DreamSongs Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 If you are looking for more of a horror theme, go for Joe Hill's NOS4A2. horns was OK, but not scary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Kafka Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 @Saint Alia: I never experience something like that when I was younger. I never read much horror during my 'early years', as it were, of reading. I recently read The Shining and I can't help but feel the effect would've been greater had I read it during my teenage years, when I would've been more impressionable. Not to say it didn't give me the creeps, though! The passages which included Jack were very unsettling, especially when his fall into madness began its course. A couple of days ago I finished reading Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon. It was a good book, enjoyable with some interesting characters. However, as a horror story, it was quite underwhelming. Maybe in part because I had been told - and read reviews - that it's one of the best in the genre, so I had high hopes going into it. In that regard it was a tad disappointing upon completion, but thinking about it a little while later - it was a good book, enjoyable, and it had it's moments, but few and far between. Well written with a good plot-line but, as it was a horror story, it didn't produce. 6/10. I'll keep my other horrors for October and December. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreamSongs Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 'Harvest Home' is good for what it DOESN'T say. I read it as a teenager and didn't quite get it until I saw the 'B' film they made of it one afternoon 'The Dark Secret of Harvest Home'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Kafka Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 You may well be right. I must've read it with the wrong mindset. I did have the thought afterwards that it might warrant a reread; it did seem unsatisfying but not in the way that it was terrible, but rather because I maybe didn't completely understand the subtext. Is the film readily available to buy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Kafka Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 Scrap that. I found it - uncut - on YouTube. Woohoo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreamSongs Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 Bear in mind that it was originally written and subsequently filmed in a different era where not all women felt free to speak on their own behalf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Alia Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 A couple of days ago I finished reading Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon. It was a good book, enjoyable with some interesting characters. However, as a horror story, it was quite underwhelming. Maybe in part because I had been told - and read reviews - that it's one of the best in the genre, so I had high hopes going into it. In that regard it was a tad disappointing upon completion, but thinking about it a little while later - it was a good book, enjoyable, and it had it's moments, but few and far between. Well written with a good plot-line but, as it was a horror story, it didn't produce. 6/10. I'll keep my other horrors for October and December. I have a bad habit of having others' opinions influence my own. The amount of books I've read and movies I've watched that people raved about and I ended up feeling meh about is astounding. I always think to myself afterwards that I probably would have enjoyed it more if it wasn't as hyped up as it was. I kinda miss being truly scared by books. Even when I was younger it didn't happen often. I guess I just have a high tolerance :dunno: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Writhen Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 I think a lot of times movies are scarier than books just because of the visual element. Books can more creep you out. But yeah, it really depends on your inner eye... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YellowDogJen Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 You know, my original introduction to GRRM was in a horror anthology called "The Skin Game" - and GRRM wrote the titular story. Scary, scary stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Writhen Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 I reread The Stand only a couple years ago and it was even better than I had remembered it. And though its been years since I read the Books of Blood, I remember them as being straight epic™... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreamSongs Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 I've started reading 'The Library at Mount Char' by Scott Hawkins and it grabs you in Chapter 1. I don't remember who initially recommended it, but THANK YOU! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centrist Simon Steele Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 I read a lot of horror, but I find most of it bad, and little of it scary. :( I usually settle for good writing and characters and call it a day. Salems Lot is a great vampire story, but that is something I've been holding onto for 15 years. I plan to reread it soon. I do remember it being mildly unnerving too. I am not a huge King fan, but this book is the one I hold high above the rest. Even for those who have read The Shining I would say the book is worth a read--it isn't about the outcome. The book is brutal. It was for me anyway. This one sat with me on a whole different level, and it is a good horror novel. I liked the character of Jack, and I wanted him to pull through, and perhaps knowing his fate, knowing the outcome, being in his head so much, the book really drained me. There were times I didn't think I could finish it. The Strain series--awful. Guillermo del Toro is my favorite. I don't know what the hell went wrong here. There is so little imagery in these books, I felt like I was reading an outline of a bad story. It is bad, bad. There are so many stupid, bad, stupid, dumb things about this stupid story and they start on page 1. I might be dedicate a long blog post to it soon. Speaking of vampires, since I'm really into them right now, I am reading Interview With the Vampire--not scary, but good. Well written, and a good book, and I have the version that has the first three books in the series all in one, so I'm pretty excited. I don't see how these vamps were pussified like everyone claimed when this hit it big back in the 90s--Lestat is a mean SOB. Those Across the River is well written, but over written, and I didn't like it. I felt like the author was trying to elevate the genre. He could have done something more with his story by not pretending his story was "more." The Ritual by Neville is all rhythm and feeling and good writing but falls apart based on what it is, which is too bad, I rather liked it for the most part. Would recommend, but I think the story couldn't support itself when it had to reveal what it was. Carmilla is great. Came out before Dracula, is shorter than Dracula, seems like it was ripped off by Stoker, and it is better than Dracula (mostly because of its brevity). Not scary, but interesting in what it explores between Carmilla and Laura (?). The Last Werewolf by Glenn Duncan--looks good on paper, but suffers from the overly literary problem. A lot of half baked references to philosophers to show the Last Werewolf is really, really smart. But it feels forced, the writing feels forced, hard to track. Didn't care for it. A lot of elevated writing...you know, now that I'm reading Interview, I think Duncan may be aping that style a bit, but he also seems to be trying to write in that English major. There is a lot of the Last Werewolf getting laid and hating how he is always getting laid. I don't know...I don't find that narrative voice all that interesting anymore. Just finished Frankenstein again--this is often looked over in the horror conversation. It is scary. The feeling of isolation that people can feel, the sense of rejection--yeah, this is a good one, and it should be read again and again. Tried my second book by McCammon, (Swan Song first) They Thirst this time...I really don't know about his writing. He is considered a great in the genre along with Ketchum and I just think these guys are hard to read. I loved the prologue, but everything else feels forced. Really struggling with it. Funny how The Strain ripped off much of They Thirst. Something Wicked This Way Comes: A classic. Some good terrifying moments even if the villain is named Mr. Dark. Great, great story. Bradbury's horror/fantasy is among the best out there. I also recommend his short story collection The October Country. Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror. Lol. I read this. But just kidding, I'm not really putting it on this list. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. This is a true crime story, but man did I check if my doors weren't locked every night when I read it two autumns ago. This was horrifying. I agree with HP Lovecraft and Ligotti (though Ligotti isn't scary, I often finish and think "Hm, I don't get it" but his stories are awesome). Definitely worth reading for atmosphere. I think Lovecraft's In the Mountains of Madness is his best (it is a novella) and Ligotti's Last Feast of the Harlequin are their best. Both are longer and really develop creepy atmospheres in very different places. Last Feast has an autumn feel for it. Oh, and the Dunwich Horror and the Colour Out of Space by Lovecraft were really good and eerie. Both of those are musts. I think I need to give House of Leaves another shake. That is a tough one. I am sure there are more from the last two years, but these are the one I remember. I read a werewolf book from the 50s I think...what was it called? Some male journalist meets a female werewolf and she turns him into a werewolf. He turns against his friends who just came back from a scientific expedition with some kind of evolutionary proof that the werewolves don't want them to share. It was pretty interesting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 Joe Hill. Also, Mount Char is scary? Bought it because someone here loved it, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilentRoamer Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 I just finished reading Cormac McCarthys The Road last week - one of the scariest things I have ever read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astromech Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 @ Simon Steele I finished Those Across the River the other night. It was a decent read, but nothing really special. I really liked the premise of the novel but the delivery could have been better. I was entertained, but not impressed. I didn't find it scary, only a bit creepy in maybe two scenes. The ending was one of its weaker points. The narrator seemed to act out of character towards the end, which annoyed me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Writhen Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 The Road was very very scary and epic. Gotta read Blood Meridien sometime soon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centrist Simon Steele Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 @ Simon Steele I finished Those Across the River the other night. It was a decent read, but nothing really special. I really liked the premise of the novel but the delivery could have been better. I was entertained, but not impressed. I didn't find it scary, only a bit creepy in maybe two scenes. The ending was one of its weaker points. The narrator seemed to act out of character towards the end, which annoyed me. Yeah, it's been awhile for me, but he really seemed to jump all over the place in terms of characterization, I agree. Ultimately it wasn't bad, I agree, but nothing amazing. I thought the werewolves themselves seemed too overpowered as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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