tom’s thread about Lovecraftian games is giving me some great ideas too.

19

Killer 7 is phenomenally creepy, and mostly holds up today. It does a lot with restrictions / disempowerment.

It also has what I’d describe as a almost Calvino-like otherworldliness. Killer 7 and Cosmicomics are two works that made me think to myself “oh, this is what going insane feels like.”

20

I don’t necessarily recommend actually playing them, but the first two Forbidden Siren games (Siren in the US) are quite something. You play a rotating cast of characters stranded on a remote island populated mostly by fishing village(s) when an unearthly siren goes off and it begins raining blood. The locals begin acting very strangely and repetitively, and evince an immediate desire to kill you if you are seen. Oh, and if you manage to kill them? They just get back up again a minute or two later and go back to whatever they were doing. So it’s mainly a stealth game, but with very limited visibility and no HUD or anything like that. Instead you tune in the brains of enemies and look through their eyes to try and determine a safe route past them. And as time progresses, things get worse and it becomes clear that the enemies have a purpose that they have been working towards, though the nature of it would be a huge spoiler. They’re extremely unforgiving games, though, with little to no checkpointing mid-level, little margin for error and things like snipers that can see (and kill) you long before you can see them. And it takes some work to piece together the story because it’s told in segments that open up extremely nonlinearly and frequently jump between player characters. So I’m not sure whether I’d consider it worth it to actually play them yourself. Personally, I just watched Let’s Plays of them (http://lparchive.org/Siren/ for the first one), which I definitely -can- recommend. So unique and nightmarish. You can probably skip the PS3 entry, which is a weird semi-remake of the original except replacing Japanese characters with an American reality TV crew for some reason, substantially cutting down the plot et al overall, and making changes to the gameplay that are questionable at best. It does look a lot better, at least.

Stasis is a creepy adventure game from a Qt3er, set on a massive, decaying starship being used for illicit medical research. Not ever really scary, per se, but a lot of really terrible things have happened on the ship and you have to do some viscerally unpleasant things to progress to the end.