Top 10 horror books... OF ALL TIME!

In celebration of Friday the thirteenth let's all Just admit these are the greatest horror books ever written! Or at least they are kinda good.

00:00 - Intro
02:32 - Honorable mention
03:12 - Number 10
05:34 - Number 9
08:46 - Number 8
09:52 - Number 7
12:59 - Number 6
14:27 - Number 5
17:09 - Number 4
20:13 - Number 3
22:50 - Number 2
24:44 - Number 1

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[timkjazz]

#1 - Ghost Story - Peter Straub
#2 - Carrion Comfort - Dan Simmons
#3 - Swan Song - Robert McCammon
#4 - The Shining - Stephen King
#5 - Last Days of Jack Sparks - Jason Arnopp
#6 - The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris
#7 - The Damnation Game - Clive Barker
#8 - The Land of Laughs - Jonathan Carroll
#9 - House of Leaves - Mark Danielewski
#10 - The Exorcist - William Peter Blatty
#11 - The Ceremonies - T.E.D. Klein

[randyruger]

Berserk is the undisputed king of manga imo

[georgeclarke]

Just finished one of the best vampire novels I've read. "Let the Right One In." Terrific!

[brettocheltree]

This video with the lighting and the library in the background and your choice of books along with your descriptions, makes me want to delve back in to the horror genre. Been a long time away.

[bellacavender]

I would like to throw out Misery by Stephen King. Just the intense realism in the way she fades in and out of her psychosis and how you see everything from his perspective really unsettled me. Ive been in situations where you are listening for every little sound and you are absolutely powerless. He tries to keep hope but it is shattered over and over by her. Not only that but having a break from his reality to read chapters of his book shook me as well because just like him, its the only true reprieve you get in the book.

[paulsimpson]

I would accept the king in yellow as horror but like how you used this to get an 11th choice in a top ten, great work

[CeeBee]

Pet Sematary is my favorite King novel. I finally read it soon after having my daughter, my first and only child, and found it a devastating examination of parental love and grief. You can’t know until you’re a parent, the fear of loving someone that much… The nightmares where you lose them, where they drown, where they’re diagnosed with a fatal disease, where they are kidnapped or stabbed or burned up and you can’t stop it, waking up in tears, and the shattering knowledge that it COULD happen, has happened many times, is happening to a child like yours and a parent like you at this very moment… Being a parent is damn scary. King really captures the dread, and then the actual crazy-making misery of the worst happening.

I grew up in the woods of New England (VT and NH) and I also love how he captures life there, the people and the landscape and the language. I know Judd. He’s a very real, well drawn character.

Just a great book.

[markbaumbargt]

Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend" deserves to be on your list.

[mindisnyder]

I'm a horror Instagrammer, and I'm impressed with your list after you said you don't read much horror. There are so many fantastic horror books, and I was delighted to see Uzumaki in your top 10. Definitely check out those books you listed as gaps in your reading, and may I add The Haunting of Hill House as a a must read for any fan of the genre.

[waymire]

I've read everything Sai King has ever written. I highly recommend Revival, one of the most underrated of his books. It has amazing character development, and it has stuck with me ever since I read it. I don't want to say too much about the plot because I don't want to spoil anything.

[waymire]

If you want "old" Barker, you need to read The Books of Blood. It's a mixed bag of short stories that ranges from comical to insane to straight out gorefests. This is where Midnight Meat Train, Rawhead Rex, and Harry D'Amour came from. I much prefer his short work (including Cabal and The Hellbound Heart) to his novels.

[matthewkirkhart]

Yes, Pet Sematary is the greatest horror story of all time. The last two pages are the best last two pages of a horror story ever written.

[Hur]

In the vein of “Not Horror by Clive Barker” is “The Thief of Always” which is, believe it or not, a children’s book. Not even YA — I’d recommend it for a fourth grader — but it’s brilliant and worth reading even as an adult. It has horror elements, but made to creep out kids more than anything. As you say, Clive Barker is an incredible writer, and this kid’s book is among my favorite books of all time.

[cliffhamrickwrites]

I've read the Hellbound Heart. It is almost exactly like the movie. The big difference is that Kristi Cotton is a friend and not a daughter. Otherwise, it's exactly the same. Of course, Clive Barker took his own book and adapted it to the screen, so you shouldn't be surprised.

[benja]

I recommend the 6-book Adversary Cycle series (of which includes 'The Keep') by F. Paul Wilson. And also, the Blood Brothers trilogy by Brian Lumley.

[Michael_Wertenberg]

Great video. Yes, definitely check out more of Clive Barker. I've read them all and Weaveworld is my favourite (though not really horror). I hope you've gotten around to it, and I hope you liked it as much as I did. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on these great books. Your #2 also figures very high on my Top 10.

[cliffhamrickwrites]

The King in Yellow really isn't a horror book. It's more weird fiction, but it did influence the best horror writer of the 20th century, HP Lovecraft.

[nunyabiz]

I recently read The Exorcist and Between Two Fires (Christopher Buhlman) back to back and needed a break from horror afterward because they were both so intense. Now, I am reading Elfstones of Shannara to cleanse my pallet before reading my next horror 😅.

[Will-sjkx]

Yay, you got the Exrcist right but should be higher on the list. The writing is outstanding. It’s a masterpiece

[Phwonk]

I've played all the Metro games and they all have amazing atmospheres as well. There's nothing else quite like them. I've been meaning to read the books but haven't gotten around to it yet.