The Horror: Penguin classics, and Guillermo Del Toro
On a recent trip to Ottawa (scary enough), I had to time to read William Hope Hodgeson’s The House on the Borderland. It’s a crazy horror story much loved by people by H.P. Lovecraft and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. Very spooky and well worth checking out.
Penguin have thoughtfully re-issued the book with a very cool cover along with nine other titles. (You can see the covers here) I’m slowly working my way through the set.
THE DUNWICH HORROR – H. P. Lovecraft
THE BEETLE – Richard Marsh
THE HAUNTED DOLLS’ HOUSE – M. R. James
THE SPOOK HOUSE – Ambrose Bierce
THE HOUSE ON THE BORDERLAND – William Hope Hodgson
THE LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM – Bram Stoker
LOIS THE WITCH – Elizabeth Gaskell
THE VIRGIN OF THE SEVEN DAGGERS – Vernon Lee
THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH – Edgar Allan Poe
THE HAUNTED HOTEL – Wilkie Collins
And if you like horror, you might want to check out the recent collaboration between Guillermo Del Toro (Cronos, Blade 2, Hellboy, the Devil’s Backbone) and Chuck Hogan (Prince of Thieves). The Strain is a three volume vampire story to be published in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The vampirism in the trilogy is rooted in a parasitic virus, and for the most part, the vampires are like the feral monsters of 30 Days of Night than the typical vampire fare. Twilight? Oh please.
Here’s the offical web site and here’s a video clip (yeah, it was developed as a TV series)
Notes from Underground 