Editorials
13 Books to Get You in The Halloween Spirit
Fall is here and Halloween is fast approaching. By now you’ve likely filled out your October horror watchlists, but what about a good old-fashioned story? With the weather starting to cool down, sometimes nothing is better than staying inside with a good book. If you need an alternative to movies this Halloween, here are essential novels and stories to get you in the holiday spirit:
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
Written in the 1790s, this long-running Halloween classic inspired countless films, graphic novels, and Disney cartoons. It’s easy to see why; this creepy classic set in the small New York settlement oozes chilly October atmosphere complete with a Hessian soldier boogeyman in search of his missing head. Even if you’re familiar with Ichabod’s tale, this is still worth a read for Irving’s descriptive writing.
October Dreams: A Celebration of Halloween by various
What’s Halloween without a collection of spooky stories to set the mood? A whopping 650-page collection of Halloween stories by prominent authors, this anthology novel should last you through a couple Halloweens. Novellas, short stories, essays, and real memories all from notable authors like Jack Ketchum, Poppy Z. Brite, Dean Koontz, Peter Straub, and much, much more. For readers who may be difficult to please, this massive book should have something for everyone- all for Halloween.
The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury
Originally published in 1972, Ray Bradbury’s fantastical journey through time and space for eight costumed boys on Halloween night, in which they discover the meaning of the holiday as they travel from ancient Egypt to the catacombs of Mexico, is a Halloween classic. If you can, though, grab the 2015 edition with illustrations by Gris Grimly, making this story even more Halloween appropriate.
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
When it comes to Halloween, there may be no other more relevant author than Ray Bradybury. This classic novel influenced prominent horror authors like Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, and R.L. Stine. A terrifying coming of age tale surrounding best friends Jim and Will discovering evil when a carnival arrives in the unseasonal month of October. Though carnival leader Mr. Dark promises to fulfill their wishes, they find only nightmares granted instead. The most memorable version of the story is Disney’s 1983 adaptation, but stick with this novel instead.
The October Game by Ray Bradbury
Bradbury wrote a lot of stories and novels around Halloween, but no Bradbury story, Halloween or otherwise, ever got as dark or as gruesome as this short story. Set on Halloween, as a wife prepares for a Halloween party for her daughter and her daughter’s friends, the story is told from the perspective of the husband. It quickly becomes clear that this husband absolutely loathes his family, and the party leave them in danger. The perfect spooky story for Halloween, Bradbury crafts a chilling story.
Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge
This Bram Stoker Award winner is quintessential Halloween. Set on Halloween in 1963, in a small Midwestern town, the legendary October Boy rises every year, is handed a butcher knife, and is pitted against teen boys in a game of hunter or hunted. The boy that kills October Boy is awarded the chance to leave town and a free ride for his family for a year. Of course, this Halloween things go awry. Partridge embraces all the holiday tropes in this quick read.
Johnny Halloween: Tales of the Dark Season
After the success of Dark Harvest, Partridge revisits Halloween with a collection of stories celebrating Halloween past and present. Numerous holiday themed stories, but Partridge also includes one about October Boy from his breakout novel, for those missing this new holiday icon. Not content to just stick with fictional accounts of the holiday, Partridge also includes an essay about what it was like to grow up in the town where the Zodiac Killer began his torment. Another great Halloween read by an author clearly as in love with the holiday as we are.
A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny
Imagine a 31-chapter novel (one for each day in October) that sees the likes of Jack the Ripper, Count Dracula, Rasputin, Dr. Frankenstein, and more coming together in one place on Halloween night to complete a ritual. Oh, and it’s told from the perspective of a dog. More humorous and light than traditional spooky Halloween fare, this one is an absolute blast. The novel also features 31 great illustrations by Gahan Wilson, and served as inspiration for Neil Gaiman’s “Only the End of the World Again.” If you’re looking for something different to read, make it this one.
The Pine Deep trilogy by Jonathan Maberry
This Halloween themed book trilogy is for horror fans; Maberry interweaves Tom Savini, Ken Foree, Joe Bob Briggs, and many more genre vets into his series as characters. As for plot, it’s set in the fictional Pennsylvanian town of Pine Deep, where the rural town is plagued by evil thought to have been destroyed thirty years ago. Considered America’s most haunted town, Pine Deep is deeply rooted in a booming Halloween industry, and the lead character, Malcolm Crow, owns a Halloween-themed craft store. Part love letter to Halloween, part supernatural slasher, this is a must read; start with the first novel, Ghost Road Blues.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Technically not a Halloween novel, Jackson’s final novel still feels like one. It’s small town New England setting, chilling atmosphere, a Gothic dark house, an urban legend quality, and a wacky unreliable narrator makes for a perfect October read. While Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House is a classic, this underrated gem deserves just as much attention.
Pork Pie Hat by Peter Straub
Peter Straub’s most well-known novel, Ghost Story, is also a great October read, but this novella is a unique tale set on Halloween. Jazz legend Pork Pie Hat witnessed a horrible event on Halloween night as a child in the forbidden woods dubbed The Backs, and it’s haunted him ever since. The story of what he witnessed is told over the span of the novella, as an aged saxophonist being interviewed by a graduate student. A quick and disturbing story worth seeking out.
John Carpenter’s Tales for a Halloween Night by John Carpenter, Various
This award-winning graphic novel anthology series is currently being developed for Syfy, and the third collection is due out in bookstores on October 10. All the more reason for you to catch up on this one now. Bringing together storytellers from movies, comics, and novels, this anthology includes stories by Carpenter himself. As with most anthologies, some stories are much stronger than others, but overall this is a fun horror series perfect for October.
Nocturnals by Dan Brereton
A six-part limited series collectively subtitled Black Planet, this pulpy noir series featuring a core group of supernatural characters lead by Doc Horror as they battle the criminal underworld and Lovecraftian beings known as the Crim. Brereton’s stunning signature painted art style further enhances the Halloween feel of this fantastic series. Best of all? As great as all of the characters are, the best may be Doc Horror’s daughter Evening, aka Halloween Girl, who carries around her pumpkinhead filled with toys that grow monstrously large and attack on Eve’s whim.
Found footage movies rely on immersion and a particular kind of suspension of disbelief in order to scare viewers, so it stands to reason that playing along with the “kayfabe” of it all is necessary for these movies to be effective. However, despite being something of a purist when it comes to in-universe recordings, I’ve come to accept that traditional productions can benefit from the occasional injection of found footage thrills.
For instance, Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation makes genius use of the analog gimmick in order to trap us in the titular rooms alongside our main characters before effortlessly switching back to a more cinematic language. In honor of these dynamic films that manage to combine the best of both worlds, today I’d like to share six other hybrid horror movies that successfully incorporate found footage into their scares!
For the purposes of this list, “hybrid” horror movies are defined as any flick that shifts between diegetic recordings and traditional filming techniques for a significant amount of time (or at least for pivotal scenes).
As usual, don’t forget to comment below with your own hybrid favorites if you think a particularly freaky one was missed.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
5. The Last Broadcast (1998)
Internet critics may have overstated the influence that Stefan Avalos and Lance Weiler’s The Last Broadcast had on The Blair Witch Project, but the found footage subgenre still owes a huge debt to this underrated piece of avant-garde filmmaking. However, while the movie sets itself up as a documentary about the disappearance of a group of cryptid-hunters attempting to track down the Jersey Devil, things take a darker and much more grounded turn towards the final act.
I won’t get into details in order to avoid spoilers, but suffice to say that the jarring shift in perspective actually helps to sell the idea that everything we’ve seen before the finale was an attempt at using filmmaking to manipulate the public perception of a “real” incident.
Not bad for a movie with a $900 budget!
4. Cam (2018)
When you consider just how much the internet affects our daily lives, it’s strange that we don’t see Screenlife elements pop up in more movies these days. For instance, Isa Mazzei & Daniel Goldhaber’s highly underrated Cam only works as a freaky parable about online sex-work because it masterfully balances Madeline Brewer’s intimate moments with highly immersive segments within cyberspace.
While one might argue that the entire film could have been produced as a Screenlife experience, the hybrid approach allows the filmmakers to explore our main character’s life beyond the screens – with the duality of modern human existence actually becoming a recurring theme in the story.
3. Banshee Chapter (2013)
Most of H.P. Lovecraft’s popular stories were told in the epistolary format (where the text is presented as an in-universe compilation of letters or personal notes), so it makes sense that a spiritually faithful adaptation of his work would incorporate elements from the modern-day equivalent to epistolary fiction – found footage!
That’s why Blair Erickson’s Banshee Chapter is such an effective scare-fest, as this hybrid adaptation of From Beyond -retold through a conspiratorial lens as it references MK-Ultra and even secretive numbers stations- immerses viewers in a mind-bending tapestry of Cosmic Horror that blurs the line between fiction and reality.
2. The Deep House (2019)
The underwater setting does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s The Deep House, with the film being especially uncomfortable if you’re already scared of tight spaces and being deprived of oxygen. However, even the universally unsettling elements of the flick only work because the POV often shifts into claustrophobic footage courtesy of our main characters’ GoPro cameras.
Telling the story of a couple of YouTubers who encounter a haunted house at the bottom of an artificial lake while vacationing in France, The Deep House’s first-person exploration sequences contain some of the film’s scariest moments. In fact, I’d argue that the movie didn’t even need ghosts, as becoming trapped in the titular House already sounds like a fate worse than death.
1. Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)
My personal favorite instance of filmmakers successfully managing to combine traditional cinematography with POV filmmaking, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, is proof that the two formats can co-exist if the right story comes along.
After all, what better way to conclude a mockumentary all about reality getting increasingly more cinematic than by ditching the found footage gimmick altogether during the finale? Not only does this shift in presentation work on a conceptual level, but it also elevates Behind The Mask into a proper Slasher, which is probably why we’re so excited for that long-overdue sequel!
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