OT: Best horror/scary books of all time

[amishclone]

In a different vein, Cormac Macarthy's Blood Meridian has a sort of flow of consciousness terror about it.

Pale Horse Coming by Stephen Hunter is also kind of in this vein.

And of course Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum is a classic.

 

[HFCS]

King books are notoriously long getting to care about the characters so I get why some people don't like his novels. But that makes it all the better when the **** hits the fan. That's why I love Salem's Lot so much...it was the first book where things happen to the main characters that I couldn't believe and that scared the crap out of me. I love that about his writing. But those long character builds are also probably the main reason 90% of his movie adaptations are crap. If movies took the time to build characters they would be six hours long. The IT adaptation did it right...two 2.5 hours movies. Have heard someone is remaking Salem's Lot which if done right will be unbelievable.

Hopefully the opposite of what The Dark Tower movie did. They had a “universe” that could compete with Marvel and Star Wars and didn’t even try for it.

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

As a kid I loved this short story.

https://americanliterature.com/author/wc-morrow/short-story/his-unconquerable-enemy

 

[cdface]

Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke. Very spooky, quality sci-fi.

 

[CtownCyclone]

Don’t get me wrong, it was a decent book, if you take away the gangbanging of a 13 year old girl part. But it became a chore to read.

Man, that's tee'd up nice and high for somebody...

 

[Triggermv]

 

[JMA1125]

When I read Salem’s Lot as a teen I literally shook with fear.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

I haven't read it in a long time, but I remember being sufficiently creeped out reading "In Cold Blood" when I was a teenager on the farm.

Also, this is more of a thriller, but "Still Life With Crows" by Preston and Child has some really great scary moments.

 

[harimad]

If you're not a fan of his longer works, try some of King's short stories. "The Raft," in particular, is scary as hell. As is "The Mist."

 

[SCyclone]

I'll also throw out anything by Lovecraft. His stories are terrifying because there's just no chance for any kind of happy ending in them. They're just so hopeless. The best a character can hope for in his stories is to not die, but "only" lose their mind. The antagonists are so powerful than the protagonists can't even get their minds around it. That kind of ancient, eldritch enemy is particularly scary, because not only do the main characters have no chance against it, it's hard to see how the entire human race could even stand up to them.

I often wondered how Lovecraft managed to not commit suicide. As you said, his stories are dark and gloomy, and most carry a touch of mental instability as well. Along with H. G. Wells, Lovecraft's imagination was off the charts. I always thought "The Colour Out of Space" would make a great movie.

 

[SCyclone]

One of the most terrifying books in my experience is "Hell House" by Richard Matheson. Someone mentioned Peter Straub earlier, one of his books titled "Shadowland" is also extremely creepy.

 

[SCyclone]

Not a true horror story, but read Jack London's short story "To Make A Fire" sometime. Pretty creepy stuff

EDIT: Actual title is "To Build A Fire". Sorry....also there are two versions of the story, make sure you read the one from 1908. (NOT the 1902 version.)

 

[mapnerd]

The Wendigo is a pretty cool short story.

Also, I am listening to the audio book of At the Mountains of Madness now. Pretty cool! HP Lovecraft is one of my favorites. Yeah, I understand the whole racism thing, so I try to ignore that.

Damn, gonna have to read Salem's Lot now...

 

[Cyclonepride]

The Wendigo is a pretty cool short story.

Also, I am listening to the audio book of At the Mountains of Madness now. Pretty cool! HP Lovecraft is one of my favorites. Yeah, I understand the whole racism thing, so I try to ignore that.

Damn, gonna have to read Salem's Lot now...

Salem's Lot is definitely worth a read.

 

[VeloClone]

Not a true horror story, but read Jack London's short story "To Make A Fire" sometime. Pretty creepy stuff

EDIT: Actual title is "To Build A Fire". Sorry....also there are two versions of the story, make sure you read the one from 1908. (NOT the 1902 version.)

I'm pretty sure I have read that one.

Spoiler: Is this the right story?

Is that the one where a guy is freezing to death and manages to just get a fire started and snow dumps off the tree above putting it out before it really gets going?

 

[VeloClone]

Speaking of London, my daughter likes books about animals and was trying to come up with a good book for her next book report. I suggested The Call of the Wild.

 

[HitItHard58]

The Wendigo is a pretty cool short story.

Also, I am listening to the audio book of At the Mountains of Madness now. Pretty cool! HP Lovecraft is one of my favorites. Yeah, I understand the whole racism thing, so I try to ignore that.

Damn, gonna have to read Salem's Lot now...

Salem's Lot is definitely worth a read.

Was pretty set on reading Pet Sematary again since the trailer got me jacked up for the new movie but I've been planning on reading Salem's Lot for a long time. Pet Sematary doesn't come out until April so probably makes the most sense to do Salem's Lot first and save Pet Sematary for as close to the premiere as possible.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Speaking of London, my daughter likes books about animals and was trying to come up with a good book for her next book report. I suggested The Call of the Wild.

Where the red fern grows...

Also, Animal Farm if she’s a little older

 

[rdtindsm]

My favorites are movies, but I got a sci-fi book club book that had two of my favorites. Don't remember the name, but small group of people found themselves trapped in a city by robots (sort of like "The Day the Earth Stood Still"). This was mid 50's so black & white w/ no cgi. I was about 7 and had to reach around the corner of my room to turn the light on for the next year.

My favorite movie was Carpenter's "The Thing". That book also had scenes from the origanil as played by James Arness.

Of course I've read most of Poe and Shelly's "Frankens A Modern Prometheus".

 

[SCyclone]

I'm pretty sure I have read that one.

Spoiler: Is this the right story?

Is that the one where a guy is freezing to death and manages to just get a fire started and snow dumps off the tree above putting it out before it really gets going?

Yep.