I was scared by several of the books on your list. I like that you have a variety of publishing dates there. Some books that scared me in my life were The Exorcist, Legion, Interview With The Vampire, and Amityville Horror. You can probably guess that I’m an older person. 😆
Penpal is such a fantastic book, but it took me a while to realise it. I read it and when I finished, I thought, yeah, that was a really good book. And then I found myself thinking about it and turning theories over in my head that became different theories, taking up more and more of my time, and I'm still not sure I'm done thinking about it! Took a while, but I eventually realised what an absolutely great book it really is! I was also excited to see Moon of the Crusted Snow on this list, because that book is on my winter tbr shelf! Final world, Pet Sematary is my favourite horror book of all time!
I learned about Penpal from Creep Cast and I have the book now. I've read a lot of horror and extreme horror and nothing has ever made my skin crawl like that story did.
Just as a heads up, if you choose to read The Ritual by Adam Neville, it is VERY different than the movie. The first half it's pretty similar, but halfway through the tone shifts from folk horror in the woods to an whole different book. Gives you whiplash
Jason Arnopp's "The Last Days of Jack Sparks" was sometimes truly scary but also funny in other moments (be ready for an unlikable protagonist), "Come Closer" by Sara Gran (apparently possession is scary to me) and "When the Night Bells Ring" was such a great mix of genres and with some creepy segments but also some slower parts but I thought I put it here because not many people seem to know of it. Oh, and "Bedfellow" by Jeremy C. Shipp which was also hella weird.
Ha! I love how you right off the bat address the "well I would do it differently!" commenters! Because they're always lurking and posturing and making annoying noises when they just could be making their own lists. UGH. I appreciated how you immediately said "no thanks bozos!" I'm paraphrasing, of course :P And oh my lord, Silent Companions. I read that a few years ago and I don't remember many details but I do recall one scene (in a hallway? down a stairwell?) that freaked me out so badly, I still get a violent shiver when I recall it...even though I have forgotten everything about it!
I trust any rec you make after hearing PenPal worked for you! I think about that book at least once a week since I finished it years ago. It is TRULY a “gets under your skin” book and the idea that, as you said, that could happen, is absolutely chilling.
I've read three of the books you mentioned: 1. The Silent Companions - I agree, incredibly creepy. 2. Hell House - a fun read, though I thought the movie was a little better in that it toned down descriptions of the past history of the house. 3. The Road - A bleak masterpiece, but it does end on a note of hope. I agree with you that one frightens one, may not frighten another. I love to be creeped out on a night with the rain beating against the window with only the cat and a glass of bourbon for company. Here are a few books that scared me. 1. The House On The Borderland by Willian Hope Hodgson, 1908. The most frightening book of cosmic horror I have ever read. 2. Do You Remember Me by Yrsa Sigurdardottir, 2012. Two couples journey to an island off the coast of Iceland to repair a summer home; the scariest book I have read in the last 20 years. Sigurdardottir is an Icelandic author whose mysteries are among the creepiest being written today. 3. Julian's House by Judith Hawkes, 1989. A husband and wife team of professional investigators of the paranormal get permission to spend time in a reputed haunted house to see if it is so. Delightfully creepy with sympathetic characters. You had a good list and I will check some of them out. For me being scared is not the same thing as being grossed out. The first is far more difficult to do.
Thank you for this excellent list! The addition of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road was brilliant. He’s considered the greatest American author of the last century by many in academia. When I read that novel, as a young father, I had the same reaction of absolute bleakness and horror that you describe. It’s so effective because it’s so very realistic and probable. The excellent film version of the book is actually more hopeful, if that’s the proper way to describe an ultimately dark vision. A book along similar “high literary” lines is Jose Saramago’s Blindness. I’ll definitely be ordering some of the titles you have mentioned…it’s Halloween time after all!
Zelda is the only horror character ever to give me nightmares. I saw Pet Semetary when i was about 5 and ive loved it ever since. When i read the book, i teared up, and im not a crier. Mary is one of my favorite horror books, i fell in love 🙌
Just found your channel and loving your videos! I was like I must add the first two books to my tbr...turns out I alredy own them, so up the list they go!
I was scared by several of the books on your list. I like that you have a variety of publishing dates there. Some books that scared me in my life were The Exorcist, Legion, Interview With The Vampire, and Amityville Horror. You can probably guess that I'm an older person.
I agree with your reviews of Mary and The Silent Companions. Both EXCELLENT! I really want to read Where I End. A book that I read this year that creeped me out was Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman.
Last Days is one of my favorite books ever. I was reading in the middle of the night, got to the part with the arm in the cabinet, at which point my cats decided they were going to try to tear the kitchen down. I may or may not have shrieked. Thankfully I didn't wake anyone up.
I agree 100% with you on Pet Cemetary! I read that book as an adult and it freaked me out. I love the movie as well. I would enjoy watching about movies that scared you as well
Oh man I still distinctly remember reading Penpal for the first time, I remember it creeping me out and like, grossing me out? so much, another 2 you should give a try to are Anansi's Goatman, less like Penpal but the description of the thing is scarred in my brain forever as one of the creepiest entities ever, and Borrasca, which is much more in line with Penpal, in a kind of weird very out there but almost kind of possible creepiness that adds so much to the reveal, and is actually even better on the second read because there are so many clues that lead up to the reveal that it is kind of insane.
Just found this channel. Love your style. My scariest books to date have been SALEM'S LOT ; The Omen. Read these 2 when I was 16 on a road trip in Central Australia. Long dark roads.. scared the crap out of me. Picked up IT to read one night..staying alone in a cabin..in the country. Read the first few pages..had to put it down. Finally picked it up again 6 years later..and read it only during the day! 😂😂 The last really scary book I read was STILL LIFE by Joe Donnelly. Started this on a beach holiday. Still freaked me out! Your suggestions sound great. Heading off to hunt these down. 😊
'Last Days!!!' Yes!! Also my favourite Adam Nevill book. I very rarely get creeped out by books, but there was something about this one that really got under my skin. The ending wasn't amazing, but TBH by the time I'd been through the whole story, I think it would have been difficult to top the creepy, scary parts. It's been a hot minute since I last read it though, so I might actually give it a reread while we're still in Spooktober. 🎃 Also 'Hell House' was one that I read back when I was about 12 and going through my whole horror film & book introduction. Really don't think that I should have been reading it at that age (I got it out from the library, so frick knows if the librarian had any idea what she was letting me take out at the time, but I she also let me borrow Stephen King's 'It' and Dean Koontz's 'The Funhouse' when I was around the same age, so I think my poor innocent mind was inevitably doomed by my choice in reading material, one way or another) but now I'm thinking it's time to give that one a revisit too. Hmm...? 🤔 RIP to any chance of me ever getting to the bottom of my never-ending TBR list. 💀 (PS: I can't think of any books that really scared me, but one that had some weird creepy stuff going on in it and enough of a creeping sense of unease that I've reread it another 3 times since, is 'Witch Hunt' by Syd Moore. You can pick up the Kindle version easily enough if you can't get a physical copy over where you are. I can't even put my finger on why it gets under my skin so much, but it does so I'll submit that as my creepy horror/supernatural suggestion. And if you've read 'The Girl Next Door' by Jack Ketchum, but want a book that does it even better and almost more believable and more malevolent way, you should try 'Let's Go Play At The Adams' by Mendal W. Johnson. Because who doesn't love traumatising themselves with massively effed up books? 👀) PPS: Good selection of book choices by the way. It's nice to see some much less talked about titles getting a shout out on BookTube; especially when it comes to horror/ghost story titles, and even more so around this time of year. Good stuff! Subbed! 👍
I read a ton of horror but nothing has scared the hell out of me or creeped me out like Penpal did. I cant even explain why. It's so subtle but when I finished I couldn't be alone.
I'm an indy writer, i hope at some point you can get to read my book, Lucy, book one of the fading light, i've had a few book tube reviews already, all of them loved it😊
I am not easily scared, but The Troop definitely creeped me out recently. My husband is also a big horror reader, and he says that the scariest thing he has read is Wounds by Nathan Ballingrud.
I just found your channel from this video - what a great list! A lot that I don't always see mentioned, and many that I have yet to read myself! Also, your hair is amazing
I appreciate the list of books I should clearly avoid 😅 I keep wanting to get into horror because it clearly has so much to offer, but I am too good at freaking myself out. As a small child, I loved Are You Afraid of the Dark and everything Goosebumps, and then when I was in 4th grade, I read The House on Hackman's Hill by Joan Lowery Nixon and I was never the same, hahaha. So far I can manage a bit of horror when it pops up in some fantasy, but that's about it, lol.
There is a YA apocalyptic novel I really enjoyed called The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker. Thank you so much for this video and your list. I've bookmarked several for my Kindle. ☺
Hell House scared me pretty good. What's worse is my copy of the book has gone missing and stayed missing for 3 years. I'm waiting for it to turn up in plain sight and jump scare me.
Great list of scary books! I've read Jonathan Aycliffe's THE SILENCE OF GHOSTS a few years ago and I had a similar experience with the writing. Great historical novel, dark themes, the dread creeps up on you, and towards the end it goes into a very dark place. The kind of book that stays with you. Recent books I felt were scary were THIS WRETCHED VALLEY by Jenny Kiefer and FROZEN CHARLOTTE by Alex Bell.
Pet Sematary...my BFF drove up to the college I was attending for a weekend and we went to see Pet Sematary at the theater. On our way out, a snake had been killed next to our car. Yes, we freaked right out.
Pet cemetery freak me the hell out to this day!! I just got done reading the shining and that one also still freaks me out. For some good recommendations.
Great video! I enjoy Richard Matheson and still want to read Hell House. I recommend The Shrinking Man. I read The Ritual which was excellent, will look out for Last Days. I am adding Naomi's Room to my tbr. Pet Sematary is a dark, bleak exploration of grief, love, obsession. The Road is such an intense powerful novel for me, I cried at one moment. I recommend Swan Song, the greatest novel of all time, in my head anyway. I definitely want to read Mary in 2025, sounds so awesome! Happy Reading! 🎃
Hey if you haven’t read House of Leaves I recommend it. Truly nothing I have read has left me with the nightmares and feelings of anxiety and dread like this book did. I consume a lot of horror material and this just got under my skin unlike anything else!
House of Leaves was such a rewarding reading experience for me. It left me feeling extremely unsettled. I had to sleep with the lights on some nights. It’s not an obvious, in your face kind of horror, but it just leaves you with this skin-crawling feeling. At the same time I actually found some parts of the book touching. I highly recommend giving it a go. It’s not an easy read but it’s well worth it, in my opinion.
I second House of Leaves. I didn't have any feelings of anxiety or fear while reading it, but it was the single best reading experience I've ever had. The triple narrative going on, the appendices, the way the author played with space. It was so much fun.
I just saw Longlegs and Oddity. You have to see Oddity. It was so much better than Longlegs, which i thought was really good, but the scary factor was 100x more. Great movie.
Hi, I’m on Poppy Z. Brite Lost Souls. I am liking it so far. Mary did scare me too!!! I’d like your opinion on movies too because you explain books very well and pick good ones. That movie, Haunt, was scary as heck, and very good!!! You should check that one out 🖤 so happy to see you almost have 4k views on this video! I always look forward to what you come up with next🎉keep it going😊
Hi I'm a big fan of Jonathan Aycliffe and read Naomis Room many years ago, great book! I recommend another of his, The Vanishment, another great spooky read. Also a really spooky film i loved when i was younger is The Changling with George C Scott made in 1980, very creepy for its time and worth a watch 😮❤
@@juliawhitmee9257 yes!! I love the changeling so much! One of my favorites! The only other Aycliffe I've read is The Lost and I remember really liking that !
I'm so glad I found your channel again! I read Naomi's Room and Still Missing because of you, but I fell asleep the night I came across your channel and forgot to subscribe. Oops! That's been fixed now. My first thought when you mentioned "the bed thing" from Where I End was Zelda from Pet Sematary. Is she anything like Zelda? Though I think it'd be impossible to dress Zelda up. 🤣 (She's traumatized me since childhood too!) Thank you so much for the recommendations. I definitely will check some of these out. Have you read The Woman by Jack Ketchum or seen the film? Because OH MY LORD. All I can say is "the shed, what's in the shed." I've been haunted by it and it's been years since I read it.
I've read three of his books. Offspring, a prequel to the Woman (you don't need to read it to understand The Woman) was meh, but The Girl Next Door left me traumatized! I recommend The Woman to a lot of people and usually get "what the heck did you just make me read?" Haha. Trigger warnings for SA, assumed DA/CA and cannibalism in it though.
I'm adding another channel... Loved this video❤ I hadn't heard of some of them books now I'm going to have to read them. Check out the authors Grady Hendrix and Michael McDowell.
I am a horror film fan and haven't read much horror but nothing scares me. The only book that has is called "deliver is from evil" by: j. F. Sawyer about ed and Lorraine Warren's early accounts.
There is Vampire Anthology called Under the Fang, published in 1991. It is about a world taken over by vampires where humans are the minority. Give it a read. You shouldn't be disappointed.
listened to penpal on here with a narration (yt channel 'dark somnium' is an amazing narrator!) (not sure if they read off the book or from reddit) and yeah so unsettling! while at work actually haha
I watched Pet Sematary in 2nd grade.... friend and I after tried to bring my recently passed kitten from the dead. We definitely got in trouble. Never read it though but I think I shall now
The scariest book I've read so far has been The Ruins nothing compares to the way that one ends and just how empty it left me feeling. Then for the scariest movie I've ever seen it has to be The Autopsy of Jane Doe. The enclosed space, the overwhelming sense of dread, the acting, it's all 👨🍳💋
I also think its hard to write a good haunted house story, but I am currently over halfway through The Grip of It by Jac Jemc, and it's so good. I have a hard time putting it down.
You had me hooked and reeled in, until…. Moon of the crusted snow. 😫 I found it soooooo boring! I have Silent companions and Mary, I need to get to them!
Great video... I have Hell house but haven't read it yet. Have you read " the girl next door " by Jack Kerchum? It's loosely based on a true story, and for that reason it creeped me out and made me question humanity! If it was pure fiction, then I'd say it was a good gruesome horror... but damn... the fact its true made it a rough ride. Exquisite corpse also... Not creepy, but icky lol
I did read exquisite corpse earlier this year and yes, icky LOL. I have been too much of a chicken to read Jack Ketchum but maybe ill rethink bc it keeps getting recommended to me
![Summer Walker - Heart Of A Woman [Official Lyric Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SFddctbZzw8/mqdefault.jpg)
yes please add movies to the channel! I love your recommendations so I'm curious to see what you would do for movies.
I loved the silent companions. Really creepy and atmospheric
I was scared by several of the books on your list. I like that you have a variety of publishing dates there.
Some books that scared me in my life were The Exorcist, Legion, Interview With The Vampire, and Amityville Horror.
You can probably guess that I’m an older person. 😆
@@ingridfitz5677 I haven't read amityville yet! Or seen the movie(s) I'll need to read soon!
Penpal is such a fantastic book, but it took me a while to realise it. I read it and when I finished, I thought, yeah, that was a really good book. And then I found myself thinking about it and turning theories over in my head that became different theories, taking up more and more of my time, and I'm still not sure I'm done thinking about it! Took a while, but I eventually realised what an absolutely great book it really is! I was also excited to see Moon of the Crusted Snow on this list, because that book is on my winter tbr shelf! Final world, Pet Sematary is my favourite horror book of all time!
I learned about Penpal from Creep Cast and I have the book now. I've read a lot of horror and extreme horror and nothing has ever made my skin crawl like that story did.
Just as a heads up, if you choose to read The Ritual by Adam Neville, it is VERY different than the movie. The first half it's pretty similar, but halfway through the tone shifts from folk horror in the woods to an whole different book. Gives you whiplash
Jason Arnopp's "The Last Days of Jack Sparks" was sometimes truly scary but also funny in other moments (be ready for an unlikable protagonist), "Come Closer" by Sara Gran (apparently possession is scary to me) and "When the Night Bells Ring" was such a great mix of genres and with some creepy segments but also some slower parts but I thought I put it here because not many people seem to know of it. Oh, and "Bedfellow" by Jeremy C. Shipp which was also hella weird.
@@zombie_likes_cake thanks for the recs!!
Loved moon of the crusted snow!
There is a sequel. Moon of the turning leaves.
Read the Stand by King for a character driven post-apocalyptic book. Also, Swan Song.
@@aleidadiaz2261 the stand is amazing! Loved every page! Adding swan song to the list ! 🤘🏼
@@bookinhand_ Swan Song is amazing, read both and would by far recommend it over The Stand
The Stand is great, one of the scariest books ever
Ha! I love how you right off the bat address the "well I would do it differently!" commenters! Because they're always lurking and posturing and making annoying noises when they just could be making their own lists. UGH. I appreciated how you immediately said "no thanks bozos!" I'm paraphrasing, of course :P And oh my lord, Silent Companions. I read that a few years ago and I don't remember many details but I do recall one scene (in a hallway? down a stairwell?) that freaked me out so badly, I still get a violent shiver when I recall it...even though I have forgotten everything about it!
@@MlleGhoul lol I love this message ! ❤️😂🥹
Thank you for all the great recommendations! Can't wait to read!
@@itisImanila thank YOU for watching 🥰❤️❤️
I trust any rec you make after hearing PenPal worked for you! I think about that book at least once a week since I finished it years ago. It is TRULY a “gets under your skin” book and the idea that, as you said, that could happen, is absolutely chilling.
I've read three of the books you mentioned: 1. The Silent Companions - I agree, incredibly creepy. 2. Hell House - a fun read, though I thought the movie was a little better in that it toned down descriptions of the past history of the house. 3. The Road - A bleak masterpiece, but it does end on a note of hope. I agree with you that one frightens one, may not frighten another. I love to be creeped out on a night with the rain beating against the window with only the cat and a glass of bourbon for company. Here are a few books that scared me. 1. The House On The Borderland by Willian Hope Hodgson, 1908. The most frightening book of cosmic horror I have ever read. 2. Do You Remember Me by Yrsa Sigurdardottir, 2012. Two couples journey to an island off the coast of Iceland to repair a summer home; the scariest book I have read in the last 20 years. Sigurdardottir is an Icelandic author whose mysteries are among the creepiest being written today. 3. Julian's House by Judith Hawkes, 1989. A husband and wife team of professional investigators of the paranormal get permission to spend time in a reputed haunted house to see if it is so. Delightfully creepy with sympathetic characters. You had a good list and I will check some of them out. For me being scared is not the same thing as being grossed out. The first is far more difficult to do.
@@michaelmcclure7434 thanks for the recs!!
Thank you for this excellent list! The addition of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road was brilliant. He’s considered the greatest American author of the last century by many in academia. When I read that novel, as a young father, I had the same reaction of absolute bleakness and horror that you describe. It’s so effective because it’s so very realistic and probable. The excellent film version of the book is actually more hopeful, if that’s the proper way to describe an ultimately dark vision. A book along similar “high literary” lines is Jose Saramago’s Blindness. I’ll definitely be ordering some of the titles you have mentioned…it’s Halloween time after all!
@@onthemarginofgrace oh yes! I need to read Blindness, I've heard great things !!
Zelda is the only horror character ever to give me nightmares. I saw Pet Semetary when i was about 5 and ive loved it ever since. When i read the book, i teared up, and im not a crier.
Mary is one of my favorite horror books, i fell in love 🙌
@@ChocoBerryIna yes!! Agree on both !
Amazing list, adding so many of these to my TBR!!!
@@VenusEscapesToRead thank you! Really appreciate it ☺️❤️
So you are my best Go get the book and read it person! I love watching your videos so please keep them coming 😊
@@jessieg1313 thank you so much ☺️! I really appreciate the kind words ❤️❤️
Just found your channel and loving your videos! I was like I must add the first two books to my tbr...turns out I alredy own them, so up the list they go!
I was scared by several of the books on your list. I like that you have a variety of publishing dates there. Some books that scared me in my life were The Exorcist, Legion, Interview With The Vampire, and Amityville Horror. You can probably guess that I'm an older person.
@@DarkRootkk I need to read amityville! You're the second person to mention it in the comments ! Thanks !
My tbr list just grows longer and longer😂 thank you for the suggestions!
That's a great list
Awesome recs! Thank youu
I agree with your reviews of Mary and The Silent Companions. Both EXCELLENT! I really want to read Where I End. A book that I read this year that creeped me out was Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman.
Cujo, Carrie, the Shining, the Stand, the Exorcist, the Amityville Horror are classic scary books.
Last Days is one of my favorite books ever. I was reading in the middle of the night, got to the part with the arm in the cabinet, at which point my cats decided they were going to try to tear the kitchen down. I may or may not have shrieked. Thankfully I didn't wake anyone up.
@@wendyrumley1770 LOL 😂
New sub! Thx for all the great info!!! Def. Love Horror and I’m going to check some of these out!!!
@@lisafanucchi5939 thank YOU! 🥰😈❤️
I agree 100% with you on Pet Cemetary! I read that book as an adult and it freaked me out. I love the movie as well. I would enjoy watching about movies that scared you as well
@@tonyabeane8297 awesome! Thank you! ☺️
Best ending ever
The parts of Pet Sematary with the wendigo are the scariest passages in a book I’ve ever read.
I hope you talk about the old movie not the remake😂
@@lisapoe888 yes! The remake is awful lol
Where I End is amazing. One of those which just stuck with me
Oh man I still distinctly remember reading Penpal for the first time, I remember it creeping me out and like, grossing me out? so much, another 2 you should give a try to are Anansi's Goatman, less like Penpal but the description of the thing is scarred in my brain forever as one of the creepiest entities ever, and Borrasca, which is much more in line with Penpal, in a kind of weird very out there but almost kind of possible creepiness that adds so much to the reveal, and is actually even better on the second read because there are so many clues that lead up to the reveal that it is kind of insane.
Just found this channel. Love your style. My scariest books to date have been SALEM'S LOT ; The Omen. Read these 2 when I was 16 on a road trip in Central Australia. Long dark roads.. scared the crap out of me. Picked up IT to read one night..staying alone in a cabin..in the country. Read the first few pages..had to put it down. Finally picked it up again 6 years later..and read it only during the day! 😂😂
The last really scary book I read was STILL LIFE by Joe Donnelly. Started this on a beach holiday. Still freaked me out!
Your suggestions sound great. Heading off to hunt these down. 😊
@@elizabethmorris197 thanks for your suggestions as well !! I appreciate the kind words :) !
Hell House is my favourite horror novel. Glad you liked it!
@@andrewcrow1031 hell yeah ! 🤘🏼
@bookinhand_ have you ever seen the 1963 film? It scares me every time I watch it!
@@steppy3736 it's been a looooong time, maybe time for a rewatch?
@@steppy3736I think you’re thinking of The Haunting of Hill House (1963). Hell House was made in 1973.
'Last Days!!!' Yes!! Also my favourite Adam Nevill book. I very rarely get creeped out by books, but there was something about this one that really got under my skin. The ending wasn't amazing, but TBH by the time I'd been through the whole story, I think it would have been difficult to top the creepy, scary parts. It's been a hot minute since I last read it though, so I might actually give it a reread while we're still in Spooktober. 🎃
Also 'Hell House' was one that I read back when I was about 12 and going through my whole horror film & book introduction. Really don't think that I should have been reading it at that age (I got it out from the library, so frick knows if the librarian had any idea what she was letting me take out at the time, but I she also let me borrow Stephen King's 'It' and Dean Koontz's 'The Funhouse' when I was around the same age, so I think my poor innocent mind was inevitably doomed by my choice in reading material, one way or another) but now I'm thinking it's time to give that one a revisit too. Hmm...? 🤔
RIP to any chance of me ever getting to the bottom of my never-ending TBR list. 💀
(PS: I can't think of any books that really scared me, but one that had some weird creepy stuff going on in it and enough of a creeping sense of unease that I've reread it another 3 times since, is 'Witch Hunt' by Syd Moore. You can pick up the Kindle version easily enough if you can't get a physical copy over where you are. I can't even put my finger on why it gets under my skin so much, but it does so I'll submit that as my creepy horror/supernatural suggestion. And if you've read 'The Girl Next Door' by Jack Ketchum, but want a book that does it even better and almost more believable and more malevolent way, you should try 'Let's Go Play At The Adams' by Mendal W. Johnson. Because who doesn't love traumatising themselves with massively effed up books? 👀)
PPS: Good selection of book choices by the way. It's nice to see some much less talked about titles getting a shout out on BookTube; especially when it comes to horror/ghost story titles, and even more so around this time of year. Good stuff! Subbed! 👍
@@bad-girlbex3791 thank you so much! I really appreciate it 🥹❤️❤️❤️🙏🏼
The only one I am intrigued by is Naomi’s Room. Not available on Kindle. No instant gratification tonight.
I read a ton of horror but nothing has scared the hell out of me or creeped me out like Penpal did. I cant even explain why. It's so subtle but when I finished I couldn't be alone.
@@kristinestaples7607 EXACTLY! That's a great way to describe it !
I'm an indy writer, i hope at some point you can get to read my book, Lucy, book one of the fading light, i've had a few book tube reviews already, all of them loved it😊
I loved PenPal it totally was scary.Also, I'm currently reading the Troop by Nick Cutter it is super scary, and I love it
I am not easily scared, but The Troop definitely creeped me out recently.
My husband is also a big horror reader, and he says that the scariest thing he has read is Wounds by Nathan Ballingrud.
@@krisprepolec5616 I'll add that to the list! I tapped out of the troop 🐢
I just found your channel from this video - what a great list! A lot that I don't always see mentioned, and many that I have yet to read myself! Also, your hair is amazing
@@Kritz_Reads thank you!☺️❤️
I appreciate the list of books I should clearly avoid 😅
I keep wanting to get into horror because it clearly has so much to offer, but I am too good at freaking myself out. As a small child, I loved Are You Afraid of the Dark and everything Goosebumps, and then when I was in 4th grade, I read The House on Hackman's Hill by Joan Lowery Nixon and I was never the same, hahaha. So far I can manage a bit of horror when it pops up in some fantasy, but that's about it, lol.
@@Katiedora122 I grew up on that too! Made me the horror fan I am today lol
There is a YA apocalyptic novel I really enjoyed called The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker. Thank you so much for this video and your list. I've bookmarked several for my Kindle. ☺
@@Tracey- thank you! I'll have to add to my list!! 😈❤️
Pet semantary movie scene with Zelda creeped me out.... But I love The stand and It from Stephen King.
@@milolink6993 yes the stand is my next favorite! So incredible
Hell House scared me pretty good. What's worse is my copy of the book has gone missing and stayed missing for 3 years. I'm waiting for it to turn up in plain sight and jump scare me.
@@WhyYouSoTall 💀😂😂
Great list of scary books! I've read Jonathan Aycliffe's THE SILENCE OF GHOSTS a few years ago and I had a similar experience with the writing. Great historical novel, dark themes, the dread creeps up on you, and towards the end it goes into a very dark place. The kind of book that stays with you. Recent books I felt were scary were THIS WRETCHED VALLEY by Jenny Kiefer and FROZEN CHARLOTTE by Alex Bell.
@@andreas-ni8iv oooo ! Thanks for those- I'll
add to my list ! 😈
Pet Sematary...my BFF drove up to the college I was attending for a weekend and we went to see Pet Sematary at the theater. On our way out, a snake had been killed next to our car. Yes, we freaked right out.
Pet cemetery freak me the hell out to this day!! I just got done reading the shining and that one also still freaks me out. For some good recommendations.
Great video! I enjoy Richard Matheson and still want to read Hell House. I recommend The Shrinking Man. I read The Ritual which was excellent, will look out for Last Days. I am adding Naomi's Room to my tbr. Pet Sematary is a dark, bleak exploration of grief, love, obsession. The Road is such an intense powerful novel for me, I cried at one moment. I recommend Swan Song, the greatest novel of all time, in my head anyway. I definitely want to read Mary in 2025, sounds so awesome! Happy Reading! 🎃
Hey if you haven’t read House of Leaves I recommend it. Truly nothing I have read has left me with the nightmares and feelings of anxiety and dread like this book did. I consume a lot of horror material and this just got under my skin unlike anything else!
@@laynemariner1301 that's on my list! So intimidated by it though 😰
House of Leaves was such a rewarding reading experience for me. It left me feeling extremely unsettled. I had to sleep with the lights on some nights. It’s not an obvious, in your face kind of horror, but it just leaves you with this skin-crawling feeling. At the same time I actually found some parts of the book touching. I highly recommend giving it a go. It’s not an easy read but it’s well worth it, in my opinion.
I second House of Leaves. I didn't have any feelings of anxiety or fear while reading it, but it was the single best reading experience I've ever had. The triple narrative going on, the appendices, the way the author played with space. It was so much fun.
I third House of Leaves! But definitely not for the feint of heart.
House Of Leaves is definitely a great creepy read. Jumping on the bandwagon of people suggesting you read it.
There is a return to hill house which is a prequel, authorised by Matheson and it’s really good. Written by Nancy Collins.
@@SM-yd8hq oh cool! I'll have to check it out !
I just added so many of these to my Kindle!
@@BeckStitchesEverything yay!! I hope you enjoy ?! 🥴😈
Just got Mary in Audible form. Looking forward to listening. 👍
@@77Creation awesome!! I hope you enjoy it!!
I just saw Longlegs and Oddity. You have to see Oddity. It was so much better than Longlegs, which i thought was really good, but the scary factor was 100x more. Great movie.
@@mlcoffey2 I LOVED ODDITY!! and I agree. I thought long legs was just OK
Movie: The Eyes of My Mother (written, edited and directed by Nicolas Pesce)
@@Tetsujin-28 that one got me! So good!
Hi, I’m on Poppy Z. Brite Lost Souls. I am liking it so far. Mary did scare me too!!! I’d like your opinion on movies too because you explain books very well and pick good ones. That movie, Haunt, was scary as heck, and very good!!! You should check that one out 🖤 so happy to see you almost have 4k views on this video! I always look forward to what you come up with next🎉keep it going😊
@@ChannieType_O thank you !! 🥲❤️❤️
Hi I'm a big fan of Jonathan Aycliffe and read Naomis Room many years ago, great book! I recommend another of his, The Vanishment, another great spooky read. Also a really spooky film i loved when i was younger is The Changling with George C Scott made in 1980, very creepy for its time and worth a watch 😮❤
@@juliawhitmee9257 yes!! I love the changeling so much! One of my favorites! The only other Aycliffe I've read is The Lost and I remember really liking that !
I'm so glad I found your channel again! I read Naomi's Room and Still Missing because of you, but I fell asleep the night I came across your channel and forgot to subscribe. Oops! That's been fixed now.
My first thought when you mentioned "the bed thing" from Where I End was Zelda from Pet Sematary. Is she anything like Zelda? Though I think it'd be impossible to dress Zelda up. 🤣 (She's traumatized me since childhood too!)
Thank you so much for the recommendations. I definitely will check some of these out. Have you read The Woman by Jack Ketchum or seen the film? Because OH MY LORD. All I can say is "the shed, what's in the shed." I've been haunted by it and it's been years since I read it.
@@dinara_safina I haven't ! I'll have to look into that! I have been too chicken to read Jack Ketchum lol
I've read three of his books. Offspring, a prequel to the Woman (you don't need to read it to understand The Woman) was meh, but The Girl Next Door left me traumatized! I recommend The Woman to a lot of people and usually get "what the heck did you just make me read?" Haha. Trigger warnings for SA, assumed DA/CA and cannibalism in it though.
I'm adding another channel... Loved this video❤ I hadn't heard of some of them books now I'm going to have to read them. Check out the authors Grady Hendrix and Michael McDowell.
I am a horror film fan and haven't read much horror but nothing scares me. The only book that has is called "deliver is from evil" by: j. F. Sawyer about ed and Lorraine Warren's early accounts.
@@Stabbs1313 oh cool! Thanks for the rec! Added to my TBR 😈
There is Vampire Anthology called Under the Fang, published in 1991. It is about a world taken over by vampires where humans are the minority. Give it a read. You shouldn't be disappointed.
@@hellohumansthade7280 awesome! Thanks! I need a new vampy read
listened to penpal on here with a narration (yt channel 'dark somnium' is an amazing narrator!) (not sure if they read off the book or from reddit) and yeah so unsettling! while at work actually haha
I watched Pet Sematary in 2nd grade.... friend and I after tried to bring my recently passed kitten from the dead. We definitely got in trouble. Never read it though but I think I shall now
Post Apocalyptic recs for you:
The City Where We Once lived by Eric Barnes
Above the Ether by Eric Barnes
Summer Thunder (short story) by Stephen King
@@lesliepowell-mccarty7067 perfect! Thank you so much !!
Hell House is great! Im glad to see it on your list. Dont watch the movie though. Its in desperate need of a remake
@@MentalSurvival yes, agree! It's so bad and due for a much better treatment
The scariest book I've read so far has been The Ruins nothing compares to the way that one ends and just how empty it left me feeling. Then for the scariest movie I've ever seen it has to be The Autopsy of Jane Doe. The enclosed space, the overwhelming sense of dread, the acting, it's all 👨🍳💋
@@_paintedbypicasso_7981 yes! Love autopsy of Jane doe!! And the ruins has been on my TBR for sooo long I need to get to it !
I also think its hard to write a good haunted house story, but I am currently over halfway through The Grip of It by Jac Jemc, and it's so good. I have a hard time putting it down.
yes!! I have that on my TBR! maybe it's time to move it up!
Stolen Tongues by Felix Blackwell is creepy as hell and one you might really enjoy.
@@masqueofthereddeath6 I did like that one! Super creepy!
You had me hooked and reeled in, until…. Moon of the crusted snow. 😫 I found it soooooo boring! I have Silent companions and Mary, I need to get to them!
What camera do you use to record?
Sony Alpha ZV-E10
Great video...
I have Hell house but haven't read it yet.
Have you read " the girl next door " by Jack Kerchum?
It's loosely based on a true story, and for that reason it creeped me out and made me question humanity!
If it was pure fiction, then I'd say it was a good gruesome horror... but damn... the fact its true made it a rough ride.
Exquisite corpse also...
Not creepy, but icky lol
I did read exquisite corpse earlier this year and yes, icky LOL. I have been too much of a chicken to read Jack Ketchum but maybe ill rethink bc it keeps getting recommended to me