Editorials
[Special Feature] 2011: The Rise Of VOD!
Super, Trespass, Melancholia, Quarantine 2: Terminal, Black Death, We Are What We Are, Red State, Kidnapped, Rammbock: Berlin Undead, Phase 7 (Fase 7), Hobo With A Shotgun, The Shrine, Burke & Hare, Cold Fish, Atrocious, The Last Circus, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil , Outcast, The Pack (La Meute), The Human Centipede Part 2: Full Sequence, Chillerama.
What do those films have in common? They’re horror films (or films with enough intensity, gumption and violence for tertiary association) that incorporated Video On Demand into their distribution models in a major way this year.
That means there’s a lot going on here – and it affects you. Hit the jump to check it out and contribute your opinions in the comments. 
While Blu-ray is still my preferred method of home viewing (streaming and downloads still don’t come close in terms of quality), it’s becoming apparent that it’s more of a collector’s format. DVD isn’t dead, but the sales are in decline. Brick and mortar stores like Blockbuster are dropping like flies. Movie theaters are still somewhat healthy, but the theatrical experience isn’t. If exhibitors don’t enact some serious quality control measures (against poor projection, texting, talking, commercials etc…) then it could shift from “slowly dropping” to “circling the drain” in a matter of a few years.
What can’t be disputed is that, in terms of the distribution of entertainment, the internet will increase its role every year and will continue to dominate in terms of new revenue streams. Like the universe, it keeps expanding. For better (greater access to information, more convenient distribution) or worse (low quality/piracy).
Just look at that list above. It’s kind of staggering. Most of these films aren’t in the hands of the cavalier. It’s not just people deciding to toss their product wherever they can – it’s been decided that (for a particular type of title, at least) the best way of ensuring and maximizing a return on investment is to include this new delivery method in your distribution plan. Not all of them eschewed theatrical releases, some VOD windows were placed before public exhibition (an increasingly popular move), day and date with public exhibition, or after public exhibition. In most higher profile cases, it was the combination of a limited theatrical window with a concurrent VOD release that did the trick. Most of you don’t have access to a theater showing Melancholia, but you do have an internet router.
Even big studio, non-horror titles are dipping their toes in the water. Universal flirted with releasing Tower Heist as a $60 dollar premium in-home experience before angry theater chains leveraged against it. And Sony – the corporation that invented Blu-ray – is releasing Moneyball as a digital download almost four weeks ahead of their DVD/Blu units. In fact, Sony has tried this with several releases like and has seen a 24% gain in digital sales profit than day-and-date releases from similar films – without a significant erosion in the consumption of their physical discs.
But one day, relatively soon, the sales of those physical discs will likely erode almost to the point of exterminating those formats. It’s the way of the future. In fact many of you probably have stopped buying/renting physical discs.
The only real problem with this is it’s currently a battle between quality and convenience. Convenience will ultimately forge the path – but that doesn’t mean we can’t insist on extracting quality from the paths that convenience. Don’t fear the future, but please empower yourself as a consumer within it.
Demand that VOD streams improve in audio/visual quality. You paid for that nice 1080p TV – don’t settle for a 720p stream in the wrong aspect ratio. The infrastructure for VOD and Digital Downloads (streaming speeds too slow, hard drive sizes too small, “The Cloud” barely working) doesn’t support great quality yet – but if you never ask for it, you’re never going to get it.
Consider this – an “HD” movie on iTunes is 3-5GB to download. A Blu-ray can store 25-50GB. While much of that space is taken up by varying audio options and occasionally special features, that’s a fairly large drop-off – even when taking into account that the proper encode can render file size somewhat less important. I’d be willing to wager that the sources for your streaming options are about the same size. That’s a lot of information that you already paid to receive (your fancy TV, your Blu player that streams, your Apple TV, your DirectTV bill, your Netflix subscription, Ultraviolet etc…) that you’re not getting.
Demand proper presentation. Netflix, Cable providers and other outlets will often change a film’s aspect ratio. Research the proper dimensions of the film and demand it be shown the way the filmmaker intended. Also – be picky about DNR. Movies aren’t supposed to look waxy. If The Shining looks like an NFL game you’re either watching a heavily DNR’d version or your TV is stuck on the ‘sports’ setting. Either way, you’re doing it wrong.
Demand special features (iTunes has been getting better about including these – but not good enough). Really, demand whatever you need and want.
How do you demand these things? With your voice and, more importantly, your wallet. If you don’t think you’re getting the quality you deserve from your provider – ask for it. If you don’t get it (and you won’t right away) stick to your Blus for a bit and don’t pay them until they’re selling what you want to buy.*
Isn’t it more work to keep an eye out for this stuff? Yes it is. At least initially. But let’s not become a society that favors convenience over quality. You’re going to have to live in the future, but it’s your responsibility to make sure it’s legit. Video On Demand indeed. Make sure your demands are met.
*And resist the temptation to steal. It hurts the filmmakers more than you know, especially the smaller, riskier ones. Just be patient. It’s a small price to pay for making sure technology explodes at your fingertips the way you want it to.
There’s a lot of reading left to do in 2026, between the glut of summer releases and the approach of fall, when horror titles get a special push from publishers, but this has already been an incredible year for horror literature.
Some of the biggest names in the genre have turned in outstanding work, rising stars have made their mark, and we’re only halfway through the year.
To celebrate the midway point of 2026, with plenty of horror books still to come, we’re taking a look back at the best horror books we’ve read this year so far, listed alphabetically by author.
If you missed any of these books earlier in the year, consider this your reminder to catch up.
Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker
A student running from a crime he may or may not have committed escapes to his father’s country home in Japan, only to find himself haunted by strange apparitions, while in the past, a young samurai tries to find salvation for her family and finds a door to the future instead. Kylie Lee Baker’s Japanese Gothic begins with this dialogue between past and present, and then blossoms into so much more, a cross-time ghost story about old wounds and what it really takes to finally heal them. I got so happily lost in this one that I would have read at least 200 more pages.
Persona by Aoife Josie Clements
In this tale of shut-ins, sex workers, artists, and the horrors they both summon and recoil from, Aoife Josie Clements weaves something that feels less like a story to be experienced and more like a psychic wound to be endured, and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible. Evocative in its prose and nightmarish in its imagery, Persona is a story of the masks we wear, and the understanding that not all of our masks are particularly pretty or even easy to breathe through. It’s a dense, literary, unnervingly vicious book, and while it’s already attracted an audience, it deserves a much bigger one.
Dead First by Johnny Compton
Johnny Compton’s latest novel opens with a throwing down of the gauntlet, a sequence that made me instantly think “How on Earth is he going to top this?” It’s a story that begins with a billionaire hiring a private investigator to determine why, despite trying in many brutal ways, he cannot die. That premise, and the scene which sets it all off, is so alluring and delightfully gruesome that you almost can’t believe it’s the way a book begins, and then Compton just keeps going, delivering a supernatural mystery that I could not put down.
Make Me Better by Sarah Gailey
A woman grieving for the life she wanted visits a mysterious island renowned for the healing salt its residents harvest and sell, seeking renewal and relief. What she finds instead is a strange cult with a twisted history with surprising resonance in her own life, and a people who are more than willing to grant the relief she wants, for a price. Laced with beautiful prose and moments of profound realization alongside folk and even cosmic horror, this is vintage Sarah Gailey.
Partially Devoured by Daniel Kraus
If you love horror film history and analysis, Partially Devoured is an essential. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Daniel Kraus, the book is a deep dive into his favorite movie of all time, George A. Romero‘s Night of the Living Dead, complete with exhaustive research into the making of the film and passages of deeply moving memoir woven in. If you’ve ever wanted to know what the eerie music that opens the film is called while also bursting into tears at how horror movies can save your life, this is a must-read.
Wretch by Eric LaRocca
Our reigning King of Extreme Horror, Eric LaRocca weaves books of uncommon beauty out of the most nightmarish parts of humanity, and Wretch is no exception. The story of a grieving man who longs for relief and searches for it amid a strange support group that might be a cult, Wretch is a brutal journey into the darkest part of us all, and explores what salvation we might find when we get to the rotten core of the world and peel back its layers. LaRocca’s on a tear of great work right now that few other genre writers can match.
Headlights by CJ Leede
A mystery, a serial killer horror show, a tribute to Stephen King‘s The Shining. All of these things describe CJ Leede’s Headlights, and yet they don’t begin to cover the full breadth of horror awaiting you in this novel. The story of a former FBI agent drawn back into the cold case that haunts him most, it’s a shocker brimming over with vivid moments that’ll live behind your eyes. CJ Leede has now published three novels, and they’re all bangers, so it’s time to get on board if you haven’t already.
It Came From Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo
Cynthia Pelayo has been one of our finest genre writers for years now, but It Came From Neverland is my favorite thing she’s written, and it’s not even close. A dark take on Peter Pan from the perspective of an adult Wendy Darling living in World War I-era London, Pelayo’s book works as both a satisfying horror narrative and a rich exploration of what it really means to never grow up. The horror never loses its potency, but it’s the search for the meaning behind the Peter Pan phenomenon in our own lives, and what we can do about it, that sticks with me most.
Filth Eaters by Ito Romo
Ito Romo’s Filth Eaters is a slim volume, one you can read in just a couple of hours if you’ve got the inclination, but it has the feel of a generation-spanning epic. The story of a breed of vampires born in Central America, the European vampires who encounter them, and the offspring they eventually produced, it spans centuries and packs loads of juicy lore into its pages while never losing its grip on character and narrative drive. I would read hundreds more pages of this world, but I’ll settle for this uncommonly grand-scale novella for now.
Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay
A former pro gamer gets a job at a tech company to pilot a brain-dead human body across the country, and so Paul Tremblay’s sci-fi-horror juggernaut begins. Indebted to Philip K. Dick, the primal snarl of Harlan Ellison, and the quirky comedy of The Big Lebowski, and yet wholly original, this is a towering and ambitious novel by one of horror’s most respected voices. What starts as a high-concept tech thriller soon becomes a startling meditation on the value of stories, who gets to tell them, and what happens when we cede too much control to machines we don’t understand. It’s a stunner.
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