Modern Horror

Much has been written about the storied New Hollywood of the 1970s, but while Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Francis Ford Coppola were making their first classic movies, a parallel universe of directors gave birth to the modern horror film - aggressive, raw, and utterly original. Based on unprecedented access to the genre's major players, New York Times critic Jason Zinoman's Shock Value delivers the first definitive account of horror's golden age.

A terrifying, thrilling collection of must-listen horror stories chock-full of nightmarish supernatural beings and the murderously disturbed that are sure to keep you up all night long.

In the early 20th century, World War I was the most devastating event humanity had yet experienced. New machines of war left tens of millions killed or wounded in the most grotesque of ways. The Great War remade the world's map, created new global powers, and brought forth some of the biggest problems still facing us today. But it also birthed a new art form: the horror film, made from the fears of a generation ruined by war. From Nosferatu to Frankenstein's monster and the Wolf Man, the touchstones of horror can all trace their roots to the bloodshed of the First World War.

After the loss of her mother, a woman returns to the San Fernando Valley only to uncover a haunting secret about her childhood friend. A visiting professor at a charming but strange California liberal arts college must face her past in order to protect her son. A sister, lost in the woods, confronts the dangerous truth about her brother, her stepmother, and herself. Rose's dog Wolfie has died, and three seductive women offer to help return him to her. But only if she will pay the price.

From its first publication in 1992, Men, Women, and Chain Saws has offered a groundbreaking perspective on the creativity and influence of horror cinema since the mid-1970s. Investigating the popularity of the low-budget tradition, Carol Clover looks in particular at slasher, occult, and rape-revenge films. Although such movies have been traditionally understood as offering only sadistic pleasures to their mostly male audiences, Clover demonstrates that they align spectators not with the male tormentor, but with the females tormented.

The History of Slasher Films: From Cult Classics to Modern Horror Icons is your ultimate guide to one of cinema’s most enduring—and thrilling—genres. Whether you're a longtime horror fan or just discovering the thrill of the Final Girl, this engaging and in-depth book traces the evolution of the slasher film from its early roots in the 1930s to its 21st-century reinvention. Packed with fascinating film history, cultural analysis, iconic characters, and must-watch movie recommendations, this book explores how slasher movies reflect our fears, challenge social norms, and continue to ...

WARNING: Due to extremely disturbing content, this book is intended for MATURE READERS ONLY. Midian, Tennessee is a city on the brink of ruin. Coming off a cataclysmic event that has changed the course of the town and revealed the threat to all, no respite comes to the beleaguered people of Midian. For demons are pouring into the town from every corner of the earth, with appetites both gross and varied. Ruin creeps ever closer, and as the lonely watch tries to stave off ruin, they may face find their greatest threat isn't a demon at all...but rather a fellow human whose own lusts for power ...

Guy is about to finish writing his breakthrough online article. He overheard the story by chance in a pub and it’s guaranteed to go viral - all he needs to do is persuade the World’s Unluckiest Man to talk to him. His best friend Larry’s quest for killer clickbait material has led him to a recently appeared shanty town in Glasgow, where he finds some kind of urban voodoo cult. Ex-cop Sam has already come face-to-face with the terrifying force behind both these phenomena, but he’s been trying to put it out of his mind.

Harry Keogh is the man who can talk to the dead, the man for whom every grave willingly gives up its secrets, the one man who knows how to travel effortlessly through time and space to destroy the vampires that threaten all of humanity.

Deep in the Louisiana bayou, a nightmare stalks the shadows. When a young girl goes missing near the swamps, Lux Branson is called in to investigate. Locals whisper of the Rougarou—a Cajun werewolf said to punish the wicked. But Lux isn’t one to chase ghost stories. Until the bodies start turning up. What begins as a routine search becomes a tense and terrifying hunt through tangled wetlands, where folklore bleeds into reality and something savage lurks just out of sight. As the full moon rises and the line between myth and monster fades, Lux must confront a creature older than the ...

Do you believe that fear only haunts the distant bhoot bangla, crumbling fort or empty village streets? Surely, it can’t touch you now. You’ve distanced yourself from the darkness by living in the glare of city lights, hiding inside secure houses, comforted by a regular job. But what if fear has accompanied you into the modern world? What if it lives inside you, eating away at your heart and mind? After all, fear is just a ticking time bomb that explodes when you least expect it, leaving your reality...twisted.

Some legends don’t want to stay hidden—and some secrets won’t stay buried. When a Navajo girl vanishes in the high desert of Arizona, Lux Branson is asked to help, even though this time the stakes are deeply personal. Her old friend Jackson believes his girlfriend was taken by a Skinwalker—an evil shapeshifter from Navajo lore. Skeptical but determined, Lux joins the search. The deeper they go into the red rock canyons and sacred lands, the more disturbing the evidence becomes. Something ancient is watching. And it doesn’t want them to leave. With time running out and local ...

12 short stories of terror. Demons from hell. Gods and Devils. Unspeakable monstrosities. Humans with a taste for flesh. An upscale clothing store in the middle of New York City that offers its customers more than they bargained for. A prodigal son returns home for his aunt’s funeral, only to discover that an ancient entity awaits. A town shelters against the first snow, and the evil it brings. A mad king. A hired assassin. A world in the balance and an eternal force manipulating all of them. And seven other tales of horror that will forever change the way you experience the holiday ...

Patrick Bateman moves among the young and trendy in 1980s Manhattan. Young, handsome, and well educated, Bateman earns his fortune on Wall Street by day while spending his nights in ways we cannot begin to fathom. Expressing his true self through torture and murder, Bateman prefigures an apocalyptic horror that no society could bear to confront.

Three deeply unsettling stories. One world where monsters wear human faces, shadows whisper secrets, and legends aren’t just bedtime tales. Each story grips you quietly… then drags you into darkness. Inside this chilling mini-anthology, you’ll discover: psychological dread, haunted homes, urban legends, and survival against impossible evil.Stories Included: Smile In a cold and cruel future, people are forced to smile through unimaginable pain or die trying. One mother watches helplessly as her son dares to resist… and pays the ultimate price. Lady in My House After moving back into ...

What happens when the monsters aren't supernatural—they're systematic? In this chilling collection of modern Gothic tales, five classic stories of horror are reimagined for our contemporary world, revealing that the most terrifying threats come not from ghosts or ghouls, but from the very institutions and systems we trust to protect us. From a billionaire's pandemic party that becomes a dance with death, to a corporate executive's systematic abuse that finally provokes the ultimate reckoning—these stories expose the horror hiding in plain sight within our modern society. "Isla Dorada" ...

WARNING: Due to extremely disturbing content, this book is intended for MATURE READERS ONLY. Things in Midian, Tennessee are just going straight to hell. Demons rise, allies fall, and some prepare to make the ultimate sacrifice.

On a secluded bluff overlooking the ocean sits a Victorian house, lavender with gingerbread trim, a home that contains a century’s worth of secrets. By the time Jane Flanagan discovers the house as a teenager, it has long been abandoned. The place is an irresistible mystery to Jane. There are still clothes in the closets, marbles rolling across the floors, and dishes in the cupboards, even though no one has set foot there in decades. The house becomes a hideaway for Jane, a place to escape her volatile mother.

The past isn’t buried. It’s evolving. When Lux Branson is invited to a top-secret archaeological site in Eastern Europe, she expects ancient bones—not living, breathing relics of prehistory. A startling discovery has been made deep in an underground cave system: signs that Neanderthals may not be extinct after all. But these aren’t the primitive people history remembers. They’re stronger. Smarter. And they’ve survived in isolation for thousands of years. As Lux and her team navigate the maze-like tunnels, they find themselves caught between scientific curiosity and a growing ...

Seven Rooms. Seven Rules. One Book You Won’t Forget. The Seventh Room and Other Hauntings is a chilling collection of modern horror stories where nothing is as it seems, and the echoes of the past refuse to stay silent. From cursed architecture to sentient towns, haunted seas to fractured reflections, these tales explore the places we aren’t meant to go—and the things that wait for us there. Step aboard a derelict vessel that rewrites the names of its crew. Stand beneath a nesting tree that feeds on grief. Explore a collector’s basement where stories aren’t written in ink. Stare ...