“One of the most visionary filmmakers working today. Imagine a fusion between the sensibilities of Salvador Dali, David Cronenberg, Ingmar Bergman, Tim Burton and the Quay Brothers, and you’ll have a partial idea of the sheer brilliance of this man’s work.” Mitch Davis, Rue Morgue Magazine. As the above quote suggests, Robert Morgan is one of those rare filmmakers that …

ASYLUM LAKE I could be wrong (it’s usually the case), but I believe this is the author’s debut novel. It certainly bodes well for the future. Asylum Lake is a good old-fashioned horror novel – accessible, creepy and eminently readable. It tells of a writer, Brady Tanner, returning to his home-town of Bedlam Falls. (Bedlam, in case you don’t know, …

Dan Rhodes writes like Roald Dahl on some bad acid. I say that as a compliment. The story begins by introducing us to a sinister old man who survives on a diet of chocolate cake and spiders. He’s the curator at a German museum dedicated to suicide. The museum is supposed to be a deterrent. However such is the bleakness …

THE RED CHURCH This big, fat slice of American Gothic has been haunting my Kindle for the past few nights. It’s one of those ‘can’t wait to get into bed and read’ books. Remember when you were young, and you’d be walking home, but when you got to that house, you know, the haunted one, you’d run hell for leather …

WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE The best works of fiction are those that absorb you to such an extent that they become a work of non-fiction, in that the world you’re drawn into is real and utterly absorbing. This is one of those memorable literary experiences. It’s a particular treat if you like your fiction dark and bewitching. …

This tome features horror luminaries such as Stephen King (and son), Ramsey Campbell and Brian Lumley. A fairly safe bet then, for some classic tales to darken the corners of the room. The introduction is worth a mention, as it appears to catalogue every single horror story penned in 2009. How anyone goes about compiling such encyclopaedic reference material is …

James Herbert O.B.E (see, even Her Majesty likes horror) is the UK’s Stephen King. He’s a man who almost single-handedly dragged the genre screaming and kicking back into the mainstream from the dark cupboard under the publishing stairs where it had been hiding – in the UK at least. His novels have sold millions across the world and have been …

Robert Aickman (1914-1981) described his stories as ‘strange.’ Probably because no other word quite does them justice. Interestingly, he came from a rich horror heritage, his grandfather Richard Marsh having been a rival in popularity to Bram Stoker with his occult novel, The Beetle. But, during his life, Aickman was known as much for his conservation work on British waterways …

This compendium of chills aims to satisfy the twisted desires of those who like their horror in short, scary bursts. Harking back to the glory years for short horror stories, when the Pan Books proved demand was high for both the genre and the format, the Black Books of Horror are now up to number seven in the series – …

M R James. The very name sends a delicious shiver down the spine, synonymous as it is with the cream of ghost story writing. Arguably, with the exception of Dickens, James is unrivalled – the epitome of perfection within this noble genre. You’ll certainly be hard pressed to name a writer with such a lauded canon of spooky tales as …