have you ever read a book thats scared you more than a film?

Shoseki · 21 Sep 2008 at 01:48

Yes, Jurassic Park - I could practically hear the raptors clicking around in the industrial kitchen as the children hid...

MattU · 21 Sep 2008 at 01:48

If anyone can recommend some good horror books I'd appreciate it. It's a long time since I read any, and then it was only Christine, The Stand and IT, not really scary :/ The only film that's ever scared me is Candyman when I was younger.

Shoseki · 21 Sep 2008 at 01:49

MattU said:
If anyone can recommend some good horror books I'd appreciate it. It's a long time since I read any, and then it was only Christine and IT, not really scary :/ The only film that's ever scared me is Candyman when I was younger.

The book(s?) of blood by Clive Barker.

uknowist · 21 Sep 2008 at 01:50

someone from work told me that the original exorcist book was the scariest thing ever written, and the film did not do any justice even tho its rated as one of the scariest films ever. And she was really into her horror books. However me personally, i have not read or seen anything that made me cack myself... yet..

And for the record, Christine was crap, both in book and film

MattU · 21 Sep 2008 at 02:00

Yeah christine was crap, although I haven't seen the film. Most of the stephen king films seem too low budget to scare anybody, I couldn't bare to watch The Stand, it just seemed so cheesy.

uknowist · 21 Sep 2008 at 02:04

MattU said:
Yeah christine was crap, although I haven't seen the film. Most of the stephen king films seem too low budget to scare anybody, I couldn't bare to watch The Stand, it just seemed so cheesy.

i did like the Shining, haven't read it but the film was pretty good IMO, not really scary or anything but was just an enjoyable watch

Matblack · 21 Sep 2008 at 02:04

Shoseki said:
The book(s?) of blood by Clive Barker.

They are a bit variable I found, Cabal and Hellbound Heart are his better work apart from the fantasy stuff like Imajica etc. I don't think you can go wrong with the classic Stephen King like; Salem's Lot, It and The Shining as a starting place, he keeps a good pace in his books and they are very readable. If you are happy with something which isn't up to date but is packed with alien concepts then pick up a Lovecraft Omnibus and make sure it has At the Mountains of Madness and Dagon in it. I like Ramsay Campbell and Brain Lumley too both of whom are know for taking Lovecraftian stylings.

There are so many different types of horror writing that you really need to try a a cross section and see what you like and then explore further.

MB

MattU · 21 Sep 2008 at 02:11

I think I will give them a try, been reading historical fiction (Cornwell, Gemmel, Iggulden) lately, but fancy a change.

Azagoth · 21 Sep 2008 at 02:41

For me, certain parts of 'Relic' got me looking around over my shoulder at times. The film ain't bad but the book is just way more atmospheric.

Shoseki said:
Yes, Jurassic Park - I could practically hear the raptors clicking around in the industrial kitchen as the children hid...

Edinho · 21 Sep 2008 at 03:30

Shouldnt this be in the film/music section anyway rather than GD?

Dj_Jestar · 21 Sep 2008 at 04:30

Books always do more for me than the films. This goes for all types of emotion, be it fear, happyness, the horn, etc.

uknowist · 21 Sep 2008 at 04:37

yeah i think with books its like your own mind can come up with more scary **** than any film can do

benneh · 21 Sep 2008 at 05:21

Nineteen Eighty-Four. Because gradually it shows itself to be more a forecast than a fictional piece.

titchard · 21 Sep 2008 at 06:29

American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis

Some of that is just messed up, how he casually dips in and out of these calm collected rants of how he is going to kill someone - goes into more messed up moments than the film.

Although I am glad I watched the film first, as when I read passages I can hear Christian Bale in my head acting out Patrick Bateman.

Rich

banja · 21 Sep 2008 at 07:53

I got half way through Marabou Stork Nightmares by Irvine Walsh, while I was living temporarily with a friend.

It's not a horror or conventionally scary, but I was actually pleased that I didn't have to read the rest. It wasn't scary as a story exactly, but it slowly became so horrid and disturbing that I was genuinely freaked out thinking what was going on. I really feared reading on. Nasty stuff.

I still (ten years later) have never bothered finishing it / finding out what happened.

ANDARIAL · 21 Sep 2008 at 08:45

djmc0 said:
Shadow over Innsmouth... dude its Lovecraft, I dont know how he does, I think its because he writes so matter of factly.

Alos didn't scare me Stand - Stephen King is a such an epic tale of good Vs evil.

Dont know why I'm posting tbh as film/books never creep me out really.

Shadow over Innsmouth
This :eek:

Read it when i was about 13 had nightmares for weeks after(and i am usually ok with horror/SF/Fantasy books)

Conscript · 21 Sep 2008 at 09:13

The Woman in Black.

I couldn't sleep for days afterward.

penski · 21 Sep 2008 at 09:20

Not horror per se but Kafka's The Trial instills a sense of forboding, dread, and a suffocating loss of control and deprivation of your sense of the world you are in that really gets under your skin.

*n

bushmins · 21 Sep 2008 at 10:25

Zombie books by D J Moody really pulled me in. Great for reading on those long lonely night shifts. Infact i remember starting to size up my depot thinking how to secure it.

Cant beat zombie survival.

Hes an upcomming writer which a couple of films being finished off for next year. You used yto be able to get one of his books for free but i think hes being published now so its all stopped.

BooshFan91 · 21 Sep 2008 at 14:56

Goosebumps are the only books i've ever read and they were scarey when i was 7, since then i have not really read for leisure, i should probebly get that fixed