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terror_scifi, but thought I might as well post it here too.
Most people who love horror at least want to try reading Lovecraft, but he has so many stories that knowing where to start can be kind of daunting. I know it was for me. I finally just wound up getting a collection and reading through it in order. That isn't really the best strategy, but these were some of my favorites:
The Shadow Over Innsmouth (which, counter-intuitively, was inspiration for the movie Dagon)
Cool Air (which is, in my opinion, by far his creepiest)
Pickman's Model (which goes to show how well a punchline can work in horror...)
The Music of Erich Zann (which is an excellent illustration of "fear of the unknown")
The Outsider (which, 'cause I'm weird, is less horrifying to me than it is strangely beautiful)
The Shadow Out of Time (which I also didn't find scary, except for the end,because I think the protagonists experiences would be...kind of awesome)
The Rats in the Walls (which starts out almost like a haunted house story, but turns into something disarmingly bizarre by the end)
The Call of Cthulhu (yeah, there's not really much you can say about this one)
The Colour Out of Space (which is like finding a box full of shudders at violin factory...if that makes any sense)
Herbert West—Reanimator (which, as much as I love Jeffrey Combs, really deserved a better movie)
While that rounds out my basic "top ten", here are a few honorable mentions:
The Picture in the House, The Thing on the Doorstep (read The Shadow Over Innsmouth first), The Dunwich Horror and The Terrible Old Man.
I haven't read as many of the Mythos stories as I'd like, though. It can be kind of hard to tell which ones are and which ones aren't, which ones by Derleth and others are really important to read, and I usually don't have that much patience for short fiction or the time... :(
First, I want to establish to anyone reading Black Edelweiss that I found this song looking for a specific German phrase, and that it was only after double checking a few serious sources that I finally gave in and decided to quote it. That said, it's a pretty awesome song, and I've always loved a good, creepy music video. Warning, contains demonic children and evil clowns...
No one should be able to rock the creepy clown thing as sexy, but somehow he does it...
I mean, that's not just me, right? Right?
terror_scifi, but thought I might as well post it here too.Most people who love horror at least want to try reading Lovecraft, but he has so many stories that knowing where to start can be kind of daunting. I know it was for me. I finally just wound up getting a collection and reading through it in order. That isn't really the best strategy, but these were some of my favorites:
The Shadow Over Innsmouth (which, counter-intuitively, was inspiration for the movie Dagon)
Cool Air (which is, in my opinion, by far his creepiest)
Pickman's Model (which goes to show how well a punchline can work in horror...)
The Music of Erich Zann (which is an excellent illustration of "fear of the unknown")
The Outsider (which, 'cause I'm weird, is less horrifying to me than it is strangely beautiful)
The Shadow Out of Time (which I also didn't find scary, except for the end,because I think the protagonists experiences would be...kind of awesome)
The Rats in the Walls (which starts out almost like a haunted house story, but turns into something disarmingly bizarre by the end)
The Call of Cthulhu (yeah, there's not really much you can say about this one)
The Colour Out of Space (which is like finding a box full of shudders at violin factory...if that makes any sense)
Herbert West—Reanimator (which, as much as I love Jeffrey Combs, really deserved a better movie)
While that rounds out my basic "top ten", here are a few honorable mentions:
The Picture in the House, The Thing on the Doorstep (read The Shadow Over Innsmouth first), The Dunwich Horror and The Terrible Old Man.
I haven't read as many of the Mythos stories as I'd like, though. It can be kind of hard to tell which ones are and which ones aren't, which ones by Derleth and others are really important to read, and I usually don't have that much patience for short fiction or the time... :(
First, I want to establish to anyone reading Black Edelweiss that I found this song looking for a specific German phrase, and that it was only after double checking a few serious sources that I finally gave in and decided to quote it. That said, it's a pretty awesome song, and I've always loved a good, creepy music video. Warning, contains demonic children and evil clowns...
No one should be able to rock the creepy clown thing as sexy, but somehow he does it...
I mean, that's not just me, right? Right?
