Five Spooky Book and Film/TV Recommendations
For you and the spooky person in your life
Introduction
Happy spooky season one and all! Other than one catch-up week, the past two months have been entirely my Review & Analysis posts. And that trend probably would have continued today, if I'd finished another fun book in time. But as it stands, I'm at the ~25% mark on three (Fires of December, Feed Them Silence, and My Heart is a Chainsaw for the curious), and so today felt like a nice opportunity to give some Halloween-related recommendations, based on all the media I've read/watched and reviewed this year.
By no means is this an extensive or universal list—your mileage will certainly vary if you're not already a fan of horror or at least fantasy/sci-fi to some degree—but it's made up of great and fascinating stories which reflect upon our current and recent societal fears. (Take a look at my old post on what speculative fiction is if you want more about that!)
If you end up looking for any of these books, please consider doing so at your local bookstore or library rather than going through a big retailer—it makes a difference!
And rather than give individual content warnings below, blanket statement here that I'll be talking about horror stories, where nastiness abounds. That being said, I'll do my best to avoid spoilers in my brief descriptions.
Horror Books
0.5: First off, I want to give an honorable mention to Blacktail which I reviewed last week. It's fascinating, unique, dark, clever, and an overall remarkable follow-up to The Library At Mount Char. But I also know that the animal violence in both books alone is going to be a tough sell for a lot of people (don't worry, author Scott Hawkins loves and fosters dogs in real life), even before you get to the mind-boggling things he's doing with world-building and reality. As I said last week though, a whole-hearted recommend for those with the stomach and imagination for them.
1: Persona by Aoife Josie Clements follows a woman's disturbing existence as a shut-in internet dweller, living off of not much more than cigarettes and wine as she reflects on her last relationship and earns a few bucks by filling out bizarre surveys. It's grotesque and brilliant and goes places you won't expect (don't read the blurb, for god's sake), and stands in my mind as an instantly classic example of both trans horror (alongside the next book) and contemporary horror (alongside the works of B.R. Yeager).
2: You Weren't Meant to be Human by Andrew Joseph White is probably the most disturbing story I'm mentioning today, where its descriptions of swarming alien worms and flies are genuinely a nice break from the body and gender horror. It takes modern ideas of found family and consensual relationships and flips them on their heads evoke deeply unsettling horror for both the reader and its mute, autistic protagonist.
3: Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman is a wonderful medieval adventure story in the vein of The Green Knight (2021), following a small group of lovable characters as they wander through stranger and stranger encounters in a medieval Europe beset by plague and devils risen from Hell. A truly great read for readers who enjoy fantasy, historical fiction, and religious/apocalyptic horror alike.
4: The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones effortlessly combines two aspects of Indigenous Horror by having its protagonists face down a supernatural killer taking vengeance for crimes against the land and dealing with institutional racism in all the ways Indigenous people are viewed, perceived, and judged by the rest of America. Plus it's about basketball—what's not to love? Shoutout to SGJ's The Buffalo Hunter Hunter as well, if you prefer a longer epic with some fun vampirism to boot.
5: King Sorrow by Joe Hill is another such epic, clocking in at 896 pages and telling an incredible Faustian tale about power and agency whose scale still blows my mind almost six months later. It's the only book I've ever gone out of my way to hunt down a collector's edition for, and it forever changed how I think about dragons, bargains, the ways the supernatural can interact with the world we know, and about geopolitical interventionism. There are also deep and affecting queer and female stories in here, as though I needed to try and sell it further. Brutal and I loved it.
Horror Films & TV Shows
1: Heretic (2024) caught me by surprise as I scrolled through the streaming platforms looking for anything halfway decent. It merges the simplest aspects of horror—a locked door, an unnerving stranger—with philosophy, and questions of brainwashing and belief, in a way that really captured me! Hugh Grant's dazzling performance is a wonderful cherry on top.
2: Widow's Bay (2026) was yet another excellent surprise from Apple TV, joining the likes of Severance, Pluribus, and Murderbot—plus the half dozen other shows that everyone else seems to enjoy on there. It's a beautiful mix of dark comedy and horror that delivered one of the greatest moments I can recall this year (at least make it to episode 4!) even if the show's structure never quite drew me all the way in.
3: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026) is an incredible new release about a fictional series of slasher films, about dipping KFC, and about lesbians, sexuality, and orgasms. It's one of those films whose surreality totally captures my imagination and makes everything darkly funny, and it's a delight if you're looking to support queer filmmaking this spooky season.
4: I Saw the TV Glow (2024) is Jane Schoenbrun's film before Camp Miasma, and it's easily in contention for my favourite film of all time. Another wonderfully surreal and philosophical yet deeply human and yearning film which manages to convey a little glimpse of the trans experience. I could sing its praises forever. Watch it or show it to someone new this Halloween!
5: Midnight Mass (2021) is simply the best, which is frustrating because it overshadows The Fall of the House of Usher and Bly Manor, also excellent in their own rights and also created by Mike Flanagan (also responsible for the new Carrie show) for Netflix. Pruitt and Riley's dynamic is one of my favourite in all of fiction, as they discuss addiction, religion, grace, and agency and ultimately make their separate choices. But the whole cast, setting, premise, and narrative are phenomenal, and writing this I frankly can't wait to go start another rewatch. Check it out if you haven't yet! As with many of these recommendations, it goes places you would not at first expect.
Happy Halloween!
Joining a horror book club about a year ago has turned me into a real fan (when it's good). All of the books I mentioned today affected me in ways that most science fiction and fantasy struggles to, because they're so good at touching the vulnerable and raw parts of our minds. All the visual stories are incredibly evocative in their own ways, whether by playing on the line between horror and comedy or by cutting to the philosophical and experiential core of what it means to be human.
Any stories that you're eager to recommend, revisit, or finally try this season? I'd love to hear about them!
Thanks for reading, enjoy, and until next time <3
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