Horror Recommendations for the Unenlightened

[Cayal]

Can anyone recommend psychological type horror novels, kinda Silent Hill-esque.

Thanks.

[Connavar]

I would recommend Salem's Lot by Stephen King.

I havent read alot of horror but i liked that one.

It is what you are looking for. A small town story and the horror is very psychological.

Im sure J.D and co know alot other good psychological horror.

[Nesacat]

Salem's Lot is good and so is Stephen King's Cycle Of The Werewolf. Again in a small town and psychological.

I also liked James Herbert's Haunted, which is a very different horror tale.

For an older book there is Shirley Jackson's Haunting of Hill House. That's is very, very good.

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by Jaire

Can anyone recommend psychological type horror novels, kinda Silent Hill-esque.

Thanks.

It depends on what you mean by "Silent Hill-esque". Are you looking for something set in a small town/rural area where things are not what they seem, or something much closer to Silent Hill (which I will admit I've not seen)? If the former, I'd suggest Thomas Tryon's Harvest Home, for one. Some of Charles L. Grant's "Oxrun Station" novels might also fit the bill. There are plenty that might fit, but without more of an idea what you're looking for, I'm afraid the choices are too broad to know what to suggest....

[Cayal]

Psychological type. It kinda plays on your mind. I suppose it is harder with books against Games and Movies.

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by Jaire

Psychological type. It kinda plays on your mind. I suppose it is harder with books against Games and Movies.

I wouldn't want to lay any money on that.... Certainly, when it comes to playing with (rather than on) your mind, there are plenty of books that manage that quite well: speaking of Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is certainly one, as are several of the stories collected in The Lottery. Another Thomas Tryon might fit the bill, given that description: The Other (his first novel). Ramsey Campbell is very good at this sort of thing, too. Try The Face that Must Die, or several of his story collections, for instance. He puts you in some very uncomfortable places... especially when you begin to recognize elements of some of the characters in yourself.....

Richard Matheson is also quite good at psychological horror, from I Am Legend to The Shrinking Man to Hell House to his story collections... and on....

[Connavar]

I would say its much easier for a good pschological horror book to mess with your mind compared to games and movies

What they can come up visually is nothing compared to the sick things your brain can make you see !

[Nesacat]

I'll second Connavar and JD here. A well written book and take you into places more frightening than any movie or game simply because the mind can conjure up so much more and understands your fears so very much better.

You read the words and they spiral inside you and turn the safe, warm room into a raft afloat in a sea surrounded by the most terrible things. Give any of them a try. Jackson or Matheson. Ramsey Campbell or James Herbert. Even some of Stephen King. Or go back and read Poe and maybe even Lovecraft. Then there's Thomas Ligotti and some of the things Dan Simmons has done.

[easygoingman]

Hi all

The best horrors I've read have been two similar long novels:
'It' by Stephen King & 'Summer of Night' by Dan Simmons
both concern strong memories of childhood in smallish towns, with many characters with terrible events in the past coming to haunt the children, terrify and kill some of them them. There is such incredible detail in both novels, the only downside is the final scenes with the monsters at the end in both novels can never can quite match all the 1000 page ish length buildup but they are still 9.5/10 best ever horror stories for me

[AE35Unit]

Mine would be James Herbert's Moon, The Magic Cottage and The Dark
Stephen king's Dark Half and Needful Things
Edgar Alan Poe's The Raven, Descent into the Maelstrom,Pit and the Pendulum, truly scary stuff!

[suupaabaka]

Originally Posted by easygoingman

Hi all

The best horrors I've read have been two similar long novels:
'It' by Stephen King & 'Summer of Night' by Dan Simmons
both concern strong memories of childhood in smallish towns, with many characters with terrible events in the past coming to haunt the children, terrify and kill some of them them. There is such incredible detail in both novels, the only downside is the final scenes with the monsters at the end in both novels can never can quite match all the 1000 page ish length buildup but they are still 9.5/10 best ever horror stories for me

I will second, third and fourth IT (if I may ). An incredibly unsettling novel.

[AE35Unit]

Twice I've tried to read IT but its just too long winded at the start,the film was great but my god its a big book!

[Cayal]

Originally Posted by Connavar of Rigante

I would say its much easier for a good pschological horror book to mess with your mind compared to games and movies

What they can come up visually is nothing compared to the sick things your brain can make you see !

But there is no other type of horror is there for books? No, unexpected dog jumping out of the window type fright.

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by Jaire

But there is no other type of horror is there for books? No, unexpected dog jumping out of the window type fright.

Well, for one thing, that's not truly a "fright". It has become confused with genuine fear due to lax usage and intermingling of the terms in common, unthinking speech. This sort of thing is more being startled, caught off-guard, surprised. There is an immediate adrenaline rush when something unexpected like this (or missing a step, or putting your foot into a sock and seeing the end of the sock waving around because there's a bee in it -- a personal experience, that last) but it is momentary and almost immediately replaced by a second rush of calm as the mind recognizes what might have been a threat, categorizes, and effectively reacts to it.

And it is rare in written form because of the time-lag involved in reading/codifying/visualizing as opposed to an immediate visual trigger recognized as a potential threat because of its movement; something which, of course, print does not have. When it comes to writing (just as with film), this is one of the "cheap tricks" because it's gimmicky and takes no imagination, thought, or real effort. The closest thing I can think of, right off, are the endings to "The Golden Arm" or "Teeny-Tiny"; which sort of shows the level at which such a technique lies....

[pyan]

Originally Posted by j. d. worthington

Well, for one thing, that's not truly a "fright". It has become confused with genuine fear due to lax usage and intermingling of the terms in common, unthinking speech. This sort of thing is more being startled, caught off-guard, surprised.

Unless the dog is ten feet tall, has six legs,glowing red eyes, is as black as night, and has huge, slavering, blood-flecked jaws, of course...