HDC Top 100 Horror Books

[Doc Faustus]

Keep them coming, guys!

[swiss tony]

I suppose M.R. James has been mentioned. Ghost Stories of an Antiquary was his first collection published.

G.W.M. Reynolds wrote a few corkers.

[TheWickerFan]

I'll stick with my initial top 10, but I'll give more ideas:

The 120 Days Of Sodom - Marquis De Sade
The Crowd - Ray Bradbury
Man From The South - Roald Dahl
The White People - Arthur Machen
The Stepford Wives - Ira Levin
Harvest Home - Thomas Tryon
University - Bentley Little
Fires Of Eden - Dan Simmons
The Talisman - Stephen King and Peter Straub
Coma - Robin Cook
The Ruins - Scott Smith
Mercy - David Lindsey

I assume we'll do a tally, so I'll back up:

It - Stephen King
The Exorcist - William Peter Blatty
The Stand - Stephen King
The Day Of The Triffids - John Wyndham
The Other - Thomas Tryon
The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow - Washington Irving
The Shining - Stephen King
Hell House - Richard Matheson
Rosemary's Baby - Ira Levin

[Fearonsarms]

Ok if its going to be a tally I'll backup:

The Shining-Stephen King
Macbeth-William Shakespeare
The Call Of Cthulhu-HP Lovecraft
Oh Whistle and I'll Come To You My Lad-MR James
The Shadow Over Innsmouth-HP Lovecraft

And add:
Frank Herbert-Dune

[swiss tony]

Sorry Wicker but I'd hate to see 120 Days of Sodom feature in one of our Sticky Top 100s. Please don't think I'm trying to undermine your selection:)

I would lobby against the inclusion of anything by de Sade, and not only because of his paedophile practices or sexually abusive attitude towards women in his private life but because his work is almost exclusively philosophy punctuated with pornography. Actually, some of his work is really just pornography punctuated with philosophy.

Whereas I very much admire much of what he stood for, and where and when he stood for it, I ultimately find him extremely unpalateable. I haven't seen Salo, and it may be presented as horror, but I have read Juliette and it's a contrast between wonderful segments of philosophy/social commentary and disgusting sexual 'sadism'.

[TheWickerFan]

Originally Posted by swiss tony

Sorry Wicker but I'd hate to see 120 Days of Sodom feature in one of our Sticky Top 100s. Please don't think I'm trying to undermine your selection:)

I would lobby against the inclusion of anything by de Sade, and not only because of his paedophile practices or sexually abusive attitude towards women in his private life but because his work is almost exclusively philosophy punctuated with pornography. Actually, some of his work is really just pornography punctuated with philosophy.

Whereas I very much admire much of what he stood for, and where and when he stood for it, I ultimately find him extremely unpalateable. I haven't seen Salo, and it may be presented as horror, but I have read Juliette and it's a contrast between wonderful segments of philosophy/social commentary and disgusting sexual 'sadism'.

That's a pretty weak argument. We're not going to start judging authors by their actions in life are we? If it's decided that the book isn't a work of horror that's fine, but you can't exclude someone because of your personal feelings towards him.

[swiss tony]

Originally Posted by TheWickerFan

That's a pretty weak argument. We're not going to start judging authors by their actions in life are we? If it's decided that the book isn't a work of horror that's fine, but you can't exclude someone because of your personal feelings towards him.

That's absolutely fair comment but it's really a combination of the two factors that would make me inclined to omit his work.

It is an interesting point about his prose in the context of modern cinema in that, during his own lifetime he sought to distance his work from the horror label (Gothic in particular), yet with the recent trend of torture movies, if his books were made into movies, they'd certainly be classified as such.

I'm just saying that, as books, they aren't horror.

Also, Wicker, I'd be interested to hear your view of Salo. I won't dispute that it falls into horror but is it, as numerous polls and renowned directors alike suggest, an important and historic piece of movie making?

[TheWickerFan]

Originally Posted by swiss tony

That's absolutely fair comment but it's really a combination of the two factors that would make me inclined to omit his work.

It is an interesting point about his prose in the context of modern cinema in that, during his own lifetime he sought to distance his work from the horror label (Gothic in particular), yet with the recent trend of torture movies, if his books were made into movies, they'd certainly be classified as such.

I'm just saying that, as books, they aren't horror.

Also, Wicker, I'd be interested to hear your view of Salo. I won't dispute that it falls into horror but is it, as numerous polls and renowned directors alike suggest, an important and historic piece of movie making?

I don't have a problem if it's decided that The 120 Days Of Sodom isn't a work of horror, but I have a serious problem with an author being excluded due to his personal conduct.

As for Salo, I'm not sure how "important" or "historic" it was, but it was not a simple exploitation film. Like the book, it was a social commentary on the wealthy and privileged using and abusing the lower classes (although I think the Marquis De Sade had far more fun writing his story than Pier Paolo Pasolini did making the film). It's very well made, but extremely difficult to sit through the more graphic scenes. My husband, on the other hand, said he was bored to tears by it, so go figure.

[swiss tony]

I guess what I'm building up to asking is, as a horror and cinema fan, do you think this is a 'must-see' movie? In the same way that The Passion of the Christ or Cannibal Holocaust are but not The Men Behind the Sun or August Underground...?

Like I said, I am not opposed to art forms that, while completely disgusting on face value, offer either something educational or morally enriching providing there isn't some sinister back drop to it.

[neverending]

Could I remind you of the guidelines set down by the president in the first post?

To start with, I'd like folks to post 10 books, plays, poems or books of poetry containing horror elements or influencing the genre. Plath's Ariel (the book, not the poem), Shakespeare's Macbeth, Joyce's Ulysses have as much horror to be found in them as Salem's Lot or American Psycho and should not be ignored just because they do not meet some arbitrary standard for the genre. Unlike real politicians, this HDC President is going to hear out your arguments in favor of works that you think might be controversial. Arguments against things are for later in the process. No eyerolls, no "Kafka isn't horror", "The Invisible Man isn't horror", "Haunting of Hill House isn't horror", "The Joy of Sex isn't horror" yet. I will assemble a panel for the purpose of cutting the list down to 100 when we have a substantial amount of entries.