My TOP FIVE TYPES OF HORROR FICTION! | My favourite subgenres and elements in horror!

In honour of Horror MAYhem, I thought I'd take you through my favourite five types of horror in fiction. These are the subgenres, elements, tropes etc that will always peak my interest!
I've also given you a bonus list of five types of horror fiction I need to read more of too, so let me know in the comments if you've got any recommendations for those!
Thanks for watching, folks!
0:00 Intro
1:36 My Top Five
20:12 Five more types of horror I want to explore more
25:50 Outro
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[@RaynorReadsStuff]

Really interesting wrap up Alex. I must admit I had a bit of trouble distinguishing between sub-genres during horror MAYhem but I particularly like psychological horror, ghosts and haunted houses/objects and monsters. Not so keen on the body horror. I tend to lean towards the classics rather than the modern, although The Terror was superb 😊

[@alex_unabridged]

Cheers, Debs. ☺ There's a lot of cross-over with sub-genres (similarly with genres like science-fiction/horror mix, or fantasy/horror). I figured you'd probably like psychological, given your love of dark crime thrillers - it's the next logical step into further darkness! I lean strongly away from the classics, funnily enough 😉Apart from M R James, he can do no wrong for me. And most of Poe is great. The Terror is truly excellent, and it has the bonus of feeling a bit 'classic' thanks to the historical nature of it and the way Simmons' writes the characters. Really glad you enjoyed it. ☺

[@happyhauntslibrary]

You raise such a good point that resonates with me - I could never watch the things I read, specifically body horror which I love (to read, not watch haha. Lets be clear on that!) Lovecraft’s stuff isn’t my jam, either. I love people taking his stuff (removing the racist shit) and making it more modern. You might enjoy LaValle’s reworking of one of his stories! Also I have a video on diverse werewolf stories recently that you may find useful!

[@alex_unabridged]

It's strange isn't it, how we have very different tastes across reading and watching! Eeesh, no I couldn't watch much body horror either, waaaaay too much for me! I've not read much Lovecraft but I don't really like his writing style, and yes the racism is a huge turn off there too! I'll definitely check out modern stuff though, Victor LaValle's name keeps popping up as someone I should really try out. I've got several of his on my wish-list, probably about time I got to reading some! And I'll definitely check out your werewolf video - have popped that in my 'watch later' list! Cheers! 😀

[@tyghe_bright]

Not sure if it's a type of horror or more of a theme--but the stories that scare me most are ones where someone familiar turns into a supernatural threat--especially if it's a hard-to-define or unfamiliar threat rather than, say, a vampire or werewolf. Just read Out There Screaming, and the story that scared me most was P. Djeli Clark's about kids whose mom knows she's a threat to them, so she prepares them by teaching them to hide.

[@alex_unabridged]

Oooo yeah! You know, I nearly put that element/theme/whatever the hell you'd call it on the list as I love that sort of stuff, but I couldn't find a way to phrase it! And I probably haven't read enough of it to judge it as a true favourite yet. The hard-to-define or unfamiliar threat is brilliant and terrifying. I think I'd class IT in this category too, something that can shift into anything or anyone and sort of defies definition. I have an idea for a novel playing with this sort of concept too, of a threat that can appear in the guise of trusted people in the protagonist's life, to the put where no-one can be trusted and total isolation sets in. It's an idea that I love and that I think could be scary as hell, but I've not started writing it yet as it's unbelievably difficult to pin down. I'll cut my teeth on some more 'conventional' horror writing first and return to it when I've got a bit more experience, I think! I really need to read Out There Screaming - it's a good collection, then?

[@tyghe_bright]

@@alex_unabridged It's an excellent collection. The weakest stories are good, but many are great and genuinely scary

[@arockinsamsara]

Hmmm... You said "folklore," but that kind of runs parallel to folk horror/spiritual horror, so in that vein "Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery" by Brom was great, and " Don't Let the Forest In" by C. G. Drews also fits, though that is more a queer coming-of-age/forest adjacent story, but it still feels folk horror-y. "Our Share of Night" by Mariana Enriquez is also based on folk mythology, combined with contemporary Argentinian politics.... many people love this story, and I enjoyed it, but it is a chunker of a novel and I felt the first third was slow, but my opinion seems to be in the minority... Victor LaValle's "The Changeling" could also qualify as folklore adjacent, and that I thought was incredible... Werewolves? "The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle" by Steve Hugh Westenra is an interesting and fun take on the genre, though the protagonist is kind of snarky and the humor didn't always land for me. Still, it combines an isolated island, friends who have disappeared, some cultish activity, a missing mom, and werewolves, and it juggles them all well. Glen Duncan's The Last Werewolf/Bloodlines trilogy ("The Last Werewold," "Tallula Rising," "By Blood We Live") were all fun, with a female protagonist taking the reins as the story gets going. "A Season of Monstrous Conceptions" by Lina Rather is a wonderful, slow-burn bit of cosmic horror that also has a little bit of witchiness thrown in for fun. "The Scientist, The Spaceman, and The Stars Between Them" by A. L. Davidson is another bit of cosmic horror that is a modern bent on the genre, and a gentle lit bit of lovely queer romance set amidst unknown space horrors, though I do emphasize the "gentle" nature, it has some horrific sequences and ideas but doesn't grab you by the throat. John Langan's "The Fisherman" is another great cosmic horror story wrapped in a story about grief and loss. Tyler Jones's "Heavy Oceans" combines deep sea horror with cosmic horror with fractured families, so you might like that one, too. The first third of that one was hard for me to get into, but I am glad I stuck it through because it got a lot more compelling as it went along. "Malice House" by Megan Shepherd might fit into the haunted house grouping, though there is a lot more family trauma and ghost stories than just a haunted house story (I didn't like it's sequel too much, but this one was great). Nick Cutter's "The handyman Method" feels like it would be right up your alley, too. I have to say, in general I would say that body horror and folk horror are my favorite subgenres, but then I read a good psychological horror or a creature feature or a haunted house story or fantastical cosmic story, and I change my mind. Basically, horror, subgenre be damned...

[@happyhauntslibrary]

Dang! coming in hot with all the great recs!

[@alex_unabridged]

Oh wow, thanks for all of these recommendations! I mentioned folklore-inspired stuff as I have even less knowledge of that than general folk horror, but I definitely need to broaden my reading with folk horror/spiritual horror too. 'Slewfoot', 'Our Share of Night' and 'The Changeling' are all on my wish-list already - that last one in particular has been calling to me for a while now, and I keep hearing such good reports of it!. I didn't realise the Langman was cosmic horror! Excellent. I spotted a copy of that in my library the other day so at least I've got easy access to it. 'The Scientist, The Spaceman, and The Stars Between Them' sounds intriguing, and I'm always up for something a bit more gentle when it comes to horror. 'Heavy Oceans' - deep sea horror + cosmic horror - sign me up! 😉 I've added all the recommendations to my wish-list and will look forward to trying some new stuff! There are plenty of authors you've mentioned that I'm completely unfamiliar with, so it'll be excellent to discover some new-to-me talent 👍 And yes, I agree - I have my favourite sub-genres, the ones I always go back to, but it's a bit of a movable feast, if I find a particularly good book of a particular sub-genre and then fall down a rabbit hole with it, my 'favourites' kind of go out the window! I think that's why I ended up putting 'extreme environments' on my list - the setting is what often does it for me, the particular form the horror takes (supernatural, creature feature, psychological, paranormal etc) is less of a factor is I'm invested in the atmosphere of the setting from the outset.

[@troytradup]

Interesting. I'm not sure how you're separating folklore-tinged horror from folk horror (or if you are), but Ramsey Campbell and Phil Rickman both dabble in British folk horror. I had someone else on the tip of my brain as well, but apparently my parasite ate the name before I could write it down. 🪱

[@alex_unabridged]

I guess folklore-tinged horror is just a part of folk horror really, and although I mention folklore/mythology inspired stuff here, the same could be said of folk horror in general (in that I need to read more of that particular subgenre). Will have a look at Ramsey Campbell's bibliography and see what I can dig up, and Phil Rickman isn't a name I know so I'll do some research there too! Bloody parasites, eating your words before you have a chance to voice them. You wanna get those worms seen to, dude. 😉

[@troytradup]

Look at the The Hungry Moon (Campbell) and Curfew (Rickman). Alright, off to brunch to feed the world. And my belly.

[@troytradup]

Worms. Good lord.

[@alex_unabridged]

@@troytradup 🤣