Some thoughts on extreme horror and a request for recommendations

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Music: Who's Afraid of Halloween by Alfred Grupstra from Pixabay

[calreid]

Whenever I've made an attempt to explore this genre, I've DNFd pretty quickly. Largely, I don't find this brand of violence interesting to read, nor is it scary or disturbing - it just reads like a bunch of gross stuff happening. The scariest, most disturbing horror, in film or literature, tends to be where it's either implied or taking place off-page or off-screen. Recently finished The Woman in Black and The Exorcist. Both written brilliantly with some interesting themes to ruminate on - but one is much scarier than the other, and it isn't the more graphic one.

[jeffsabrinachesher]

As with all sub genres, these have sub genres as well. From splatterpunk to gross out. If you’re looking for gross out literally any of Edward Lee’s early work especially his Appalachian mountains work definitely qualifies.

Personally I would go another direction into the straight up bizarro with authors like Carlton Mellick. His books “Apeshit” and “Clusterfuck” are wildly entertaining

[hankb]

Edward Lee is an OG of extreme horror/splatterpunk. Header series by Lee are exceptional

[GentleReader]

Body Shocks: Extreme Tales of Body Horror is an Ellen Datlow anthology that is what it says, with really good authors - Nathan Ballingrud, Seanan McGuire, Caitlin Kiernan, Cassandra Khaw, and like that. I found it worthwhile.

[r.s.]

The light at the end. It is a splatterpunk classic

[jeffpowanda]

I really enjoyed Kristopher Triana's novella Gone to See the River Man, a thrilling descent into hell that's also extremely well-written. My love for that book caused me to try a couple other Triana books (Full Brutal and They All Died Screaming), and they were just OK. Triana caused me to be more open-minded about the subgenre of extreme horror.

[msjadedoom]

Hey Olly, if you’re interested in classic extreme horror, The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis is one of the first of the genre ever written.

The Big Head by Edward Lee (other people have recommended him) is almost a modern take on The Monk as it follows a similar gothic formulae. Unfortunately some sections do contain the “as depraved violence as the author can think of for violence’s sake” which you’re not keen on!

[Yamariiii]

I think may leitz's fluids is pretty good "extreme horror" outside of that, I believe that to truly enjoy the genre is to get into a gorehound mindset, extreme horror tends to be a little campy, but also there's a lot of just edgelord shit that's pretty awful.

One book with a pretty interesting story I believe was "through the eyes of desperation" by boregard, it felt just a little less try hard than the slob, the playground is considered his better book tho, I'll give a quick warning that he tends to be laymon-esq in his misogyny.

A whole lot of extreme horror is insanely crass and immature and exist solely because there are things you can do with book that would be virtually impossible to do on any other art form, they exist as a teenage discharge of transgression, I recommended Aron boregard specially because he's more pulpy and similar to laymon but of like conventionally good writers I don't know any, I do love wrath james white though.

A really short and personally favorite extreme horror book of mine is "his pain" by wrath james white, unlike the resurrectionist that book has a core message and it's very graphic but fun

[thevintageviking]

I very much agree with your clarifications between horror/disturbing etc. I find that the mostly newer extreme as you mentioned is very unrealistic or not plausible and doesn’t have any purpose. I do really enjoy disturbing when it is pushing the limits added in but the newer stuff today seems to go too far when it comes the believability. I’d recommend black farm by Elias witherow I think it is very well done and fits within the context of the story. I also did like Judith sonnets santasploitation for Christmas time more as a kinda funny extreme if that’s a thing. Thanks for all the great content!!

[tribalstyle]

I like extreme horror when its used to make metaphors of the extreme horrors of humanity. I like thought provoking and genuinely scary. Cannibalism often falls here bc its an amazing metaphor and gets at primal fears. But 99% of EH seems to be splatterpunk- and I can't stand it. Its so hard to find good extreme horror. Edit- I DO want the shock but not for shocks sake- but for shocks ability, when used correctly, to be profound. So what recommends for this? For depth?

[capricous]

Gig of the Damned: Slay the Competition by Phrique is a great drag queen slasher and some of the kills get into the extreme. If you're you're looking for a horror movie feel, My Ouija Boyfriend and Don't Go to Wheelchair Camp by David Irons are fantastic and occasionally touch on the extreme. Judith Sonnet has a lot of good ones. They Want Us Gone: A Queer Horror Collection is great. If you like Fulci films, her books, Hell: A Splatter Novel and Hell: City of the Killing Dead, have that same weird dream logic and outrageous visuals while also, somehow, giving that perfect sense of having been dubbed. Speaking of papercuts, there is Gross Out by Duncan Ralston (You also learn about what happens after the end of Woom).

[nicholasjones]

Edward lee, wrath James white, Jack ketchum. I really enjoy some of their output but I’ve had less luck going for new authors because they only give a bare bones outline of a story that just tries to be as extreme, gross, gorey as possible and it comes across as not very accompliced writers being edgelords. Some of them must be good but there is a lot of dross to work through in finding them.

[mikeprewittmovieandbookreviews]

If you want a slow build about PTSD after coming home from war, I highly suggest The Warrior Retreat by John Lynch. It's one part PTSD struggles and one part slasher. I absolutely loved it.

[Jager]

I feel the same way about extreme horror literature as I do about extreme horror cinema. If it is part of the plot, fair enough, but if it's just for shock value, I don't really like it. Can't really recommend any. Jack Ketchum is really the only one I have read. I find the less I am told, the more my imagination works, and that can be more horrific

[joelstube]

I’d be curious what your thoughts on Jon Athan’s work. He’s independent extreme horror and has written over 50 books in a relatively short career. Into The Wolves Den, When She Weeps, The President’s Son or The Groomer are all pretty good

[mattjames]

I recommend Amygdalatropolis by B. R. Yeager. It's a timely and disturbing story about a "terminally online" dark web sub culture. There's nothing "edgy" or tryhard about it; it's a stark warning.

[brooklyndweller]

I agree with others who say Edward Lee. Read about 2 of those and that was enough!

[DisquietandDragons]

I recently read No One Rides for Free by Judith Sonnet and thought it was very good.

I enjoyed 100% Match by Patrick C Harrison III, I thought parts were pretty disturbing but not over the top, it was quite believable.

[MrSeedi]

There's not many extreme horror books I read. One was Kristopher Triana's "Body Art". Not all that realistic however as it has a supernatural element to it. I think it's well written but even if you don't like this particular title, the author might be worth checking out as he's written many more novels.

[harveyjprice]

I'm not sure this is extreme horror but there is a book called Lord Horror by David Britton. It was banned in the UK in the early nineties, and I'm not even sure you can even find a copy of it nowadays. The titular character was based on Lord Haw-Haw, and was deemed to be obscene when it was published in the UK and therefore banned. There is a wikipedia entry on David Britton so I guess more info will be there but it's meant to be pretty extreme. I myself have only seen and read a few excerpts when I heard about it a few years ago. There is even a graphic novel which I've seen bits of but how extreme it would be considered today, I'm not so sure.