While some folks count down the days to summer, where they can freely bask in the warm glow of sunlight and spread out on the beach, I spend those months just biding my time. Regardless of the heat index, as soon as that very first day of September rolls around, I declare the spooky season officially started. At first, the changes are small—our apartment’s doormat swapped for one emblazoned with spiderwebs and the greeting “Home Sweet Haunted Home,” or a cider-scented candle evoking the scents of autumn. It's a slippery slope, though, and before you know it, tiny pumpkins, bats, and ghosts settle in on every household surface.
But the shift is perhaps most apparent in the pile of books at my bedside, my listening library, and our household streaming queue. After all, what would Halloween be without a roster of terrifying stories to really get you in the spirit? With that said, actually choosing your next foray into the strange and unusual is easier said than done, as an ever-growing barrage of inventive horror media makes for a daunting endless scroll of options. To make things a bit simpler for my fellow goblins and ghouls, I’ve rounded up a list of book recommendations based on your favorite horror movies, running the gamut from popular slasher flicks to cult classics.
If your favorite horror movie is Halloween, try The Babysitter Lives by Stephen Graham Jones.
Perhaps the quintessential slasher film, John Carpenter’s groundbreaking 1978 horror classic Halloween introduced the iconic Michael Myers, a masked asylum escapee who terrorizes the small town of Haddonfield 15 years after murdering his sister, Judith. But the heart of the franchise is our heroine, Laurie Strode, a sweet, bookish teen who is watching after two young neighborhood children when the Boogeyman returns. If the tense, dread-filled sequence of Laurie protecting little Tommy and Lindsay while avoiding the murderous glint of Michael’s kitchen knife still sends shivers down your spine, you’ll want to listen in to Stephen Graham Jones’s The Babysitter Lives. This novel follows a high school senior forced to confront an ominous entity that threatens both her and her twin charges. Similar in both the teen protagonist’s occupation and the claustrophobic horrors of a setting seemed doomed to fate, this is a surefire winner for any horror fan. After all, it’s Halloween—everyone’s entitled to one good scare.
The Babysitter Lives
By Stephen Graham Jones
Narrated by Isabella Star LaBlanc, Stephen Graham Jones - acknowledgments
If your favorite horror movie is Get Out, try When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole.
Jordan Peele’s twisty 2017 thriller Get Out completely broke the mold of the genre, upending the expectations of moviegoers while offering a skewering commentary on race, wealth, and status in America. When Chris, a Black photographer living in Brooklyn, agrees to meet his white girlfriend’s family, he harbors concerns about a bigoted reception. Upon arrival, it becomes clear that these misgivings were not unfounded, and in fact, the Armitage family is hiding a secret far darker than anything Chris could have ever imagined. Alyssa Cole’s gripping When No One Is Watching takes on New York City’s gentrification epidemic in a similar fashion, contorting the vicious realities of day-to-day racism and prejudice into a suspenseful, genre-shifting chiller driven by paranoia and a sinister plot.
If your favorite horror movie is Scream, try The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix.
In 1996, Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson took everything audiences thought they knew about horror movies and tossed in the easy familiarity of slasher flicks for something totally different, crafting an inventive self-referential slasher with a meta feel and sharp teenage characters who defied stereotypes. Satirical and smart, Scream remains one of the most popular horror movie franchises to date, with the most recent installment released just last year. Like Scream, Grady Hendrix’s Final Girl Support Group pays homage to the slasher flicks that inspired it, while incisively picking apart the cliches and formulas that drive them. The snappy novel centers on borderline agoraphobe Lynette Tarkington, a member of the titular therapy group for sole survivors of mass murders, who again must fight for their lives when a new killer begins to pick them off.
If your favorite horror movie is Crimson Peak, try Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
Seeped in the haunting, atmospheric beauty of gothic fiction, horror great Guillermo del Toro’s 2015 feature Crimson Peak is as stunning as it is spooky. With glorious set design and costumery, the film establishes its aesthetic early on—but beyond the magnificent craftsmanship and artistry lurks the eerie horrors of ghosts, a mysterious estate, and a curious family that isn’t quite what they seem. Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s brilliant Mexican Gothic captures that same gothic essence while also centering on a family unit both intriguing and menacing. Socialite Noemí Taboada rushes to the High Place after receiving a foreboding letter from her recently married cousin, begging for her help. But once she arrives, Noemí finds not only a desolate manor, but ominous nightmares and a cast of characters haunted by a history of madness and violence. Set in the Mexican countryside during the 1950s, Mexican Gothic will also appeal to horror fans who appreciate a thoroughly developed setting and nuanced world.
If your favorite horror movie is Midsommar, try Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss.
Don’t let the flower crowns and white cotton dresses fool you. Ari Aster’s well-lit, Sweden-set folk horror film is the stuff of nightmares, with intermittent flares of grotesque gore and creepy cult rituals hinting at the lingering traumas just beneath the surface. Shortly after losing her sister and parents in a tragic murder-suicide, college student Dani journeys to rural Hälsingland alongside her recently estranged longtime boyfriend and a few of their peers. Once they get to the commune, however, things quickly deteriorate to disastrous effect. Sarah Moss’s Ghost Wall also houses a disturbing, anxiety-inducing thriller inside an otherwise idyllic remote locale. Like the trip to the Hårga that sets the stage for Midsommar, the conceit of this novel begins with an anthropological study. But as Silvie and her family begin to reenact the lives of those in the Iron Age, they find themselves drawn into their grimmer beliefs and rituals, blurring the line between past and present in ways both spiritual and sacrificial.
If your favorite horror movie is The Craft, try Bunny by Mona Awad.
Blending the pains of youth and the unbridled force of the occult, 1996’s The Craft quickly became a cult classic in the years since its release. When transfer student Sarah Bailey, a troubled teen with strange abilities, starts the year at her new school, she quickly connects with three other teen outcasts—who also happen to practice witchcraft. Together, the four girls form a coven, but united, their power is far greater than they could have anticipated. Fans of the film’s sharp glimpse into cliques and magic’s might will likewise appreciate Mona Awad’s Bunny. Samantha Heather Mackey doesn’t quite fit in at her competitive MFA program. Nor does she want to, as her cohort is comprised of excessively twee, wealthy women who refer to each other only as “Bunny.” Soon though, Samantha finds herself plunging headfirst into their world at a surreal off-campus workshop, where wickedness abounds and belonging is just within reach.
If your favorite horror movie is Train to Busan, try Zone One by Colson Whitehead.
What makes the 2016 Korean horror stunner Train to Busan linger long after the credits isn’t simply its reimagining of zombies (fast, somewhat intelligent, and with a bite that infects within minutes) but its class commentary and examination of the human toll of a burgeoning apocalyptic event. Set on a high-speed train from Seoul to Busan at the onset of a viral outbreak that leaves those infected ruthless and reanimated, this taut, terrifying, and confined movie is a standout in the genre. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead’s Zone One is likewise a cutting-edge take on a familiar monster story. Set in a world ravaged by a plague that rendered much of the population carnage-coated living dead creatures, this literary novel examines life after the initial flare, focusing on how to rebuild when all seems lost. And, like Train to Busan, it offers up a clever narrative honing in on both societal ills and human strengths and pitfalls.
If your favorite horror movie is A Nightmare on Elm Street, try Insomnia by Stephen King.
There’s no horror movie that had us petrified of bedtime quite like horror legend Wes Craven’s killer classic, A Nightmare on Elm Street. A vengeful spirit, the severely burned, fedora-clad Freddy Kreuger, crept into the nightmares of teens, armed with a razor-sharp, metal-clawed glove. As the hazy disorientation of exhaustion begins to blur periods of wake and sleep, Freddy’s victims find themselves unable to distinguish danger from paranoia—until it’s too late. Stephen King’s Insomnia hits similar notes in terms of the hallucinatory aspects born from sleep deprivation. Widower Ralph Roberts struggles to fall and stay asleep, so he sets out on late-night walks around Derry, Maine. While on these strolls, he begins to perceive peculiarities in the world around him, and before long, he is forced to confront that maybe these bizarre visions aren’t the result of a lack of rest but a real indication of something far more terrifying.
If your favorite horror movie is The VVitch, try In the House in the Dark of the Woods by Laird Hunt.
As Robert Eggers’s debut The VVitch proved, there is evil in the woods. Starring rising star Anya Taylor Joy in her debut film appearance, the acclaimed movie opens in 1630s New England as a family of recently banished colonists sets up a homestead next to a forest. But the woods house unimaginable, enchanting powers. Likewise set in colonial America, Laird Hunt’s In the House of the Dark of the Woods has an eerie ambience and creeping sense of dread similar to that of The VVitch. Hunt's gorgeously told deeply suspenseful tale of a missing Puritan woman lured into a darkened wood hiding strange horrors—and the grim and seductive world of witchcraft—is a warped and bewitching glimpse into the New England mythos.
If your favorite horror movie is The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, try Brother by Ania Ahlborn.
Cannibalism, masks made from human skin, and a portable power saw—1974’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre had all the makings of a nightmare sure to linger long after the credits rolled. When siblings Sally and Frank Hardesty and their friends happen across a homestead while waiting to refuel their van, they unexpectedly come face to face with the bloodthirsty Sawyer family, including the notorious chainsaw-wielding Leatherface. Ania Ahlborn’s Brother captures the same grim, grotesque feel of the slasher classic. This listen turns its lens towards Appalachia and the reclusive—and murderous—Morrow family, zeroing in on young Michael Morrow, a teen who yearns for a normal life free from the crimes of his kin. But Michael can’t escape tradition, especially with his brother, Rebel, reminding him of his proper place.
If your favorite horror movie is Hereditary, try The Good House by Tananarive Due.
There may not be a single horror film in recent memory that shook the genre quite like Hereditary. A haunting, harrowing, and deeply discomforting film that meditated on family dynamics, transgenerational trauma, and the creeping agony of emotional suppression, the film is heralded as much for its uniquely unsettling atmosphere as it is for the performances of its wildly talented cast. Like Ari Aster’s directorial debut, Tananarive Due’s compulsive, character-driven horror follows a woman forced to come to terms with her family's past while seemingly tormented by the supernatural. When Angela Toussaint returns to her late grandmother’s estate, she must confront not only the tragic death that once occurred there but also a slowly unraveling history that hints at the ancestral presence of witchcraft.
If your favorite horror movie is The Conjuring, try The Grip of It by Jac Jemc.
Home is supposed to be the one place where you feel truly safe and at ease—but what if your family is plagued by malevolent forces beyond imagination? James Wan’s acclaimed 2013 horror film The Conjuring follows a fictionalized account of a real haunting. The movie is based on a 1971 investigation of the Perron family farmhouse, led by paranormal experts Ed and Lorraine Warren. The family of seven was tormented by dark, possibly demonic spirits shortly after they moved into their new home, driving them to seek the Warrens' intervention to ensure their safety and get to the bottom of strange occurrences. Jac Jemc’s The Grip of It also centers on a new home that offers not a fresh start but a swell of insidious secrets. In fact, James and Julie’s home seems to be shifting, changing, and decaying into creeping mold and ruin—a state that soon reflects onto its inhabitants.
If your favorite horror movie is Friday the 13th, try Final Girls by Riley Sager.
Few horror franchises are as prolific as the Friday the 13th series. With 11 films and a 2009 reboot, hockey-mask-wearing, machete-waving, Crystal Lake inhabitant Jason Voorhees clearly made his mark with audiences. And while—spoiler!—he wasn’t even the camp counselor-killer in the original 1980 installment, Jason's presence loomed large in that film and in the multitude that followed. Riley Sager’s Final Girls is in many ways both an homage to and a play on films like this legendary slasher. After college student Quincy Carpenter narrowly survives the Pine Cottage Massacre, she joins the ranks of fellow final girls Sam and Lisa. And though Quincy would rather forget her traumatic past and move on, threats of the present demand otherwise.
If your favorite horror movie is The Grudge, try The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco.
Both Ju-On: The Grudge and its 2004 American remake, The Grudge, are particularly memorable for the lasting image of pale little Toshio, innocent but ominous, the ghost of a young boy murdered by his father in an act of family annihilation. Toshio, alongside his mother, Takayo, are onryō, vengeful spirits seeking redress for their experiences in life. Along with them, they carry the curse of the grudge, a bane that links malevolence to the place of death. Rin Chupeco’s The Girl from the Well is akin to Ju-On in its focus on a ghost seeking revenge for the events of their past. For 300 years, Okiku has hunted down those who abuse, harm, or kill children and exacts a rather gruesome kind of justice. A look at the more human side of monsters and the monstrous side of humans, this listen, rooted in Japanese legend, myth, and culture, is the perfect follow-up for fans of J-horror.
If your favorite horror movie is Killer Klowns from Outer Space, try Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare.
Okay, so it’s a little bit campy—there’s a bazooka that shoots popcorn-shaped larvae, cotton candy cocoons, and those absolutely bonkers rubber suits. But you’d be lying if you said that 1988’s comedic sci-fi horror staple Killer Klowns from Outer Space didn’t dissuade you—if even just a little bit!—from frequenting carnivals and circuses. If the film’s plot, centered on aliens posing as clowns to harvest humans they’d later consume, wasn’t enough to induce coulrophobia, give Adam Cesare’s Clown in a Cornfield a listen. In sleepy Kettle Springs, newcomers Quinn Maybrook and her father quickly find that the hamlet is torn between the traditions of older adults and the yearning of rambunctious teens. In response to the growing tension, Frendo, a porkpie hat-donning clown mascot, sets out on a killing spree, viciously slaying the town’s wild, meddling kids in an attempt to get the old-fashioned town back on track.
If your favorite horror movie is The Exorcist, try The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty.
OK, this one's a no-brainer. But even if you're familiar with the film—especially if you're familiar with the film—the source material is something you just have to hear. The first horror movie to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, The Exorcist was based on William Peter Blatty's eponymous novel, which he narrates himself in audio. When 11-year-old Regan MacNeil is possessed by a malevolent entity, her mother calls on Father Damian Karras to expel the darkness and save Reagan’s life. Equally adept at summoning a mother's desperation and her daughter's demonic growls, Blatty's impeccable performance of his own triumph is one for the ages. Not only is this the scariest author narration of all time—there, we said it—it’s also among the best ever.
