Classic Horror Fiction in the Spotlight

Written by Jon Williams

There were no new episodes of Stranger Things this year, with Season 3 of the popular show not coming until 2019. Television lovers looking for their fix of a creepy show to binge watch to get them in the Halloween spirit, however, are in luck anyway. The latest sensation is The Haunting of Hill House, a loose adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s classic 1959 horror novel, bringing it into the modern day and spreading it across ten episodes exploring the lives of a family who spent a fateful summer in the titular house and the rest of their lives dealing with the aftermath. Show creator Mike Flanagan is well known to horror fans, with movies like Oculus and Ouija: Origin of Evil to his credit. He also recently adapted the Stephen King novel Gerald’s Game, and is working on the author’s Doctor Sleep (coming in 2020) as well.

The show is certain to spur new interest in Shirley Jackson’s novel, and the author’s other works are great for this time of year as well. One such novel is We Have Always Lived in the Castle, a gothic murder mystery from 1962. She also wrote a non-fiction exploration of the Salem Witch Trials, The Witchcraft of Salem Village, in 1956. All of these titles are available in the audio format on hoopla as well, as is a collection of short stories that includes “The Lottery,” perhaps her most famous and chilling work.

This is also a great time to promote other classic horror fiction to your patrons. That begins, of course, with Mary Shelley’s 1823 novel Frankenstein. This story of a creature cobbled together and animated by a young scientist has been adapted any number of times over the years, perhaps most famously in 1931 with Boris Karloff as the monster. The most recent, 2015’s Victor Frankenstein, starred James McAvoy as Dr. Frankenstein and Daniel Radcliffe as his assistant Igor. Starting in 2005, bestselling novelist Dean Koontz (an author whose work horror fans would do well to explore) put out a five-book series bringing Frankenstein and his monster into modern times.

And of course, it’s impossible to mention Frankenstein without also mentioning Dracula, the seminal vampire novel published in 1897 by Bram Stoker. Like Frankenstein, Dracula too received a 1931 adaptation, with Bela Lugosi in the starring role, although an earlier, unlicensed adaptation, Nosferatu, rivals that version as the most famous. The vampire novel is one of the most enduring horror traditions, with iconic tales like Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend and Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire just two examples. More recently, Canadian author Dacre Stoker has taken up the tale originated by his ancestor, co-authoring 2009’s Dracula, the Un-Dead, a direct sequel to the original, and the just-released Dracul, a prequel written in part from documents Bram Stoker left behind.

And this is just scratching the surface of classic horror. Other works include the stories of Edgar Allan Poe, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irvine,  At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft, Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, and The Woman in Black by Susan Hill, to name just a few. And although they’re perhaps more well known for their terrifying movie adaptations, Ira Levin’s Rosemary’s Baby and William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist bear mention as well. There’s a lot to choose from for those who love things that go bump in the night. What are some of your and/or your patrons’ favourites? Let us know!