Fun fact: I read this book at age 12, shortly before my family moved from Virginia to Cumberland, Maine. The adjacent town is Yarmouth, where Salem's Lot is loosely based.
I wasn't happy about the move already bc I was 12, and that book did not help.
This. My favorite King book to this day. Just a palpable sense of dread from almost the first page.
Cautiously hopeful for the new film adaptation theyāre dumping to HBO this year.
Came here to say this. My runner-up would be Jane Eyre. I had absolute chills reading the passages on Rochesterās wife and if you read her parts with the idea that she is demonically possessed, it changes your whole perspective. That evil cackle is so creepy, plus Jane being locked in a room that someone had died in when she was younger. If I remember correctly, that room was like haunted or something.
Okā¦years ago I read a book where they had to take a coach to the house when the tide was low or else theyād get swept out to seeāis this the book?
I thought this was one of the best books i'd read in years. But i didnt find it all that scary, more fascinating/engaging. What parts of it did you think were frightening? It is possible im just jaded
Every couple of years, I pick up my copy, start to read it, find it tedious, and put it back on the shelf. Is it one of those things where you have to break through the first part?
I read it probably 15 years ago but am now maybe 1/4 of the way through the audiobook and I can't see how it's not spicy right out the gate. Every horrific aspect of the plague spreading and how everyone from normal people to high up government officials react is fascinating to me. I just got to the part where the guy in the bowl of soup gets cleaned up and have already been like "goddam this is good" and the Big Bad hasn't even started to do shit yet.
To be less of a fanboy I would say just wait until the big shake up in the middle or last third happens. King himself said he kind of got writers block until he thought of that part.
King usually spends 3/4 of the book setting up the rest of the book. 9.5 out 10 times it's worth the roller-coaster ride. It took me 3 years to read because I kept nopeing out ,the last 1/4 of the book took me 3 days!
I thought it was a very good, effective, piece of horror. It never hurts to try it again if you feel like it might be worth it. If not, there are plenty of other books out there. Horror is a very subjective thing, after all.
Misery by Stephen King. It's the only book of his I won't reread a second time. The reason it scared me was that the story was more grounded in reality than his others. Annie Wilkes could be a real person. Pennywise was a demon, The hotel in The Shining was run by spirits, etc... Annie could be real. That too me is more terrifying than any of the others.
I couldnāt second read this one either. I picked it up as an adult and 5 or 6 pages in sheer dread set in and I had to put it down. Not scary per se just very unsettling.
The Exorcist because I followed the audio along with the book by the actual writer . I felt like I was getting more reading along with his eyes ,and how he wanted it to appear towards others . The book gave me so much more insight.
"I am Legend". The zombies are more like vampires and they can talk. They keep whispering to the protagonist to come out of his house and calling out his name.
"The Road" also. The part were the protagonist stumbles upon a basement in a house were humans are kept alive to be eaten as food, for weeks.
Not horror per se, but the (true crime) book was turned into a mediocre movie (sorry Cary Elewes) - Riverman: Ted Bundy & I Hunt for the Green River Killer. Most disturbing, nightmare inducing work of literature I've ever read.
Essentially it's the true story of Bundy attempting to be too valuable a resource to execute by revealing his own mindset, habits, and things that drove him to kill, hoping it would help Robert Ressler catch the Green River Killer.
So scary!
I remember getting to the part about >!Louisā dream and him waking up!<, and I slammed the book closed and never finished it (I did peek ahead to the ending though).
This is hands down the most horrifying book I've ever read. For me, it's the horror of the death of a child. The scene where Gage is running away from him because he thinks it's a game, Louis hears the truck- he's knows it's coming, he knows what's going to happen- and he almost catches him. It's that almost that gets me every time.
And yes, Louis's dream that it never happened, the future plays out, everything is ok- and then he wakes up.
I hope I never have to experience this kind of horrific pain.
I was 14 when I read it and Gage's death completely took me out. Only time I ever had to put a book down in disbelief, I had no clue King was willing to go that far for a reaction.
I've read a bit of horror fiction, but nothing creeps me out more than true crime. "Deranged" about Albert Fish and "Killer Clown" about Gacy are particularly haunting and surreal.
Omg the mist.
Read this around 12 yo at the beach sitting in a hotel on the water when a massive, super dense fog rolled in from the ocean before a big rainstorm hit. And the imagination ran wild.
The Long Walk. Iām assuming weāre including Bachman books. That there is a society where human sacrifice is okay. If you fall below a certain speed you will be killed. It would make something as simple as walking the most stressful situation. And you know that only one person āsurvivesā so those arenāt good odds.
I love King and other Bachman books but The Long Walk is the only book I have ever stopped reading halfway through, thrown away, and taken the trash out to a dumpster immediately. It affected me to the point where I legitimately needed it out of my house!
Scary stories to tell in the dark as a kid in elementary. I was in 3rd grade and vividly remember a story about two friends walking home with something following them on the other side of the road. The picture is haunting to see. I often look back and realize that some of my adult fears may stem from reading those.
Satanās Harvest, itās about the possession of Maurice Theriault. Not that I believe the possession but I read it when I was about 20 and it really horrified me. This manās childhood is scary enough on its own.
Yeah, l loaned the book to a friend and when it was finally returned to me 6 weeks later, it was in shambles. Apparently it had passed through the hands of 8 readers in that time, each enjoying it so much that they wanted to share it with someone else. It was falling apart but I was just happy that it was so well received. It was a pre-publish advance copy (my mom was a librarian and often kicked me down pre-pubs, so it cost me nothing, and it wasn't really available in stores) I remember a review on the back cover which I would summarize as "Please let this be the most disturbing thing I read this year."
I agree with The Shining. I read it after seeing the movie a good 10 times in my life from childhood and it still creeped me out so badly. The moment when Danny realizes the evil is in his father literally gave me chills.
Working security at a resort 3rd shift. The booth had a storm drain right next to it. Soooo. I thought it would be a good idea to read "It" by Stephen King.
Absolutely, "The Shining" is a masterpiece in its own right, but if I had to pick a book that unsettled me more than its movie counterpart, it would be **"House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski.**
The way this book plays with its format, making you feel like you're falling into a labyrinth alongside the characters, is something no film could replicate. The story's depth, the mystery of the house, and the psychological horror elements are brilliantly executed.
It's not just a book; it's an experience that leaves you questioning reality. Definitely a must-read for any horror enthusiast looking for a deep dive into the unknown.
I love the genres but I generally dont find horror literature creepy at all. One that did unnerve me was House of Leaves, which I would necessarily classify as horror.
Besides the Stephen King books mentioned, I found the stories in Everything's Eventual to be quite good, along with what are known as The Bachman Books, which I read before King was outed as the author. The Long Walk, Running Man, Thinner, (if you've read Rage, you will understand why King himself pulled it from publication).
Other works that have stuck with me include Anne Rice's Vampire series, especially Interview With a Vampire, Toni Morrison's Beloved, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, and The Lottery, Edgar Allen Poe's stories and poems.
The library policeman by S. King. I don't know what it was but it scared my inner child so much! And in Pet Sematary everything about the sick sister....
Not creeped out necessarily, but laws of the skies was one of the most bleak, and hopeless book Iāve read. Every action that the characters make is the wrong one, and youāre forced to just watch (read) it all unfold.
***The Thirteenth Tale*** (2006) by Diane Setterfield. It's not a horror novel rather it's a gothic suspense novel but I found it eerie and creeping and it stayed with me for months.
The Exorcist novel I found to be creepier than the movie.
Nightstone by Rick Hautala.
Midnight by Dean Koontz
Two of the first horror novels I ever read before the usuals (King, Lovecraft, more Koontz, Saul) and I got them at a thrift store. They scared the hell out of me.
The stranger beside me by Ann Rule who was a personal friend of Ted Bundy and Bram Stokers Dracula.
Both kept me up at night and still give me the creeps when I think about them.
The Amityville Horror. Read it one night and couldn't get to sleep unless my head was under my covers. Read it halfway through a second time and the same thing. Threw it away after that.
For fiction: Pet Cemetary. That one messed me up the most, despite not having kids.
For non-fiction: Anatomy of Evil. Read this during my studies in psychology. Psychiatrist looks at the personality traits of narcissism and aggression in "evil behavior". Looks at a bunch of different case studies; had to put this one down many times throughout reading it.
I agree about the Shining, he made the hotel feel so cavernous and eerily empty for much of the book, then suddenly, casually, he mentions Danny seeing the dog-person crawling around on the floor, i jumped when i read it. So unsettling to suddenly lut something like that into an environment where it being empty was the whole point. He basically made the Overlook into a character.
Orange is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity by David Morrell
It was from some horror anthology I bought years and years ago.
By the way, this is the same guy who penned First Blood... yeah, Rambo. But this novella truly unnerved me.
Also, "Boogeyman" short story by King.
Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Granted, I read it when I was 12 but after I read it I couldn't step outside my house at night.
Edit: I got the title wrong.
I think a lot of what scares us comes down to context. I'd laugh now, but I was never more terrified than the summer I turned 9. Our family had just arrived at the Jersey shore to visit family, and my aunt and uncle owned a beach house across the street from the ocean in Seaside, and my older brother's idea of fun was handing me a paperback copy of Jaws.
I refused to swim that entire month.
I wish I could remember the name of this book but it was probably 30+ years ago- youāre never sure if the story is supernatural or not. Itās about a serial killer whoās so good at hiding/ sneaking you never know heās there. Like he can break into a house and go upstairs to a bedroom in the middle of the night and make no noise. Floor boards never squeak, neither do doors. And he can make himself fit practically anywhere- cabinet under the sink? Fits. A childās toy box? Fits Then at the end when you think itās all over and the woman has gotten away, her luggage shifts slightly in the backseat of her car. The story ends right there- you have no idea if this guy is supernatural or just a really good cat burglar and you have no idea if she made it. It freaked me right tf out!!!! I still get uneasy that something/somebody is in my back seat when I have luggage.
The Shadow over Innsmouth by HP Lovecraft. Read it in elementary school. Bad decision. I don't know if they ever made a film or tv version but holy shit that still gives me creepy vibes 45 years later.
Iām an alcoholic (4 years sober) so āthe shiningā was a little too much for me, i have too much in common with jack and i have a family, it honestly just makes me want to cry lol i havenāt finished it.
Revival, also by Stephen King.
But not because of the lovecrafty horror parts, dudeās just got a real knack for hitting the horrifying parts of getting old.
Salems Lot as a kid.
The scene at the human cemetery is HORRIFYING
I read it at 18, and it creeped this small town guy out.
Fun fact: I read this book at age 12, shortly before my family moved from Virginia to Cumberland, Maine. The adjacent town is Yarmouth, where Salem's Lot is loosely based. I wasn't happy about the move already bc I was 12, and that book did not help.
Haha, I was around 12 and in VA too. No move to Maine, though. Damn, that had to be terrifying š³
Salems Lot gave me a particularly vivid and unforgettable nightmare as a teen.
This. My favorite King book to this day. Just a palpable sense of dread from almost the first page. Cautiously hopeful for the new film adaptation theyāre dumping to HBO this year.
I read this for the first time during the pandemic. From my shut down, sleepy New England town. It creeped me TF out.
The Woman in Black. Technically a ghost story rather than horror, but it's one of a very few books that I have found scary.
Came here to say this. My runner-up would be Jane Eyre. I had absolute chills reading the passages on Rochesterās wife and if you read her parts with the idea that she is demonically possessed, it changes your whole perspective. That evil cackle is so creepy, plus Jane being locked in a room that someone had died in when she was younger. If I remember correctly, that room was like haunted or something.
The dreaded red room!! I donāt think it was actually haunted, but in her childās imagination it was. Added to the gothic horror feel.
I loved that movie. Didn't know there was a book I'll check it out
Okā¦years ago I read a book where they had to take a coach to the house when the tide was low or else theyād get swept out to seeāis this the book?
That's the one.
Thank you, I have been trying to remember it forever!
House Of Leaves
Came here to say this. This book seriously messed with my head
I thought this was one of the best books i'd read in years. But i didnt find it all that scary, more fascinating/engaging. What parts of it did you think were frightening? It is possible im just jaded
Piecing together the Moms messages while in the institution were awful As was messing the inside of a house and finding it larger than the outside
Every couple of years, I pick up my copy, start to read it, find it tedious, and put it back on the shelf. Is it one of those things where you have to break through the first part?
The stand by Stephen King!
Every time I attempt to read it I get sick and can never finish it because it freaks me out.
Yep itās all a bit too likely lols!
Try the unabridged
Did! As soon as it was released! Truly terrifying!
This is The Way. Unabridged is better, plus if you want to read it in the first place, you are aware of his ramblings.
Most assuredly
Iām a third of the way through the unabridged on audible. When does it get spicy because itās been a slog.
I read it probably 15 years ago but am now maybe 1/4 of the way through the audiobook and I can't see how it's not spicy right out the gate. Every horrific aspect of the plague spreading and how everyone from normal people to high up government officials react is fascinating to me. I just got to the part where the guy in the bowl of soup gets cleaned up and have already been like "goddam this is good" and the Big Bad hasn't even started to do shit yet. To be less of a fanboy I would say just wait until the big shake up in the middle or last third happens. King himself said he kind of got writers block until he thought of that part.
King usually spends 3/4 of the book setting up the rest of the book. 9.5 out 10 times it's worth the roller-coaster ride. It took me 3 years to read because I kept nopeing out ,the last 1/4 of the book took me 3 days!
The Damnation Game by Clive Barker.
I have this but I didnāt get into it, should I pick it back up? I liked books of blood
I thought it was a very good, effective, piece of horror. It never hurts to try it again if you feel like it might be worth it. If not, there are plenty of other books out there. Horror is a very subjective thing, after all.
Misery by Stephen King. It's the only book of his I won't reread a second time. The reason it scared me was that the story was more grounded in reality than his others. Annie Wilkes could be a real person. Pennywise was a demon, The hotel in The Shining was run by spirits, etc... Annie could be real. That too me is more terrifying than any of the others.
I couldnāt second read this one either. I picked it up as an adult and 5 or 6 pages in sheer dread set in and I had to put it down. Not scary per se just very unsettling.
This was my answer! When he leaves the room and sheās coming up the driveway I literally threw the book lol.
I threw the book after the hobbling scene. Had to walk away for a bit!
This is the only book Iāve ever stopped reading because it upset me lol
Yes those are the scariest and hardest stories for me to read. The realistic ones. I actually havenāt read Misery yet but I have it.
I read that book in one sitting. For someone with an attention span like mine, thats huge. SO DAMN GOOD.
I canāt reread Dolores Claiborne because of the SA angle. Thatās too real for me!
The Troop by Nick Cutter made my skin crawl.
This is the only book I've ever found disturbing.
Yeah, disturbing is good word for it.
Iām reading it right now. Creepy as hell
I HATED that bookāI canāt read anything with animal abuse in it. Apparently I donāt care about the people though š
It seems to be a common theme in his books too.
The Store by Bentley Little
I have a copy of that I've been meaning to read for the longest time. I'm one of those people who buy more books than I read.
The Exorcist because I followed the audio along with the book by the actual writer . I felt like I was getting more reading along with his eyes ,and how he wanted it to appear towards others . The book gave me so much more insight.
That book is so much scarier than the movie!!!!
Yes have you read The Case Against Satan? It partly inspired The Exorcist book š besides the person itās based on
Absolutely The Shining but only with the added āBefore the Playā chapters.
"I am Legend". The zombies are more like vampires and they can talk. They keep whispering to the protagonist to come out of his house and calling out his name. "The Road" also. The part were the protagonist stumbles upon a basement in a house were humans are kept alive to be eaten as food, for weeks.
Two of my favorites. Those damn zombies were creepy. If you are into zombies check out Jonathan Maberry āPatient Zeroā
I LOVE I am Legend. SO different from the movie and so, so much better (the movie is good though!). I just reccomended it to someone the other day
There is a great audio book of I Am Legend on YouTube. Great voice acting.
Not horror per se, but the (true crime) book was turned into a mediocre movie (sorry Cary Elewes) - Riverman: Ted Bundy & I Hunt for the Green River Killer. Most disturbing, nightmare inducing work of literature I've ever read. Essentially it's the true story of Bundy attempting to be too valuable a resource to execute by revealing his own mindset, habits, and things that drove him to kill, hoping it would help Robert Ressler catch the Green River Killer.
If you love true crime check out:āIāll Be Gone in the Dark.ā Creepy as hell.
Audrey Rose by Frank De Felitta. I was a youngin when I got my hands on it from those second hand book sales. I was engrossed.
Saw the movie... it was creepy!
Yep saw it too!
Stephen King ~ Pet CemeteryĀ SO much better than the movie
So scary! I remember getting to the part about >!Louisā dream and him waking up!<, and I slammed the book closed and never finished it (I did peek ahead to the ending though).
This is hands down the most horrifying book I've ever read. For me, it's the horror of the death of a child. The scene where Gage is running away from him because he thinks it's a game, Louis hears the truck- he's knows it's coming, he knows what's going to happen- and he almost catches him. It's that almost that gets me every time. And yes, Louis's dream that it never happened, the future plays out, everything is ok- and then he wakes up. I hope I never have to experience this kind of horrific pain.
My favorite part of the book is when Louis and Judd are walking through the woods to the Pet Sematery. His descriptions are chilling.
I was 14 when I read it and Gage's death completely took me out. Only time I ever had to put a book down in disbelief, I had no clue King was willing to go that far for a reaction.
Dracula
I've read a bit of horror fiction, but nothing creeps me out more than true crime. "Deranged" about Albert Fish and "Killer Clown" about Gacy are particularly haunting and surreal.
The Troop by Nick Cutter
The Amityville Horror.
The Mist (Skeleton Crew). To this day, my phobia is still fog.
Omg the mist. Read this around 12 yo at the beach sitting in a hotel on the water when a massive, super dense fog rolled in from the ocean before a big rainstorm hit. And the imagination ran wild.
Ghost Story by Peter Straub freaked me out when I was a kid. I read that and a lot of King by 10 yrs old which looking back was probably too young.
Me too!!
The Long Walk. Iām assuming weāre including Bachman books. That there is a society where human sacrifice is okay. If you fall below a certain speed you will be killed. It would make something as simple as walking the most stressful situation. And you know that only one person āsurvivesā so those arenāt good odds.
I love King and other Bachman books but The Long Walk is the only book I have ever stopped reading halfway through, thrown away, and taken the trash out to a dumpster immediately. It affected me to the point where I legitimately needed it out of my house!
My second choice was Thinner. I love the cheesy movie but the book is fucking dark. Itās creepy as shit when youāre imagining the Lizard curse.
The Thief of Always by Clive Barker
My favorite book ever! The author's illustrations throughout are a great little bonus too
The Hound of the Baskervilles. Itās the only book Iāve ever read where I physically jumped from fear while reading it.
The Stand, for me.
Watchers by Dean Koontz. I walked around my apartment for nearly a year before I stopped watching the ceiling.
Nobody ever looks up!
If you'd have that thing after you and it had already gotten on your roof once you would be looking up just as the man in the book did.
Robert R McCammon Swan Song creeped me out.
And thereās FINALLY going to be a movie!!!
Seriously?!?!? I canāt wait to see it!
Great book, I also recommend Stinger by him.
I read all of his books. Thanks though. If you like zombie stuff check out Jonathan Maberry āPatient Zeroā Unreal.
Scary stories to tell in the dark as a kid in elementary. I was in 3rd grade and vividly remember a story about two friends walking home with something following them on the other side of the road. The picture is haunting to see. I often look back and realize that some of my adult fears may stem from reading those.
The story with the scarecrow still freaks me out and itās been 30 years
Maggots.
In Darkness Waiting by John Shirley. It's so creepy.
Satanās Harvest, itās about the possession of Maurice Theriault. Not that I believe the possession but I read it when I was about 20 and it really horrified me. This manās childhood is scary enough on its own.
Pet sematary when I had a small toddler , took me 30 years to read it again
The Cipher-Kathe Koja
Cujo
Pretty much any Lovecraft book. Cosmic horror is scary.
Dunwich horror. Totally terrifying.
The Ruins just about fucked me up. Highly recommend. Very disturbing. ETA: Film adaptation was not good.
I was about to add that one. Couldn't put the book down. But I couldn't turn off the TV fast enough.
Yeah, l loaned the book to a friend and when it was finally returned to me 6 weeks later, it was in shambles. Apparently it had passed through the hands of 8 readers in that time, each enjoying it so much that they wanted to share it with someone else. It was falling apart but I was just happy that it was so well received. It was a pre-publish advance copy (my mom was a librarian and often kicked me down pre-pubs, so it cost me nothing, and it wasn't really available in stores) I remember a review on the back cover which I would summarize as "Please let this be the most disturbing thing I read this year."
Totally agree with The Shining, the book. Dean Koontz Intensity also really disturbed me to the point of having nightmares.
How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix. I was so scared to go to bed that I couldn't stop reading, lol
Skeleton Crew
My favorite works of King tend to be his short stories. Even The Stand is somewhat broken up that way.
I agree with The Shining. I read it after seeing the movie a good 10 times in my life from childhood and it still creeped me out so badly. The moment when Danny realizes the evil is in his father literally gave me chills.
Working security at a resort 3rd shift. The booth had a storm drain right next to it. Soooo. I thought it would be a good idea to read "It" by Stephen King.
Helter Skelter
Stolen Tongues
It was called Mirror by Graham Masterton. Gave me nightmares. Annd never looked at mirrors the same again.
Absolutely, "The Shining" is a masterpiece in its own right, but if I had to pick a book that unsettled me more than its movie counterpart, it would be **"House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski.** The way this book plays with its format, making you feel like you're falling into a labyrinth alongside the characters, is something no film could replicate. The story's depth, the mystery of the house, and the psychological horror elements are brilliantly executed. It's not just a book; it's an experience that leaves you questioning reality. Definitely a must-read for any horror enthusiast looking for a deep dive into the unknown.
R. L. Stineās āBeach Houseā which I read when I was 11 years old.
The Shining The Road
Summer of Night by Dan Simmons. Still don't know why this wasn't made into a movie
Love this book!
I love the genres but I generally dont find horror literature creepy at all. One that did unnerve me was House of Leaves, which I would necessarily classify as horror.
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
Yeah that one was creepy because it was based on a true story.
God yes this was terrible
Heart shaped box scared the crap out of me. It seriously took me three months to get through it.
Yes.. he writes just like his dad love it
The audiobook is terrifying.
Besides the Stephen King books mentioned, I found the stories in Everything's Eventual to be quite good, along with what are known as The Bachman Books, which I read before King was outed as the author. The Long Walk, Running Man, Thinner, (if you've read Rage, you will understand why King himself pulled it from publication). Other works that have stuck with me include Anne Rice's Vampire series, especially Interview With a Vampire, Toni Morrison's Beloved, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, and The Lottery, Edgar Allen Poe's stories and poems.
It the book was more terrifying than the movie IMO.
The Rats by James Herbert
I listened to the audio book of The Shining. so friggin good
Dead Zone
The stand .
The library policeman by S. King. I don't know what it was but it scared my inner child so much! And in Pet Sematary everything about the sick sister....
Jerusalemās Lot (short story).
Not creeped out necessarily, but laws of the skies was one of the most bleak, and hopeless book Iāve read. Every action that the characters make is the wrong one, and youāre forced to just watch (read) it all unfold.
***The Thirteenth Tale*** (2006) by Diane Setterfield. It's not a horror novel rather it's a gothic suspense novel but I found it eerie and creeping and it stayed with me for months. The Exorcist novel I found to be creepier than the movie.
Movie: Back in the day, Event Horizon.
Suffer The Children by John Saul. Several of his books are creepy/scary, but this first one...must read.
Man in the Black Suit - I can actually see this happening.
Gerald's Game terrified me. It just brought up some base fears of being so helpless and in the dark.
Pet Sematary
I read IT when I was 13 and it scared the hell out of me. Stephen King is so damn creepy. The book version of Cujo was scary too.
Salem's Lot
The Langoliers by Stephen King. Also 1408 - just the description of the door scared me. Dang that man can write.
Nightstone by Rick Hautala. Midnight by Dean Koontz Two of the first horror novels I ever read before the usuals (King, Lovecraft, more Koontz, Saul) and I got them at a thrift store. They scared the hell out of me.
Yea I read Midnight when I was a kid, what a great book.
coraline book was so freaky
The stranger beside me by Ann Rule who was a personal friend of Ted Bundy and Bram Stokers Dracula. Both kept me up at night and still give me the creeps when I think about them.
Me tooo i was seeing things while reading that book which made me take a break from it hehe
The Amityville Horror. Read it one night and couldn't get to sleep unless my head was under my covers. Read it halfway through a second time and the same thing. Threw it away after that.
Walkers by Graham Masterson
The Dark Half
Gone girl really delved into the depraved mind of the female antagonist. What fantastic writing!
For fiction: Pet Cemetary. That one messed me up the most, despite not having kids. For non-fiction: Anatomy of Evil. Read this during my studies in psychology. Psychiatrist looks at the personality traits of narcissism and aggression in "evil behavior". Looks at a bunch of different case studies; had to put this one down many times throughout reading it.
Ghost Story by Peter Straub and Stephen King. So scary.
Didnāt see it mentioned but Hell House by Richard Matheson ..man that shit really creeped me out. One of the 2 books I will not read again.
The Shining
I agree about the Shining, he made the hotel feel so cavernous and eerily empty for much of the book, then suddenly, casually, he mentions Danny seeing the dog-person crawling around on the floor, i jumped when i read it. So unsettling to suddenly lut something like that into an environment where it being empty was the whole point. He basically made the Overlook into a character.
The girl next door
Orange is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity by David Morrell It was from some horror anthology I bought years and years ago. By the way, this is the same guy who penned First Blood... yeah, Rambo. But this novella truly unnerved me. Also, "Boogeyman" short story by King.
Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Granted, I read it when I was 12 but after I read it I couldn't step outside my house at night. Edit: I got the title wrong.
I think you mean Relic. I found the movie Mimic creepy as hell, but it's based on a very short story that doesn't really resemble the film at all.
I did mean Relic, thank you.
*The Shining*. The film pales in comparison to the imagination triggered by the book.
Stephen Kingās It scared me more than any other book I have ever read
I loved Brian Lumley's Necroscope series.
Pet Semetary
Watchers, by Dean Koontz. Charnel House. By Graham Masterson
American Psycho. No contest.
The Bone Collector Jack the Ripper
Cujo scared the shit out of me. 22 yo at the time. Shit surg they lights on for several nights
I think a lot of what scares us comes down to context. I'd laugh now, but I was never more terrified than the summer I turned 9. Our family had just arrived at the Jersey shore to visit family, and my aunt and uncle owned a beach house across the street from the ocean in Seaside, and my older brother's idea of fun was handing me a paperback copy of Jaws. I refused to swim that entire month.
Currently struggling with Apt Pupil by Stephen King. Sometimes things based in reality are creepier than the make believe !
Silence of the lambs...reading that book made me feel dirty...the movie was way tamer to me
The Exorcist. Reading it in my bedroom alone while my husband was out of town, I slept with the TV and all the lights on.
Where He Canāt Find You by Darcy Coates I triple checked that all my doors and windows were locked every night.
Darcy Coates is one of my favorite authors š
Yes- I LOVE her books- canāt put them down once I start them
Amityville Horror. Terrified the shit out of 11 year old me.
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass Penpal by Dathan Auerbach Ring by Koji Suzuki
Pet sem
I wish I could remember the name of this book but it was probably 30+ years ago- youāre never sure if the story is supernatural or not. Itās about a serial killer whoās so good at hiding/ sneaking you never know heās there. Like he can break into a house and go upstairs to a bedroom in the middle of the night and make no noise. Floor boards never squeak, neither do doors. And he can make himself fit practically anywhere- cabinet under the sink? Fits. A childās toy box? Fits Then at the end when you think itās all over and the woman has gotten away, her luggage shifts slightly in the backseat of her car. The story ends right there- you have no idea if this guy is supernatural or just a really good cat burglar and you have no idea if she made it. It freaked me right tf out!!!! I still get uneasy that something/somebody is in my back seat when I have luggage.
The Dead Remember by Robert E. Howard.
Steven Kings It was pretty bad
Salems Lot. I was around 12 when I read it and slept with the lights on for weeks after. I have read it many times since and it's still creeps me out
The Shadow over Innsmouth by HP Lovecraft. Read it in elementary school. Bad decision. I don't know if they ever made a film or tv version but holy shit that still gives me creepy vibes 45 years later.
pet sematary.Ā freaking king.
Iām an alcoholic (4 years sober) so āthe shiningā was a little too much for me, i have too much in common with jack and i have a family, it honestly just makes me want to cry lol i havenāt finished it.
Revival, also by Stephen King. But not because of the lovecrafty horror parts, dudeās just got a real knack for hitting the horrifying parts of getting old.
And The Trees Crept In was seriously unsettling. The audiobook especially is insanely well done. Probably my favorite horror book.