Editorials
5 Horror Authors and Their First Novels
Sometimes there’s nothing better than curling up with a good book. While ingesting movies and TV shows is easy, it doesn’t leave a whole lot to our imagination since the vast majority of visuals are given to us on a silver platter screen. But a book requires imagination. A book requires the reader to draw upon their own experiences and memories to create unique mental paintings to accentuate the words on the pages.
We don’t get to talk too much about books on Bloody-Disgusting so I feel it’s appropriate to once in a while bring up the medium to show that it’s something we not only approve of but also love wholeheartedly.
To that end, I wanted to do something a bit fun and take a look at five renowned horror authors and recognize their first published works. If you’ve read them, tell me your thoughts! Also, definitely let us know your favorite horror novel in the comments!
Michael Crichton – “Odds On”/”Andromeda Strain”
So, Michael Crichton might be a bit of an odd name on here as he’s not known primarily for his horror works. Rather, he’s most recognized for his thrillers, which mainly relied upon a medical foundation. After all, this was the guy that created “ER”, which was incredibly celebrated and acclaimed during its 15 season run.
However, don’t forget that Crichton is the man responsible for not only “Jurassic Park”, “Congo”, “Sphere”, and “The Lost World”, two of which produced massively successful films and the other two, well…let’s just pretend that those movies didn’t happen, shall we? So the man definitely has a strong grasp on horror.
Interestingly, Crichton’s first novel, 1966’s “Odds On”, was actually released under the pen name John Lange and was about an attempted robbery in Costa Brava in Spain.
His first actual novel under his own name was the 1969 virus thriller “The Andromeda Strain”, which was adapted into a film in 1971 as well as a miniseries in 2008. It was a best seller upon release and cemented Crichton as a writer to pay very close attention to.
Stephen King – “Carrie”
The modern master of horror himself, King’s first novel was 1974’s “Carrie”, which followed the growth of the repressed and bullied Carrie White as she realizes that she has telekinetic powers that grant her the ability to take revenge on those who have maligned her for years.
The book was turned into a movie in 1976 with Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie as well as a remake in 2013 with Chloë Grace Moretz. There was also a sequel to the original in 1999.
“Carrie” almost never happened, believe it or not. King wrote several pages but threw them out thinking them terrible. His wife found them and urged him to finish the novel, which he did. The rest, as they say, is history as the book went on to sell over a million copies in its first year of release.
Since then, King has released dozens of novels, scores of short stories, and his works have been adapted into countless films, TV shows, comics, and more.
Clive Barker – “The Damnation Game”
While Barker’s “Books of Blood” were written and released in 1984, “The Damnation Game” was the first full length novel that Barker published.
The novel follows Marty Strauss and the Faustian tale that he is drawn into. While Stephen King had already crowned Barker as “the future of horror” with the aforementioned “Books of Blood”, it was “The Damnation Game” that proved Barker could intertwine horror with fantasy, drama, and romance, creating novels that are an epic journey that should not be missed.
Dean Koontz – “Star Quest”
Another author that mixes additional elements into horror, such as fantasy, thrillers, and sci-fi, Koontz has written dozens of novels and scores of short stories, many of which have been adapted into film, such as Phantoms, Odd Thomas, Demon Seed, as well as others.
Koontz however first got his name out with the sci-fi novella “Star Quest”, which followed the rivalry between two warring interplanetary factions. The Wiki description talks about the rebel Tohm, who was, “…forcibly changed into a fearfully armored instrument of mechanical warfare—the man-tank Jumbo Ten“, which sounds pretty horrific. Definitely some body horror action going on there!
H.P. Lovecraft – “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward”
Oooh, boy. Lovecraft is a bit of a doozy. The man was most known for his short stories, of which there are many. In fact, that’s really where he got his start, beginning with 1917’s “The Tomb”, which wasn’t published for five years. His second short story is “Dagon”, which was turned into a fantastic and, in my opinion, underappreciated movie by Stuart Gordon.
After years of short stories, it wasn’t until 1927 that Lovecraft would write his first novella, “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward”, which followed the titular character as he investigates his mysterious and possibly supernatural lineage.
Lovecraft was apparently not too thrilled with the overall finished product, electing to not push too hard to get it published. As a result, it was only released after the author’s death.
From child-eating witches to village-burning dragons, fairy tales have always had a foot in the horror genre. That’s why it makes sense that, for every The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia, there are also darker and more adult-oriented stories about magical worlds inhabited by ravenous monsters and cruel villains.
Funnily enough, these sinister tales were precisely the ones that I gravitated towards back when I was a kid, and I was reminded of this while watching Netflix’s recently released I Am Frankelda, Mexico’s first ever feature-length stop-motion animation and one hell of an entertaining parable about the intersection between fiction and reality.
In honor of this special kind of horror-adjacent fairy tale, today I’d like to share this list recommending six Dark Fantasy films that horror fans might enjoy.
For the purposes of this list, we’ll be defining Dark Fantasy as fantastical stories that don’t shy away from the more macabre elements that fuel classic fairy tales. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own grim favorites if you think we missed a particularly thrilling one.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
6. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
I’m fascinated by bizarre attempts at blockbuster filmmaking – especially when the resulting movies are somehow still fun despite their corporate-mandated origins. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is precisely one of these strangely compelling studio projects, as this surprisingly successful action-thriller boasts a lot of heart (and tongue-in-cheek humor) for a CGI-heavy creature feature.
Directed by Dead Snow’s Tommy Wirkola, Witch Hunters re-frames the classic fairy tale as an origin story for a duo of badass monster-slayers. Of course, it’s the flick’s anachronistic aesthetic and overall visual flair that make it stand out from other action-horror endeavors from around the same time.
5. The Wolf House (2018)
Made in the tradition of faux cursed films in the same vein as Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made, the eerie backstory to 2018’s Chilean animated flick The Wolf House (La Casa Lobo in the original Spanish) already makes it a nightmarish experience before the flick even really begins.
After all, the movie is presented to us as a faux propaganda film produced by the leader of a death cult (heavily inspired by the real life Colonia Dignidad), with this hybrid animated feature using complex movie magic to simulate a single uninterrupted shot as it tells the story of a lazy young girl who runs away from an isolated colony and encounters a creepy old house in the woods.
4. The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Out of all the Monty Python alumni, Terry Gilliam has had the most interesting career outside of the original comedy group. From fascinating canceled projects (such as his scrapped adaptation of Watchmen) to dystopian parodies that feel more relevant by the minute (1985’s Brazil), even his “lesser” films are still intriguing in their own way.
2005’s The Brothers Grimm is one such project, with this peculiar movie attempting to combine the comedian-turned-filmmaker’s unique visual style with a more blockbuster-oriented plot reimagining the titular brothers as con-artists rather than mere writers. The end result isn’t exactly a masterpiece, but it’s still a legitimately fun ride with plenty of memorable monsters and wonderful performances by both the late, great Heath Ledger and Matt Damon.
3. Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic (2010)
2010’s Dante’s Inferno game may have a reputation as something of an unapologetic God of War clone, but I’d argue that the now-obscure game was aesthetically unique enough to deserve a bigger fanbase. However, while the title remains trapped on the seventh console generation, its highly underrated anime adaptation is a lot easier to get a hold of!
Animated by 6 different studios in order to make the 9 circles of hell feel unique from each other, this may not be a completely faithful adaptation of Dante Alighieri’s poem, but it’s still one heck of a great (not to mention gory) time that I’d highly recommend to fans of Netflix’s take on Castlevania.
2. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
My personal favorite entry in the Underworld franchise, Rise of the Lycans, is a highly ambitious prequel that actually works better if you haven’t had the story spoiled to you by the previous Underworld films.
While the rest of the series features plenty of urban fantasy elements as the movies combine machine guns and modern environments with gothic storytelling, Patrick Tatopoulos’ prequel fully embraces its fantastical origins and tells a classic tale about a doomed romance between a werewolf and a vampire amid a medieval uprising.
And the best part is that we get a lot more Michael Sheen as the fan-favorite Lucian.
1. Solomon Kane (2011)
One of my personal favorite movies on this list, MJ Basset’s criminally underseen adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s other iconic warrior is thoroughly steeped in horror ambience and features plenty of memorable monsters. However, it’s also a classic origin story for a swashbuckling hero that wouldn’t feel out of place in a tabletop RPG.
While I’ve already written about how the film deftly combines both horror and fantasy elements without breaking the bank, I’ll never pass up an opportunity to recommend the bizarre movie where James Purefoy expertly plays a puritan John Wick.
It’s just too bad that we never got the other films in this intended trilogy.
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