We are here on this fine Tuesday with another great listicle but this time, instead of the whole team joining in like we usually do, we’re presenting the Best Ofs from some of our Krew members.
So once a month you’ll get a personalized list from one of our Krew members and kicking it off will be GracieKat with her favourites from books, movies, and games. Since horror is her main genre (oh, who are we kidding, outside of Jane Austen about her only genre) this will be a very horror-centric list. Let the games (and books and movies) begin!
Books
“What I look for in books are those that I can read over and over. As a reviewer we tend to read a lot of newer fiction which is awesome. A favourite is one that when I look for a book that is comfortable and known to me, these are the ones I reach for. Another criteria would be if I had to run from zombies would I weigh myself down with these? In the cases of these books, that answer is emphatically a yes. I also love rereading books because some books just offer so much more up to the reader, be it the first or fiftieth time that you’ve read it.” – GracieKat
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
“I’ve never made any secret of my love for this book and the original 1963 Robert Wise production of The Haunting. For being such a slim book it holds up to a lot of readings and various interpretations.”
Check out my Focus on the Frightful: The Haunting comparing book to movie
Also check out Lilyn’s review of The Haunting of Hill House
Out of Tune and Out of Tune 2 edited by Jonathan Maberry
“Folk music and horror is such a great combination. So many folk ballads revolve around murder, death and ghosts that they’re just a natural fit together. The Out of Tune books are just great fits with each other in this regard. And the stories are great.”
Review coming soon!
A Pleasing Terror: The Complete Supernatural Writings of M.R. James by M.R. James
“The Ash Tree Press team put together a fabulously comprehensive collection on M.R. James’ supernatural ghost stories. I can’t recommend a better one. It also has a very thorough biography of James’ life, as well.”
Shock Rock edited by Jeff Gelb
“If it wasn’t kind of obvious by now I love the mix of music and horror. Rock, in particular, leans heavily into those themes. Country does, occasionally. But Shock Rock revolves entirely around the rock genre, past and present for it’s horror and terror and it does it wonderfully”
Review coming soon!
Movies
My favourite movies are like my favourite books. They are something comforting I can put on (although comforting is debatable with some of these) and well known to me. I can put them on as background noise or to watch for the millionth time to see if I catch anything new or pick up a new subtext or theme.
In the Mouth of Madness
“I love all of the references to Stephen King and other horror writers in the movie and its meta quality. It’s one I love to rewatch to see what I missed.”
Jacob’s Ladder
“I’ve talked at length abut this movie and all the little bits of it so I won’t go too much into it here. Do yourself a favour, though. Avoid spoilers at all costs. I know that’s hard to do but it makes the movie so much better.”
Check out my Focus on the Frightful: Jacob’s Ladder
Jaws
“Jaws is the quintessential summertime movie and I can’t really say anything here that I haven’t said before”
Check out my Focus on the Frightful: Jaws
Picnic at Hanging Rock
“Picnic at Hanging Rock is beautifully shot, subtly acted and with a gorgeous soundtrack. It’s one of my favourites, along with the book. But while the book is good the movie just has a differently subtle flavour that comes through.”
Check out my Focus on the Frightful: Picnic at Hanging Rock
Silver Bullet
“Silver Bullet, along with Jaws, is another that I always watch at least once a year, mostly in the summer. It just has that feeling to it. I don’t watch very many werewolf movies because they just never really hit that sweet spot of feeling real enough but Silver Bullet is one of my favourites.”
Games
Dark Fall: Lost Souls
Check out our Dark Fall: The Journal – Let’s Play playlist on YouTube! We’ll be doing Lost Souls after The Journal!
You can also check out a brief overview of the series on my Focus on the Frightful: Dark Fall Series
And if you want even more Dark Fall you can check out my review of Dark Fall: Ghost Vigil
Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
“Another warning, if you play this do not look up anything on it. There are a lot of cool sanity features that will be spoiled if you do. Eternal Darkness is a horror game of Lovecraftian proportions and its journey through time is at once scary and fun as hell.”
Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly
“Crimson Butterfly was the first game to actually scare the hell out of me. It probably didn’t help that I also played it while living at the creepiest house I’ve ever lived in. It truly bums me out that the series has become so scattered amongst different consoles and watered down but the first three were amazing and will always hold a special place in my heart.”
Kuon
“Kuon often gets largely overlooked but if you do find a copy I highly recommend it. The story is creepy, bloody, and dark.”
Silent Hill 2
“I won’t go into the game too much since I have pretty thoroughly talked it to death at this point. I’ll jut say it is widely known as one of the best survival horror games for a reason almost twenty years later. Again, it’s a shame to see how neglected and forgotten the series has become.”
I hope you’ve enjoyed this more personalized list of GracieKat’ Greats and there will be many more to come from the various team members over the coming months so be sure to keep an eye out for them! I’m sure some of these were predictable but the favourites list in my head is always evolving so who knows what it will be next year!
GracieKat was the first co-host of Sci-Fi & Scary, Lilyn’s partner-in-crime, and sub-head of the Kali Krew. She reviews horror books, movies, and games for the site. She also does a weekly Focus on the Frightful feature, and is the site list-maker. She is also in control of the Sci-Fi & Scary podcast which will relaunch soon.
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