SB

The poster for the film Lake Mungo, featuring a blurred and ghostly image of the character Alice Palmer and the text "In 2008, Alice Palmer died... Her nightmare didn't."

13) Lake Mungo

An absolute triumph of fake-documentary film-making. Lots of words have been said about this one, even here on this website already this month, so I'll just add that I think this one might be particularly effective on trans people. Quiet and slow and simply one of the best ever made.

Which kind of horror-thriller is this anyway?

And then, finally, the movie tells you.

Also, Toby Huss is in here, in case you needed any more convincing.

(And make sure you've got the right movie, because there was another horror movie with the same title released in 2022 that's... different.)

... the viewer into the viewpoint of a character who has reason to be on-guard and untrusting, who you (and he) slowly realize is much more shaken and unstable than he thought he was. As the tension builds, you really have to ask yourself: *is* there something wrong, or are we losing our grip?

A poser for the film the Invitation, showing Logan Marshall Green standing at a distance with a partially broken wine glass held close in front of the camera so he almost appears to be partially submerged in it.

12) The Invitation (2015)

My favorite dinner party thriller and, for my money, Karyn Kusama's best work. Friends with complicated, difficult relationships all come together for the first time in years and slowly feel out the ways they've all changed. This film does an extraordinary job placing...

It's a brilliant time with/against friends: short frenzied matches full of monsters, traps, and stolen humanity backed up by extraordinary production values that give the action a real crash, thump, and splash. Who doesn't want to end an evening with their friends drenched in little red squares?

11) Crawl

A pixel-art splatterpiece from the studio that put out this year's excellent The Drifter, this is a co-op/etitive multiplayer game in which one player tries to escape from a dungeon while the others act as the dungeon, each competing to kill the survivor to be allowed to take their place.

A still from the film Green Room, in which the members of the Ain't Rights discuss their options while one of them holds a gun pointed offscreen.

10) Green Room

A punk band out of money on tour makes the inadvisable decision to play a show at a club with... questionable politics in order to afford the return leg of the trip.

Things spiral.

The violence in this one might be tough for some, especially given... everything. Tense and brutal.

I am at a point in my life where I will absolutely watch something I've never heard of before just because I find out Toby Huss is in it.

Poster for Le Vourdalak, featuring a French noble in heavy makeup being grasped and bitten by some kind of pale, long-limbed creature behind him

9) The Vourdalak

A fairy tale about what a nightmare it is to be nervous and French, and also there might be a vampire about. Excellent visual design, drenched with unease.

You total sweetheart! 🧡

In my defense, "what's the game where you have to reload the weapons but with different button inputs & motions" is not actually the question she asked me, because I would probably just have said Receiver if it was. (I eventually worked out that the game she was trying to get to was Hunt: Showdown.)

8) Pontypool

Set almost entirely in the recording booth of a radio station as... something... begins to take place outside and meaning itself begins to tear at the walls. This one is small and weird and human and weird and gory and just an absolute delight.

A figure shrouded in darkness looks up at a giant statue of a grinning man missing the top of his head. A smaller figure sits atop the statue.

Anyway, in short, Warframe good, I like it, and it counts. Big smiles.

The warframe standing in a tunnel composed of some kind of biomass, rife with blood vessels and sinew, looking out into the light of the surface of an alien world beyond.

A figure on horseback looks over the crest of a hill toward a massive person or statue that seems to be reaching its giant hand out to them.

A presentation title slide that reads "The Prison of Linear Time"

A view through the front screen of a spaceship showing a fleet of enemy warships that kind of look like ribcages with a lot of scary red light pouring out of them, against a backdrop of some kind of nightmare nebula

The plot has a lot of really compelling horror elements as well, and it is at least in places much better written than it needs to be, and ultimately it's a story that a lot of queer people identify with and appreciate. Here's some pictures to communicate the vibes!

Yareli, the adorable surfing warframe, posing cutely and making a heart with her hands but still coming across pretty monstery due to the faceless melted-flesh-and-metal look that all warframes share.

Lots of strong horror aesthetics, is my point. Even the "cute" warframes are at least a little scary.

But maybe that doesn't count as horror to you. Maybe if you're the monster it's just power fantasy stuff. Well, I am loathe to spoil the plot too much because I think it's actually good, but....

Voruna, whose armor bears the heads of four wolf spirits that imbue her with powers and can be sent forth to act autonomously on the battlefield

Oraxia, with big scary spindly spider limbs

Garuda, impaling two enemy soldiers on extended versions of her claws while their blood floats serenely through the air

Kullervo, standing around my orbital ship, with a dozen or so knives protruding from his chest. Please ignore my lazy kavat napping in the background.

Maybe you do it in the form of Voruna, feasting alongside a pack of ethereal wolf spirits. Maybe you're Oraxia, bigass spider monster. Maybe you're Garuda, a hot lady who fires flying claws and can turn people's very blood against them. Or perhaps you're merely Kullervo, The Most Stabbed Man.

A promo image of two Warframes easily and violently killing a pair of Grineer soldiers in the corridor of a spaceship

7) Warframe

To some extent, this is a game where you play the part of the scary monster in a sci-fi horror movie; many missions take the form of you, alone, with powers terrifying to your foes, stalking through their starships or facilities and ripping them apart as they try to call for help.

The film poster for Bit

6) Bit

One of my favorite treatments of a transgender character ever, and also just a good movie about a coven of (mostly) lesbian vampires. In particular, I think Duke's flashback is an absolutely perfect sequence and one of my favorite things on film.

A poster for the film The Deeper You Dig, showing a man digging with a shovel in wintry forest and a figure floating amongst the trees in the background watching him

5) The Deeper You Dig

A quiet, weird story about the way an accident (for some value of the word) shatters everyone connected to it. This was my first Adams Family film, and it's still my favorite. I really love how surreal it gets as it explores the lengths that love and loathing can drive us to.

A scene from the first episode of the TV show Hannibal, in which FBI profiler Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter, who is not yet known to be a serial killer, are having breakfast together. Will has been cold and standoffish toward Hannibal, who is responding. HANNIBAL: Or we could socialize, like adults. HANNIBAL: God forbid we become friendly. WILL: I don't find you that interesting. HANNIBAL: You will.

4) Hannibal

I should have led with this, my favorite work of any kind ever. Beautiful, dark, dense, by turns grim and garish, with a wicked sense of humor and an extraordinary cast and just so, so much gayness. If you can handle a fair bit of gore, this gets my absolute highest recommendation.

The poster for the film Broadcast Signal Intrusion, featuring Harry Shum Jr. looking very concerned about something

3) Broadcast Signal Intrusion

A video archivist encounters a recording of a Max Headroom-style signal intrusion and becomes convinced that he's unraveling its hidden meaning. I find his descent into obsession, the increasing desperation of his flight both toward and away from, deeply compelling.

YouTube video by Short of the Week Curve | Terrifying Short Film About a Woman Trapped Above a Sentient Abyss

2) Curve: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dD3...

Turning completely around in tone, here's a quiet, terrifying short that perfectly described the way my life felt to me at the moment that I saw it. (That realization was probably the single thing most responsible for getting me back into therapy.)

a close up of a person 's arm in a dark room with a black background . Alt: Samara Weaving and Andie MacDowell as Grace and her new mother-in-law sitting down for a chat.

If you've been following me for any time you've seen me recommend this a bunch, I'm sure, but it's just damn good, particularly buoyed up by uniformly great performances from a fantastic cast featuring Samara Weaving, Andie MacDowell, Adam Brody, Henry Czerny, and the excellent Mark O'Brien.

The film poster for Ready Or Not (2019), prominently featuring Samara Weaving a bride as well as many people wielding a variety of different weapons

1) Ready Or Not

A young woman tries to survive marrying into a very rich family in the most accurate movie ever made about the boardgame publishing business and a real favorite in our household. Gory, goofy, and a remarkably light and fun watch considering how much terrible violence gets doled out.

I meant to make one, but I apparently forgot!

It's not quite October yet, but I'm slow enough at responding to these that it will probably be October by the time I'm done.

1 like = 1 horror* media recommendation

*I'm the one who decides what fits, and I'm going to probably be a bit broad about it!

The weather here has finally kicked over into autumn proper, and oh my god the world just feels so much better on my skin.

Winter has always been my favorite season, but honestly every year autumn rises further in the rankings just by being the maximum amount of time until more summer.

YouTube video by SB Amabel Masters The Art of Manhitting (And SB Is Here Too)

We're recovering from our illnesses, which I guess makes us two girls that are *sick* in addition to our default state of being rad. We're gonna celebrate us being sick and rad by doing some sick and rad murders! Hitman 2!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_UX...