I Want to be Scared

[JoitheArtist]

Absolutely agreed. Without question my favorite Doctor Who episode ever...and I have only ever seen it once!

Blink freaks me out every time I see it, and I LOVE it! Weeping angels....*shivers* SO glad I don't live in a town with lots of statues!!

That said, pretty much every Doctor Who episode by Stephen Moffat freaks me out.

The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances---"Are you my mummy?"
The Girl in the Fireplace
Blink
Silence in the Library--my bedroom is full of both books and shadows--I slept with my light on that night!!!

[LibraryLady]

Lovecraft, King, they're all good for a scare.

Fear can best be achieved with a than an Here are some good ones in that mode.

One of the most scary stories I've ever read was Arthur C. Clark's "Nine Billion Names of God". The idea is that God had nine billion names. Once all those names have been discovered, the world will end.

A hubristic bunch of scientists decide that they will discover all the names using the random generator in an early computer. I won't say what happens but the last paragraph may well give you an involuntary Mohawk.

Algernon Blackwood's stories are always good for a frisson or two. He was a master of the surprise ending the reader should have seen coming.

William Golding's "The Spire" is an unappreciated treasure of the genre of fear. It's about the building of a Cathedral. From the beginning, the reader sees that something isn't quite right but how wrong things are only become clear as the story unfolds. If there's such a thing, this one is a slow-paced nail-biter.

"Harriet" by Elizabeth Jenkins was written in the 1930s. It's still a spine-chiller. Harriet was woman of considerable worth and legally entitled to marry as she wished. She was also a woman of compromised mental capacity. There is some fear in this book. More likely, you want to choke some of the characters to death.

Enjoy reading these Easter Eggs of fear and loathing!

[JoitheArtist]

Garth Nix, but not his teenager-books. Which are probably scary enough for teenagers! But the Sabriel/Lirael/Abhorsen series are great, if you go for creepy-slow horror, rather than sudden terror.

I LOVE the Abhorsen books! Humor, romance, creeping horror, and those amazing bells...Some of the best YA fantasy I've read in a good long while.

Quoth LibraryLady:


One of the most scary stories I've ever read was Arthur C. Clark's "Nine Billion Names of God". The idea is that God had nine billion names. Once all those names have been discovered, the world will end.

I LOVE that story! I think I yelped at the final sentence. Clark was really great at those last-sentence-freaks-you-out kind of stories.

Oh, and Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes was creepy, at least to me.

[KiaKat]

Also, James L. Grant's book On The Banks of Lethe.

Scared the bejeezus out of me. And I *don't* get scared at books. Ever. Movies, sure. Books, not so much.

I know a lot of people don't like his movies, but M. Night Shyamalan's movie Signs always does it for me. Fantastic suspense.

And Bradbury's Mars stories. Or anything from Clive Barker.

[Eireann]

E.F. Benson, a contemporary of M.R. James, wrote a slew of ghost stories. Not all of them are successful, but two that REALLY work are:

"The Room in the Tower" (with a truly chilling tombstone inscription mentioned)
"The Step"

Frederic Brown's short fiction is also very good, especially "Come and Go Mad" and one of the most frightening short stories I've ever read, "Don't Look Behind You". There is also the short story - the name escapes me - about scientists linking up all the computers in the universe, and what happens when they ask the universal Internet their first question.

Ray Bradbury's short story collection The October Country, containing the story "The Emissary". Well, all of the stories are good, but that one is particularly frightening. Also look for his short story (not in this collection) titled "The October Game".

I'm going to have to check out some of the other recommendations on this thread!

[LibraryLady]

I'm currently dipping into a big yokker of a book I got from a bargain table. It's

"The Best of Mystery. 63 Short Stories Chosen by the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock". This compendium includes such authors as Lawrence Block (the author of 'Psycho'), Bill Pronzini, Ron Goulart, Patricia Highsmith, Donald E. Westlake and many, many others. I'm reading it very sparingly because I think it'll be just the thing to read and leave on the ship when we sail from Barcelona to NYC in November. It'd be especially good on a misty night when the fog-horns are sounding.

We should also consider the work of Shirley Jones. "The Lottery" is a high school classic but "We Have Always Lived in the Castle."is a slow-paced, genuine bone-chiller. When I first read it, I could easily imagine the story happening in my home town. I could easily identify the shops and the houses. I could even put the faces and names of people I knew to characters in the book.

Joyce Carol Oates's "Mysteries of Winterthurn" might not seem an immediate choice for lovers of horrific fiction but, if you approach it with the right attitude, the misadventures of Xavier Kilgarven can be both very funny and very scary.

Last of all, I'd like to recommend "The Dwarf Who Ate His Mother". I don't have the book any more and I don't remember the author but that one gave me nightmares long after I finished reading it.

Happy dreams, everyone!

[LingualMonkey]

Here's a few more:

Movies
The Devil's Backbone--Guillermo del Toro's best movie (in my opinion). Parts are terrifying, although this won't give you nightmares. Great film. No one does critters and monsters as well as del Toro.

...28 Days Later--fast plague-ridden zombies! Woo! (Avoid the sucktastic sequel.)

The Wicker Man--the original movie with Christopher Lee and Edward Woodward, not the awful, awful remake. A complete mindscrew at the end. Not scary-scary, but definitely left me with some existential dread.

The Tenant--Existential horror from Roman Polanski. Again, not jump-out-of-the-seat scary, but a total headtrip.

Jacob's Ladder--see above with more scary stuff.

The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (either 1956 or the one from the 70s)--I lost a week of sleep from the original as a kid. The book's not bad, either.

Poltergeist--Proof that scary PG movies can exist.

The Serpent and the Rainbow--real Haitian voodoo zombies. Some scary imagery, and some awesome scenes.

Eraserhead--the closest thing ever to a nightmare depicted on screen. You will never, ever wash these images from your brain.

Books
World War Z--a history of the zombie war. Essentially, George Romero's zombie movies, post apocalypse, as told by survivors.

Along those same lines, if you can find "The Book of the Dead" edited by John Skipp and Craig Spector, this is a series of short stories that take place in Romero's zombie-filled universe.

Clive Barker's "In the Hills, the Cities" is one of the most disturbing short stories I've ever read. Another is Stephen King's "Survivor Type."

My favorite book ever is "High Rise" by J.G. Ballard. It's not scary like with supernatural-type things, but the depths of depravity the characters reach is pretty frightening. Great read.

While it's not often mentioned, I found Stephen King's "Pet Semetary" petrifying.

For real life scary, try Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood."

[wagegoth]

LingualMonkey, The Devil's Backbone had me completely freaked out. So sad too. But an excellent movie. There's something about European ghost movies that really creep me out. I get freaked by the images in Asian ghost movies. Watched most of The Ring, and, well, yuck. But some English movies, just, rrrrrrrrrrrrrr. The Woman in Black, for example.

Supernatural, the television show, has some moments that have had me glad I was home on the couch with all the lights on.

Two books by Barbara Hambly (who is an excellent writer of all types of fiction): "Those Who Hunt the Night" and Traveling with the Dead." Vampires make it clear who the apex predator is. Not very gory. Takes place, I believe, during Edwardian times, so no automatic weapons or grenades or nukes.

The book "Ghost Story," not the movie.

The book, "Nomads," not the movie.

Near Dark is a must see movie.

The Frighteners has some good moments. So does The Changeling with George C. Scott.

I usually don't find books that scary, I'm more visual and aural. I can watch any scary movie as long as the sound is off. However, turn on the sound and let me hear the sound of fear and that's it. Stephen King's books don't scare me, but clowns, OMG! If you have a fear of clowns, do not watch "Killer Klowns from Outer Space."

[JoitheArtist]

Here's a few more:

Movies
The Devil's Backbone--Guillermo del Toro's best movie (in my opinion). Parts are terrifying, although this won't give you nightmares. Great film. No one does critters and monsters as well as del Toro.

Books
World War Z--a history of the zombie war. Essentially, George Romero's zombie movies, post apocalypse, as told by survivors.

Loved Devil's Backbone, but honestly, I've loved everything I've seen from GdT--He's got such a great style, and a lovely sense of fantasy. The death of the forest elemental in Hellboy2 had me in tears.

World War Z...one of the most unexpected books I've ever read. I don't like zombie stories much, but when two of my fav blogs raved about the book within a day or two of each other, I figured I should read it. WOW, what a surprise! Sometimes funny, sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes making me need to read it under the covers because it freaked me out...especially the description of the zombie's moan...*shudders* can't wait for the film!

[Parrothead]

Cell by Stephen King. Still can't get past chapter 1.

Strange Highways by Dean Koontz. It's a collection of short stories, some scarier than others.

Can't think of anything else.

[Jester]

Blink freaks me out every time I see it

The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances---"Are you my mummy?"
The Girl in the Fireplace
Blink
Silence in the Library

I do so want to see Blink again. The others were also freaky, though I don't believe I've seen The Girl in the Fireplace.

I know a lot of people don't like his movies, but M. Night Shyamalan's movie Signs always does it for me. Fantastic suspense.

That was the one with Mel Gibson, right? Loved it. Love M. Night's work. Unbreakable is very good, and very unusual (though not necessarily scary).

Lawrence Block (the author of 'Psycho')

I have no idea who Lawrence Block is, but Robert Bloch was the author of Psycho. In the words of Alanis, "Because you...you...you....oughtta know!"

[AdminAssistant]

That was the one with Mel Gibson, right? Loved it. Love M. Night's work. Unbreakable is very good, and very unusual (though not necessarily scary).

Yes, Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix (before he officially boarded the crazy train). GREAT movie...until the end. But scary.

Unbreakable is just so.....freaky. The shots of Samuel L. Jackson falling down the stairs and Bruce Willis falling in the pool....completely freaked me out. In an awesome way.

[LibraryLady]

Various random ideas:

"The Amityville Horror." The book, not the movies so much.

Interesting that you should mention " The Amityville Horror". From a Librarian's perspective, that was a very interesting book.

It began it's life as a non-fiction title and was thought to be a true account of a haunting. It sold like hot-cakes but, after several scathing reviews by skeptics, it was reclassified by the publisher as 'fiction'. For several months, you could find that title in both the 'fiction' and 'non-fiction' lists issued by the publisher because the publisher wasn't quite sure what it was.

You never can tell, can you?

[Gravekeeper]

One of the most scary stories I've ever read was Arthur C. Clark's "Nine Billion Names of God". The idea is that God had nine billion names. Once all those names have been discovered, the world will end.

Haha, damn. I had to Google that and go read it. ><

Arthur C. Clark is a bastard.

[Eireann]

I have no idea who Lawrence Block is, but Robert Bloch was the author of Psycho. In the words of Alanis, "Because you...you...you....oughtta know!"

I noticed that, too. Lawrence Block is (was?) a crime writer, and a contemporary of the great Robert Bloch.

I can't believe I'm admitting this, but only recently did I FINALLY watch a horror classic, The Evil Dead. During the daytime, of course. Then I watched the second and third parts of the trilogy, and I am well and truly hooked, in addition to having a mad crush on the great Bruce Campbell; what a man!

Excuse me while I mop up the drool.