“Over the past few years I’ve had the privilege of enjoying an ongoing dialogue with one of my major creative influences, award-winning writer Kathe Koja. Two years ago, she and I discussed genre and process during the virtual launch for my second short story collection, Peel Back and See. Last year, we discussed our work’s relationship with cinema for In Review Online. While brainstorming about topics for future conversations, we decided to pursue the concept of numinosity: its permutations in literature in film and the role it plays in our own creative projects. This article is the result of our email thread on the subject.”
Film adaptations of Stephen King’s work often suffer from genre misidentification. This isn’t to say that filmmakers mistakenly read King’s work as horror fiction — much of it undoubtedly is horror fiction. The primary shortcoming of many adaptations — including Andy Muschietti’s 2017/2019 It duology — is a limited perception of what the horror genre is, what it can do, and how it interfaces with other literary and cinematic traditions. It (1986) might well be King’s most horrific novel, its title representing the numinous and multifaceted object of fear itself. It’s as replete with monsters and grotesquerie as anything the author has written, but it also might be his most thematically and structurally ambitious work.
“What sets Eli Roth apart from other contemporary American horror directors is his unique braiding of current issues with high genre literacy. This holds true for his latest effort, Thanksgiving, an anti-consumerist holiday giallo that traffics openly in reflexivity.”
“The Winter Solstice. It’s dark, it’s cold, it’s the most wonderful time of year. And it’s full of f*cking monsters. Don’t act like you don’t know. You’ve heard the cracking ice, seen tracks in the snow, smelled the bloody breath, and felt the rumbling Ho-ho-ho deep in your guts. We celebrate because we’re terrified of the dark outside our door.
Winter is an eternity, particularly in Purgatory. So, no matter which Terrace you call home, we invite you to while away the long, frozen nights with this curated collection of short tales from some of the most deliciously demented minds in horror. Some will make you laugh, some will make you shiver, and some…well, let’s just say nothing is sacred here. Enjoy, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll live to see the Equinox.”
I’m inaugurating a new tradition. I’ve organized my choices chronologically, with externally and/or posthumously edited collections/anthologies at the end.
Vathek, an Arabian Tale; or, the History of the Caliph Vatek, by William Beckford (1786) The Mysteries of Udolpho, by Ann Radcliffe (1794) The Monk: A Romance, by Matthew Gregory Lewis (1796) Zofloya; or, the Moor, by Charlotte Dacre (1806) Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, by Mary Shelley (1818) Melmoth the Wanderer, by Charles Robert Maturin (1820) The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, by James Hogg (1824) The House of the Seven Gables, by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1851) Carmilla, by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (1872) Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886) The Great God Pan, by Arthur Machen (1890) The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde (1890) The Damned, by Joris-Karl Huysmans (1891) The Beetle, by Richard Marsh (1897) Dracula, by Bram Stoker (1897) The Invisible Man, by H. G. Wells (1897) The House on the Borderland, by William Hope Hodgson (1908) The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka (1915) The Breaking Point, by Daphne Du Maurier (1922) Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier (1938) The Subjugated Beast, by R. R. Ryan (1938) Conjure Wife, by Fritz Leiber (1943) The Hounds of Tindalos, by Frank Belknap Long (1946) The Scarf, by Robert Bloch (1947 / 1966) Hangsaman, by Shirley Jackson (1951) The Unnamable, by Samuel Beckett (1953) The Bird’s Nest, by Shirley Jackson (1954) I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson (1954) Cape Fear, by John D. MacDonald (1957) The Sundial, by Shirley Jackson (1958) The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson (1959) Shock!, by Richard Matheson (1961) Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury (1962) The Collector, by John Fowles (1963) The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, by Yukio Mishima (1963) New Stories from the Twilight Zone, by Rod Serling (1965) I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream, by Harlan Ellison (1967) Rosemary’s Baby, by Ira Levin (1967) Last Summer, by Evan Hunter (1968) The Obscene Bird of Night, by José Donoso (1970) The Exorcist, by William Peter Blatty (1971) The Room, by Hubert Selby Jr. (1971) The Other, by Thomas Tryon (1971) The Stepford Wives, by Ira Levin (1972) Child of God, by Cormac McCarthy (1973) Starling Street, by Dinah Palmtag (1973) Carrie, by Stephen King (1974) ‘Salem’s Lot, by Stephen King (1975) Julia, by Peter Straub (1975) The Demon, by Hubert Selby Jr. (1976) Interview with the Vampire, by Anne Rice (1976) Long After Midnight, by Ray Bradbury (1976) The Shining, by Stephen King (1977) The House Next Door, by Anne Rivers Siddons (1978) Blood Secrets, by Craig Jones (1978) Ghost Story, by Peter Straub (1979) Books of Blood: Volume One, by Clive Barker (1984) The Ceremonies, by T. E. D. Klein (1984) Hawksmoor, by Peter Ackroyd (1985) The Damnation Game, by Clive Barker (1985) The Juniper Tree, by Barbara Comyns (1985) Songs of a Dead Dreamer, by Thomas Ligotti (1985) Toplin, by Michael McDowell, (1985) The Hungry Moon, by Ramsey Campbell (1986) It, by Stephen King (1986) Beloved, by Toni Morrison (1987) The Nightrunners, by Joe R. Lansdale (1987) Why Not You and I?, by Karl Edward Wagner (1987) The Fifth Child, by Doris Lessing (1988) The Girl Next Door, by Jack Ketchum (1989) The Pines, by Robert Dunbar (1989) Boundaries, by T. M. Wright (1990) American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis (1991) The Cipher, by Kathe Koja (1991) Grimscribe: His Lives and Works, by Thomas Ligotti (1991) Prodigal, by Melanie Tem (1991) Something Stirs, by Charles L. Grant (1991) Specters, by J. M. Dillard (1991) Summer of Night, by Dan Simmons (1991) Bad Brains, by Kathe Koja (1992) Lost Futures, by Lisa Tuttle (1992) Skin, by Kathe Koja (1993) The Between, by Tananarive Due (1995) Zombie, by Joyce Carol Oates (1995) You Can’t Catch Me, by Joyce Carol Oates [as Rosamond Smith] (1995) Exquisite Corpse, by Poppy Z. Brite (1996) Traplines, by Eden Robinson (1996) Lunar Park, by Bret Easton Ellis (2005) A Dark Matter, by Peter Straub (2010) Tender is the Flesh, by Agustina Bazterrica (2017) Everything That’s Underneath, by Kristi DeMeester (2017) And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe, by Gwendolyn Kiste (2017) Strange is the Night, by S. P. Miskowski (2017) The Seventh Mansion, by Maryse Meijer (2020) Selected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe, by Edgar Allan Poe (1956) [edited by Edward H. Davidson] Best Ghost Stories of Algernon Blackwood, by Algernon Blackwood (1973) [edited by E. F. Bleiler] The Haunted Dolls’ House and Other Ghost Stories, by M. R. James (2006) [edited by S. T. Joshi] Tales of H. P. Lovecraft, by H. P. Lovecraft (2007) [edited by Joyce Carol Oates] Ghost Stories of Henry James, by Henry James (2008) [edited by Martin Schofield] The Dark Eidolon and Other Fantasies, by Clark Ashton Smith (2014) [edited by S. T. Joshi]
The Avenging Conscience (D. W. Griffith, 1914) The Phantom Carriage (Victor Sjöström, 1921) Nosferatu (F. W. Murnau, 1922) The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (Alfred Hitchcock, 1927) The Unknown (Tod Browning, 1927) Dracula (Tod Browning, 1931) Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931) The Mummy (Karl Freund, 1932) Murders in the Rue Morgue (Robert Florey, 1932) Freaks (Tod Browning, 1932) White Zombie (Victor Halperin, 1932) The Old Dark House (James Whale, 1932) Island of Lost Souls (Erle C. Kenton, 1932) Supernatural (Victor Halperin, 1933) The Invisible Man (James Whale, 1933) The Black Cat (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1934) The Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935) Mad Love (Karl Freund, 1935) The Devil-Doll (Tod Browning, 1936) Son of Frankenstein (Rowland V. Lee, 1939) The Devil Bat (Jean Yarbrough, 1940) The Wolf Man (George Waggner, 1941) Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (Roy William Neill, 1943) Weird Woman (Reginald Le Borg, 1944) The Body Snatcher (Robert Wise, 1945) House of Wax (André de Toth, 1953) Creature from the Black Lagoon (Jack Arnold, 1954) I Was a Teenage Werewolf (Gene Fowler Jr., 1957) Night of the Demon (Jacques Tourneur, 1957) The Revenge of Frankenstein (Terence Fisher, 1958) How to Make a Monster (Herbert L. Strock, 1958) Corridors of Blood (Robert Day, 1958) Monster on the Campus (Jack Arnold, 1958) The Tingler (William Castle, 1959) Psycho (Aldred Hitchcock, 1960) House of Usher (Roger Corman, 1960) Black Sunday (Mario Bava, 1960) The City of the Dead (John Llewellyn Moxey, 1960) The Curse of the Werewolf (Terence Fisher, 1961) The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, 1963) Matango (Ishirō Honda, 1963) Black Sabbath (Mario Bava, 1963) The Haunted Palace (Roger Corman, 1963) The Masque of the Red Death (Roger Corman, 1964) Repulsion (Roman Polanski, 1965) Die, Monster, Die! (Daniel Haller, 1965) Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968) The Devil Rides Out (Terence Fisher, 1968) Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968) The Boston Strangler (Richard Fleischer, 1968) Blind Beast (Yasuzō Masumura, 1969) Eugenie (Jesús Franco, 1970) A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin (Lucio Fulci, 1971) Vampyros Lesbos (Jesús Franco, 1971) The Brotherhood of Satan (Bernard McEveety, 1971) A Bay of Blood (Mario Bava, 1971) All the Colors of the Dark (Sergio Martino, 1972) The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973) Madhouse (Jim Clark, 1974) The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974) The Tenant (Roman Polanski, 1976) God Told Me To (Larry Cohen, 1976) Carrie (Brian De Palma, 1976) Eaten Alive (Tobe Hooper, 1976) Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977) Demon Seed (Donald Cammell, 1977) Exorcist II: The Heretic (John Boorman, 1977) Long Weekend (Colin Eggleston, 1978) Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979) The Fog (John Carpenter, 1980) The Funhouse (Tobe Hooper, 1981) Cat People (Paul Schrader, 1982) The Hunger (Tony Scott, 1983) Christine (John Carpenter, 1983) The Dead Zone (David Cronenberg, 1983) Lifeforce (Tobe Hooper, 1985) Prince of Darkness (John Carpenter, 1987) The Serpent and the Rainbow (Wes Craven, 1988) Pet Sematary (Mary Lambert, 1989) The Guardian (William Friedkin, 1990) The People Under the Stairs (Wes Craven, 1991) Brainscan (John Flynn, 1994) The Addiction (Abel Ferrara, 1995) The Mangler (Tobe Hooper, 1995) Castle Freak (Stuart Gordon, 1995) The Stendhal Syndrome (Dario Argento, 1996) Splatter: Naked Blood (Hisayasu Satô, 1996) Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1997) Pulse (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2001) Hannibal (Ridley Scott, 2001) House of 1000 Corpses (Rob Zombie, 2003) Hostel (Eli Roth, 2005) Loft (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2005) Retribution (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2006) Antichrist (Lars von Trier, 2009) Halloween II (Rob Zombie, 2009) The Lords of Salem (Rob Zombie, 2012) The Neon Demon (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2016) The House That Jack Built (Lars von Trier, 2018) Color Out of Space (Richard Stanley, 2019)
Mike Thorn 