(Part 3) Top products from r/horror

This is a very popular one, so sorry if it's a bad suggestion, but I think The Ring fits the devotion perfectly. I haven't seen the original Japanese film yet, but I recall the American one being very good, and the novel it's based on is amazing.

I also watched Sinister last night, and there's a good deal of what you're describing in that.

The Shining
Alien
The Thing

Horror movies generally benefit more from good surround sound than better image quality. Put some $$$ into a nice sub and some good surround and you'll be set.

Also, http://www.amazon.com/Sleepaway-Camp-Survival-Unhappy-Wasteland/dp/B00006ADDG

This book has all the artwork of all the video nasties and some other films. I can't remember how but there's a link between this book and this film which in my opinion is the best film about that period in UK history. I own the book, I'd be willing to take some high definition pictures of specific films if you wish?

For a great read based on this topic, check out Medusa's Gaze and Vampire's Bite: The Science of Monsters (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1451667981/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_N4rxybY2FWSRM).

While you can't look at these trends a year at a time, the concept has merit and historical support.

I don't know if you have seen this book but it is amazing and sounds like it is right up your alley: https://www.amazon.com/VHS-Video-Cover-Art-1980s/dp/0764348671

The New Annotated book is pretty great as well. https://www.amazon.com/New-Annotated-H-Lovecraft-Books/dp/0871404532

I would love for you to message me when it's out.

As for books you should read, I would start with the three most commonly recomended books for writing. Believe me, these are gold printed on paper.

How To Write a Sentence

The Elements of Style

On Writing

and here's a great reference book: The Little, Brown Compact Handbook. Don't be turned off by the price, just search for a much cheaper older addition, it will have the same information.

You can get them on Amazon. I have all 3 and the first two have the DVD cover that looks like the Necronomicon it's all foam/whatever material and if you push on the eye on the second cover, it makes a screaming sound.

Here is the second DVD on Amazon.

I got mine about 4 years ago and didn't pay $80. I think mine were about $35~ each for the special limited edition covers.

It makes an awesome mantel piece sitting next to my Nightmare on Elm St. and Friday the 13th box sets.

Can I suggest to you, and anyone else, that it would be beneficial to read Stephen King's book 'On Writing'. If you click on the 'Look inside' sample pages, and scroll down to pages 285 and 286, it illustrates how to edit text with the notion that less is more.

Taking a piece of text from your line 10, as an example: "Maybe it's time we, became adults!" Due to her saying this to the boy it caused him to blush slightly.

Taking Stephen King's advice I'd imagine it would be more like:


"Maybe it's time we became adults!" she said.
He blushed.

John Dies at the End is my favorite novel. And I'm looking forward to reading Apeshit.

Excellent points all. This book might be just what we are looking for.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Cabin-Woods-Official-Companion/dp/1848565240

I was looking, too (my search history is forever destroyed!) - looks like the English title is PROMISE ME YOU'LL SHOOT YOURSELF. So far I've only found it on the Australian Amazon site...

ETA Found it on the Canadian site too; it's listed as Not Available on the US site.

Yeah, well actually $11.37 plus shipping.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/157362408X/ref=sr_1_1_any_1_main_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1407776792&sr=8-1&condition=any

I've been reading a lot of horror recently, so I can suggest a few off the top of my head.

Hell House by Richard Matheson

Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill

The Shining by Steven King

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (You might hate this one.)

Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

Also, I'm not sure if you're into comics, but there's a bunch of great horror there. I recommend Locke and Key, Colder, and Wytches.

I've got such a cool edition of all of those movies. This edition here.

I found a hardcover copy on American Amazon.

I've been reading The Weird and Ligotti's The Town Manager has probably been my favorite short of the year. It convinced me to pick up Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe and I haven't been disappointed.

Anyway, favorite for the year is The Town Manager. It is about an ineffective town manager who is replaced by someone more incompetent. Has a very Kafkaesque nightmarish world.

Read Apeshit by Carlton Mellick III.

Erotic Abortions.

I own this. https://www.amazon.com/Dawn-Dead-Ultimate-David-Emge/dp/B0002IQNAG .

Not a documentary, but Art of the Nasty is a book on the subject.

See also VHS Video Cover Art

Where you can buy the book : http://www.amazon.com/dp/1848565240

$15 per season isn't half bad!

http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Crypt-The-Complete-Seasons/dp/B001CT05SA

Similarly, the region 1 DVD that's been available since forever seems to be going for waaaaaay more than I remember.

This (26 bucks).

Men, Women & Chainsaws, The Dread of Difference, Projected Fears are all really interesting reads!

The grandson knew his granddad was a murderer from the get go, and verified it in what he did with the trophies of the victims. How the grandson stayed in the inherited slaughterhouse knowing what his grandpa did, specifically, I would think most would not want to be around any of it. At minimum, I would hope most would call the authorities to have them find the bodies and give closure to surviving family members. So I too looked for more information on this episode, and found that many are saying that it is fake scripted show, with no reply from Netflix or the local authorities: https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/7564763/netflix-haunted-fake-guest-lying-parents-serial-killer/ As I was searching up the unique name of Terilynn, who was the main contributor in the episode. I did find what I would consider an easter egg at best, or just a big duh from the author who wrote the story to say: yeah it wasn't real, but this is: https://www.amazon.com/Terilynn-Americas-Youngest-Serial-Killer/dp/0963242210

If you like short stories, I recommend Songs of Dead Dreamer & Grimscribe by Thomas Ligotti. It's his first two collections in one.

Also, House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

Terilynn: Based On The True Story of America's Youngest Serial Killer https://www.amazon.com/dp/0963242210/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_ZFiyCbBCKD19W

If it's not taboo to copy/paste something I wrote in /r/booksuggestions, here are a few recommendations:

On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears by Stephen T. Asma -- If you want a comprehensive history of monsters, this is an excellent book to start with. Asma discusses everything from mythological beasts to cyborgs, and the discussion is very well written and easy to follow.

Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters by Judith Halberstam -- In the opening chapter, Halberstam offers a very interesting reading of The Silence of the Lambs, which she identifies as a sort of re-telling of Frankenstein. Generally, though, Halberstam tends to focus on Gothic lit. (Shelley, Stoker, and Wilde are prominent in her discussion), but she also brings up horror film and newer horror phenomena.

Medusa's Gaze and Vampire's Bite: The Science of Monsters by Matt Kaplan -- Conceptually, this book is very similar to Asma's but there's a key distinction. Whereas Asma is a philosophy professor, Kaplan is a science journalist, so his take on the subject is quite different. Kaplan tends to explore "why do monsters exist?" but Asma seems to prefer to ask "what do monsters mean?"

I'd also recommend W. Scott Poole's Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and the Haunting. It's rather similar to Asma's text, but it has a decidedly American and typically contemporary bent to it.

Edit: I should perhaps mention that I am using these books as sources for my dissertation on the Gothic monster, so I apologize if these texts don't exactly fit what you're looking for. I'm obviously taking an academic approach here. Either way, I hope you benefit from these suggestions!

The Evil Dead 2 had an awesome limited Book of The Dead release. I think they did a release of all 3 like this as well.

I haven't read too many horror novels honestly. I think I was most scared by Heart-Shaped Box. Kind of an average story--guy buys a box with a suit in it that's haunted by this guy's grandfather's ghost.

The best type, in my opinion, are the retrospective types of film documentaries ... that way people are real and talk about some of the issues during production.

Alien Anthology (Supplements disc)

2+ hour documentaries for each movie

http://amzn.com/B001AQO3QA
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Prometheus (4 Disc Collector's Edition)

Super long and interesting behind the scenes doc, though all of your story releated questions will npot be answered.

http://amzn.com/B005LAIHY0
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The Psycho Legacy

Based on the Psycho series

http://amzn.com/B003THSXKU
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Dawn of the Dead (Ultimate Edition)

Includes 2 full length docs

http://amzn.com/B0002IQNAG
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Day of the Dead (Divimax Edition)

Extensive bonus feature

http://amzn.com/B0002F6AY8
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Crystal Lake Memories

Super extensive Friday the 13th documentary

http://amzn.com/B00ETHN9L2
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His Name Was Jason

Much shorter version of Crystal Lake Memories

http://amzn.com/B001L9EXNO
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Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy

Along the lines of His Name Was Jason, except for ANOES

http://amzn.com/B003HFUVQI
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Halloween: 25 Years of Terror

First doc made by the same people as the Jason and Freddy docs. Pre Rob Zombie Halloween era

http://amzn.com/B000FC2GA0
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More Brains!: A Return To The Living Dead - The Definitive Return of the Living Dead Documentary

Covers the first 3 films of the series, but mainly dealing with the 1st.

http://amzn.com/B005NFJAOY
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Halloween (Two-Disc Unrated Collector's Edition)

One of the most extensive documentaries I've ever scene for any movie. Even if you hated it, it's interesting from a film making point of view.

http://amzn.com/B001CFLGYQ

Horror is actually a great subject to dip into a little feminist theory. You've got Men, Women, & Chainsaws, The Dread of Difference, and The Monstrous Feminine as film studies texts. If you're already interested in horror, they're all worth a read and it's better to get a little academic/theoretical rather than letting reddit/the internet/etc. inform your understanding of feminism.

Some of the best horror fiction was written by women - Frankenstein, The Haunting of Hill House, Interview with the Vampire, Rebecca, etc.

You could argue whether a lot of movies are "feminist" because they have female protagonists, discuss gender, critique patriarchy, etc. but it's all open to debate. Like you can read Rosemary's Baby or Carrie or others as feminist films or not. As Gorgobutt said, a female protagonist does not necessarily make a movie "feminist" and conversely you can make the case that movies with female antagonists are feminist for showing women are people with an equal potential for evil as men (Antichrist, Eyes Of My Mother, etc.).

I'd throw Jennifer's Body, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, Season of the Witch, May, Ginger Snaps, The Company of Wolves, and The Descent on the pile.

It's not exactly a short story, but "The Conspiracy Against the Human Race: A Contrivance of Horror" by Thomas Ligotti kept me up for weeks after I read it, and I still get scared sometimes thinking about it. Maybe I'm just a big baby, I dunno.


Edit: Amazon


My summary: This book is horror writer Thomas Ligotti's first nonfiction book, but don't let that fool you. Ligotti attempts to tackle where horror comes from in the first place, and he does a remarkable job of kindling the imagination.

It's a short story collection, but I loved ZOO by Otsuichi. It's a fucking insane collection, that really shocked me.

> A man watches his girlfriend decompose, one Polaroid at a time. A salesman offers a euthanasia drug at an exorbitant price to a man on a hijacked airplane. An abused boy builds a house in the woods out of dead bodies. These are some of the stories in Otsuichi's ZOO. Creepy, funny, strange, and sad, these stories will fire up your imagination. Let one of Japan’s brightest young authors into your mind. Welcome to the ZOO.

In the same vein, [Ring by Koji Suzuki] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1932234411/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_eMKtDb1VPVZMG) is some of the most amazing horror prose, which may be due to the translation. It's a cool story for sure.

> A mysterious videotape warns that the viewer will die in one week unless a certain, unspecified act is performed. Exactly one week after watching the tape, four teenagers die one after another of heart failure.

> Asakawa, a hardworking journalist, is intrigued by his niece's inexplicable death. His investigation leads him from a metropolitan tokyo teeming with modern society's fears to a rural Japan--a mountain resort, a volcanic island, and a countryside clinic--haunted by the past. His attempt to solve the tape's mystery before it's too late--for everyone--assumes an increasingly deadly urgency. Ring is a chillingly told horror story, a masterfully suspenseful mystery, and post-modern trip.


Lastly, Songs of a Dead Dreamer by Thomas Ligotti has some of the best modern existentialist horror imaginable.

> Thomas Ligotti’s debut collection, Songs of a Dead Dreamer, and his second, Grimscribe, permanently inscribed a new name in the pantheon of horror fiction.  Influenced by the strange terrors of Lovecraft and Poe and by the brutal absurdity of Kafka, Ligotti eschews cheap, gory thrills for his own brand of horror, which shocks at the deepest, existential, levels.

> Ligotti’s stories take on decaying cities and lurid dreamscapes in a style ranging from rich, ornamental prose to cold, clinical detachment. His raw and experimental work lays bare the unimportance of our world and the sickening madness of the human condition. Like the greatest writers of cosmic horror, Ligotti bends reality until it cracks, opening fissures through which he invites us to gaze on the unsettling darkness of the abyss below.