Looking for media with horror, paranormal, or supernatural themes? This guide is a quick look into some of the titles we have to offer in our library and online.
Staff Favorites
The Haunting of Hill House
What Nancy thinks:
"One of the first and best horror novels that I've ever read. It's a psychological thriller guaranteed to keep you reading to the end of the book without putting it down. It will fill you with such terror that you won't sleep for days."
Parasyte 1
What Jherell thinks:
"A great manga for readers who don't shy away from body horror. The art and story in this one will definitely effect you!"
Alien; 20th century edition
What Michelle thinks:
"While Alien takes place in space and the future, I would definitely call this horror before sci-fi. The planet's environment is grim and the suspense and gore is just like a slasher film. The Xenomorph is definitely one of the scariest movie antagonists imagined."
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The Stories of Edgar Allen Poe by
The Stories of Edgar Allan Poe is a brilliant collection of some of hisbest-known stories: The Tell Tale Heart (a murder's haunting guilt), The Cask ofAmontillado (a story of brilliant revenge), and The Fall of the House of Usher(an ancient house full of very dark secretes). Also included in this collectionare The Mask of the Red Death (horrors of 'the Plague'), and the most famous ofall his poems: The Raven (a lover's decline into madness). Best read in adimly-lit room with the curtains drawn, Poe's brilliant works come to life indarkly thrilling ways in this Manga Classic adaptation.
Call Number: Ocala Circulation ; PZ7.7 .K58 Sto 2017ISBN: 1772940208Publication Date: 2020
Through the Woods by
Discover a terrifying world in the woods in this collection of five hauntingly beautiful graphic stories that includes the online webcomic sensation "His Face All Red," in print for the first time. Journey through the woods in this sinister, compellingly spooky collection that features four brand-new stories and one phenomenally popular tale in print for the first time. These are fairy tales gone seriously wrong, where you can travel to "Our Neighbor's House"--though coming back might be a problem. Or find yourself a young bride in a house that holds a terrible secret in "A Lady's Hands Are Cold." You might try to figure out what is haunting "My Friend Janna," or discover that your brother's fiancée may not be what she seems in "The Nesting Place." And of course you must revisit the horror of "His Face All Red," the breakout webcomic hit that has been gorgeously translated to the printed page. Already revered for her work online, award-winning comic creator Emily Carroll's stunning visual style and impeccable pacing is on grand display in this entrancing anthology, her print debut.
Call Number: Ocala Circulation ; PZ7.7 .C369 Th 2014ISBN: 9781442465954Publication Date: 2014
Shirley Jackson's the Lottery by
This graphic adaptation by Jackson's grandson Miles Hyman allows readers to experience "The Lottery" as never before, or to discover it anew. He has crafted an eerie vision of the hamlet where the tale unfolds and the unforgettable ritual its inhabitants set into motion. Hyman's full-color, meticulously detailed panels create a noirish atmosphere that adds a new dimension of dread to the original story. Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery": The Authorized Graphic Adaptation stands as a tribute to Jackson, and re-envisions her iconic story as a striking visual narrative.
Call Number: On Display ; PN6727.H96 S55 2016ISBN: 9780809066490Publication Date: 2016
Creepy Creatures: a Graphic Novel (Goosebumps Graphix #1) by
Three of Goosebumps' creepiest creature books ever!*Now in a cool, new GB Graphix anthology adapted and illustrated by acclaimed comic artists Scott Morse, Greg Ruth, and Gabriel Hernandez. Creepy creatures are howling, growling, and stalking through the artwork of the first Goosebumps Graphix anthology when three hot, talented comic artists adapt these bestselling Goosebumps books into a cool, new graphic novel format.
Call Number: Ocala Circulation ; PN6726 .G66 1996ISBN: 0439841259Publication Date: 2006
Parasyte 1 by
They arrive in silence and darkness. They descend from the skies. They have a hunger for human flesh. They are everywhere. They are parasites, alien creatures who must invade-and take control of-a human host to survive. And once they have infected their victims, they can assume any deadly form they choose- monsters with giant teeth, winged demons, creatures with blades for hands. But most have chosen to conceal their lethal purpose behind ordinary human faces. So no one knows their secret-except an ordinary high school student. Shin is battling for control of his own body against an alien parasite, but can he find a way to warn humanity of the horrors to come?
Call Number: On Display ; PN6790 .J33 I9335 2013ISBN: 9781612620732Publication Date: 2013
Real-Life X-Files by
Real-Life X-Files: Investigating the Paranormal examines the cases of over forty paranormal mysteries. Using a hands-on approach, Nickell visits the scene of the so-called unexplainable activity whenever possible and attempts to physically duplicate the miraculous. Whether he's inflicting stigmata on himself or recreating the liquefying blood of Saint Januarius, Nickell does whatever necessary to eliminate the probable before considering the supernatural. What is left is that much more fascinating. Nickell reports on familiar legends from American history such as the supernatural events surrounding Abraham Lincoln's death and the supposed crash landing of an alien spacecraft near Roswell, New Mexico. He closely examines claims of the miraculous, from rose petals bearing the likeness of Jesus to photographs of a "golden door" to heaven. Controversial mysteries such as clairvoyance and "spirit painting," haunted places, and freaks of nature are just a few of the many topics covered. Suspenseful, engrossing, funny, and grounded in scientific methodology, Real-Life X-Files provides real explanations for the "paranormal" activities that have intrigued human beings for centuries.
Call Number: Available Online - EBSCOISBN: 0813122104Publication Date: 2001
Where No Black Woman Has Gone Before by
When Lieutenant Uhura took her place on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise on Star Trek, the actress Nichelle Nichols went where no African American woman had ever gone before. Yet several decades passed before many other black women began playing significant roles in speculative (i.e., science fiction, fantasy, and horror) film and television--a troubling omission, given that these genres offer significant opportunities for reinventing social constructs such as race, gender, and class. Challenging cinema's history of stereotyping or erasing black women on-screen, Where No Black Woman Has Gone Before showcases twenty-first-century examples that portray them as central figures of action and agency. Writing for fans as well as scholars, Diana Adesola Mafe looks at representations of black womanhood and girlhood in American and British speculative film and television, including 28 Days Later, AVP: Alien vs. Predator, Children of Men, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Firefly, and Doctor Who: Series 3. Each of these has a subversive black female character in its main cast, and Mafe draws on critical race, postcolonial, and gender theories to explore each film and show, placing the black female characters at the center of the analysis and demonstrating their agency. The first full study of black female characters in speculative film and television, Where No Black Woman Has Gone Before shows why heroines such as Lex in AVP and Zoë in Firefly are inspiring a generation of fans, just as Uhura did.
Call Number: Available Online - EBSCOISBN: 9781477315231Publication Date: 2018
Global TV Horror by
In an era fascinated by horror, this book examines some of the most significant global TV horror, from children's television and classic series to contemporary shows taking advantage of streaming and on-demand to reach audiences around the world.
Call Number: Available Online - EBSCOISBN: 1786836955Publication Date: 2021
Videogames and Horror: From Amnesia to Zombies, Run! by
Videogames are full of horrors -- and of horror, a facet of the media that has been largely overlooked by the academic community in terms of lengthy studies in the fast-growing field of videogame scholarship. This book engages with the research of prominent scholars across the humanities to explore the presence, role and function of horror in videogames, and in doing so it demonstrates how videogames enter discussion on horror and offer a unique, radical space that horror is particularly suited to fill. The topics covered include the construction of stories in videogames, the role of the monster and, of course, how death is treated as a learning tool and as a facet of horror.
Call Number: Available Online - EBSCOISBN: 9781786834379Publication Date: 2019
Japanese and American Horror by
Horror fiction is an important part of the popular culture in many modern societies. This book compares and contrasts horror narratives from two distinct cultures--American and Japanese--with a focus on the characteristic mechanisms that make them successful, and on their culturally-specific aspects. Including a number of narratives belonging to film, literature, comics and video games, this book provides a comprehensive perspective of the genre. It sheds light on the differences and similarities in the depiction of fear and horror in America and Japan, while emphasizing narrative patterns in the context of their respective cultures.
Call Number: Available Online - EBSCOISBN: 9780786496662Publication Date: 2015
Poltergeist
The Freeling family is a typical middle class family living in the peaceful Cuesta Verde Estates. Soon strange things begin to happen around the house; the pet canary dies, mysterious storms occur, and Carol Ann is summoned to the TV set, where a strange shaft of green light hits her and causes the room to shake. As the curious events continue, Carol Ann is repeatedly drawn to the television, where she begins to talk to "the TV people." Soon Carol Ann is sucked into a closet, disappearing from this reality plane. Clairvoyant and professional exorcist Tangina makes a horrifying discovery: Carol Ann is alive and in the house, but is being held on another spectral plane.
Call Number: Ocala Audio-Visual ; PN1997 .P66638 2007ISBN: 9781419852800Publication Date: 1982
Dreamcatcher
Four friends with an unusual power become stranded in a blizzard and are confronted by a deadly alien force. As they try to stop this unparalleled horror, the fate of the world is in their hands.
Call Number: Citrus Audio-Visual ; PN1997.2 .D742 2003ISBN: 0790778084Publication Date: 2003
The Shining
Based on the novel by Stephen King, with screenplay written by Stanley Kubrick and Diane Johnson.
A young boy and his parents spend the winter in a resort hotel which is possessed by ghosts.
Call Number: On Display ; PN1997.85 .S5564 2001ISBN: 0790760053Publication Date: 2001- Alien; 20th century edition
The terror begins when the crew of a spaceship investigates a transmission from a desolate planet, and discovers a life form that is perfectly evolved to annihilate mankind. One by one, each crew member is slain until only Ripley is left, leading to an explosive conclusion that sets the stage for its stunning sequel, "Aliens."
Call Number: Ocala Audio-Visual ; PN1997 .A3225 1999Publication Date: 1999
Weird Women by
From two acclaimed experts in the genre, a brand-new volume of supernatural stories showcasing the forgotten female horror writers from 1852-1923.
Call Number: Ocala Circulation ; PN6120.2 .W47 2020ISBN: 1643134167Publication Date: 2020-08-04
On a Raven's Wing by
Twenty contemporary writers commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe with chilling stories inspired by the master himself.
Call Number: Ocala Circulation ; PS648 .H6 O5 2009ISBN: 9780061690426Publication Date: 2009
Rag: stories by
A man, forgotten by the world, takes care of his deaf brother while euthanizing dogs for a living. A stepbrother so desperately wants to become his stepsibling that he rapes his girlfriend. In Maryse Meijer's decidedly dark and searingly honest collection Rag, the desperate human desire for connection slips into a realm that approximates horror.
Call Number: Ocala Circulation ; PS3613 .E4264 A6 2019ISBN: 0374246238Publication Date: 2019
If It Bleeds: new fiction by
Readers adore Stephen King's novels, and his novellas are their own dark treat, briefer but just as impactful and enduring as his longer fiction. The four brilliant tales in If It Bleeds prove as iconic as their predecessors. In the title story, reader favorite Holly Gibney (from the Mr. Mercedes trilogy and The Outsider) must face her fears, and possibly another outsider--this time on her own. In "Mr. Harrigan's Phone" an intergenerational friendship has a disturbing afterlife. "The Life of Chuck" explores, beautifully, how each of us contains multitudes. And in "Rat," a struggling writer must contend with the darker side of ambition.
Call Number: Ocala Popular Books ; PS3561 .I483 .I3 2020ISBN: 1982137975Publication Date: 2020
Christine by
Arnie Cunningham is in love with his car. Christine, the car, is in complete control. "Vintage King . . . breathtaking, awesome. Carries such momentum the reader must force himself to slow down."--"New York Times Book Review"Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.
Call Number: Citrus Circulation ; PS3561 .I483 C4 1983ISBN: 0670220264Publication Date: 1983- The Haunting of Hill House by
First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a “haunting”; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.
Call Number: Ocala Circulation ; PS3519 .A392 H3 1987ISBN: 0899684300Publication Date: 1993
The Queen of the Damned by
In 1976, a uniquely seductive world of vampires was unveiled in the now-classic Interview with the Vampire ... in 1985, a wild and voluptous voice spoke to us, telling the story of The Vampire Lestat. Anne Rice continues her extraordinary Vampire Chronicles in a feat of mesmeric storytelling, a chillingly hypnotic entertainment in which the oldest and most powerful forces of the night are unleashed on an unsuspecting world.
Call Number: Ocala Circulation ; PS3568 .I265 Q44 1988ISBN: 0394558235Publication Date: 1988
I Am Legend by
Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth...but he is not alone. Every other man, woman, and child on Earth has become a vampire, and they are all hungry for Neville's blood. By day, he is the hunter, stalking the sleeping undead through the abandoned ruins of civilization. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for dawn. How long can one man survive in a world of vampires?
Call Number: Ocala Circulation ; PS3563 .A8355 I2 2007cISBN: 0765357151Publication Date: 2007
Frankenstein Thrift Study Edition by
Includes the unabridged text of Shelley's classic novel plus a complete study guide that features chapter-by-chapter summaries, explanations and discussions of the plot, question-and-answer sections, author biography, historical background, and more.
Call Number: Ocala Circulation ; PR5397 .F7 2009ISBN: 0486475824Publication Date: 2009
Lost by
Famed children's book author Winifred Rudge travels to London to research a book about a woman who is being haunted by Jack the Ripper. Winifred Rudge, a bemused writer struggling to get beyond the runaway success of her mass-market astrology book, travels to London to jump-start her new novel about a woman who is being haunted by the ghost of Jack the Ripper. Upon her arrival, she finds that her step-cousin and old friend John Comestor has disappeared, and a ghostly presence seems to have taken over his home. Is the spirit Winnie's great-great-grandfather, who, family legend claims, was Charles Dickens's childhood inspiration for Ebenezer Scrooge? Could it be the ghostly remains of Jack the Ripper? Or a phantasm derived from a more arcane and insidious origin? Winnie begins to investigate and finds herself the unwilling audience for a drama of specters and shades -- some from her family's peculiar history and some from her own unvanquished past.
Call Number: Ocala Circulation ; PS3563 .A3535 L6 2002xISBN: 0060988649Publication Date: 2002
Something Wicked This Way Comes by
A carnival rolls in sometime after the midnight hour on a chill Midwestern October eve, ushering in Halloween a week before its time. A calliope's shrill siren song beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. In this season of dying, Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. And two inquisitive boys standing precariously on the brink of adulthood will soon discover the secret of the satanic raree-show's smoke, mazes, and mirrors, as they learn all too well the heavy cost of wishes -- and the stuff of nightmare.
Call Number: Ocala Circulation ; PS3503 .R167 S66 1999ISBN: 0380977273Publication Date: Originally published 1962; Edition 1999
The Dark-Thirty by
With an extraordinary gift for suspense, McKissack brings us ten original, spine-tingling tales inspired by African American history and the mystery of that eerie half hour before nightfall-the dark-thirty.
Call Number: Ocala Circulation ; PZ7 .M478693 Dar 1992ISBN: 9780679818632Publication Date: 1992
The Graveyard Book by
Bod is an unusual boy who inhabits an unusual place--he's the only living resident of a graveyard. Raised from infancy by the ghosts, werewolves, and other cemetery denizens, Bod has learned the antiquated customs of his guardians' time as well as their ghostly teachings--such as the ability to Fade so mere mortals cannot see him. Can a boy raised by ghosts face the wonders and terrors of the worlds of both the living and the dead?
Call Number: Ocala Circulation ; PZ7 .G1273 Gr 2008ISBN: 9780060530938Publication Date: 2008
Scream by
No one studies fear quite like Margee Kerr. A sociologist who moonlights at one of America's scariest and most popular haunted houses, she has seen grown men laugh, cry, and push their loved ones aside as they run away in terror. And she's kept careful notes on what triggers these responses and why.
Fear is a universal human experience, but do we really understand it? If we're so terrified of monsters and serial killers, why do we flock to the theaters to see them? Why do people avoid thinking about death, but jump out of planes and swim with sharks? For Kerr, there was only one way to find out. In this eye-opening, adventurous book, she takes us on a tour of the world's scariest experiences: into an abandoned prison long after dark, hanging by a cord from the highest tower in the Western hemisphere, and deep into Japan's mysterious "suicide forest." She even goes on a ghost hunt with a group of paranormal adventurers. Along the way, Kerr shows us the surprising science from the newest studies of fear -- what it means, how it works, and what it can do for us. Full of entertaining science and the thrills of a good ghost story, this book will make you think, laugh -- and scream.
Call Number: Ocala Circulation ; BF575 .F2 K47 2015ISBN: 9781610394826Publication Date: 2015
Naked and the Undead by
Horror is often dismissed as mass art or lowbrow entertainment that produces only short-term thrills. Horror films can be bloody, gory, and disturbing, so some people argue that they have bad moral effects, inciting viewers to imitate cinematic violence or desensitizing them to atrocities. In The Naked and the Undead: Evil and the Appeal of Horror , Cynthia A. Freeland seeks to counter both aesthetic disdain and moral condemnation by focusing on a select body of important and revealing films, demonstrating how the genre is capable of deep philosophical reflection about the existence and nature of evil--both human and cosmic. In exploring these films, the author argues against a purely psychoanalytic approach and opts for both feminist and philosophical understandings. She looks at what it is in these movies that serves to elicit specific reactions in viewers and why such responses as fear and disgust are ultimately pleasurable. The author is particularly interested in showing how gender figures into screen presentations of evil.The book is divided into three sections: Mad Scientists and Monstrous Mothers, which looks into the implications of male, rationalistic, scientific technology gone awry; The Vampire's Seduction, which explores the attraction of evil and the human ability (or inability) to distinguish active from passive, subject from object, and virtue from vice; and Sublime Spectacles of Disaster, which examines the human fascination with horror spectacle. This section concludes with a chapter on graphic horror films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre . Written for both students and film enthusiasts, the book examines a wide array of films including: The Silence of the Lambs, Repulsion, Frankenstein, The Fly, Dead Ringers, Alien, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Interview with the Vampire, Frenzy, The Shining, Eraserhead, Hellraiser, and many others.
Call Number: Ocala Circulation ; PN1995.9 .H6 F755 2000ISBN: 0813367026Publication Date: 2000
Shock Value by
An enormously entertaining account of the gifted and eccentric directors who gave us the golden age of modern horror in the 1970s, bringing a new brand of politics and gritty realism to the genre. Much has been written about the storied New Hollywood of the 1970s, but at the same time as Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Francis Ford Coppola were making their first classic movies, a parallel universe of directors gave birth to the modern horror film-aggressive, raw, and utterly original. Based on unprecedented access to the genre's major players, The New York Times's critic Jason Zinoman's Shock Value delivers the first definitive account of horror's golden age. By the late 1960s, horror was stuck in the past, confined mostly to drive-in theaters and exploitation houses, and shunned by critics. Shock Value tells the unlikely story of how the much-disparaged horror film became an ambitious art form while also conquering the multiplex. Directors such as Wes Craven, Roman Polanski, John Carpenter, and Brian De Palma- counterculture types operating largely outside the confines of Hollywood-revolutionized the genre, exploding taboos and bringing a gritty aesthetic, confrontational style, and political edge to horror. Zinoman recounts how these directors produced such classics as Rosemary's Baby, Carrie, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Halloween, creating a template for horror that has been imitated relentlessly but whose originality has rarely been matched. This new kind of film dispensed with the old vampires and werewolves and instead assaulted audiences with portraits of serial killers, the dark side of suburbia, and a brand of nihilistic violence that had never been seen before. Shock Value tells the improbable stories behind the making of these movies, which were often directed by obsessive and insecure young men working on shoestring budgets, were funded by sketchy investors, and starred porn stars. But once The Exorcist became the highest grossing film in America, Hollywood took notice. The classic horror films of the 1970s have now spawned a billion-dollar industry, but they have also penetrated deep into the American consciousness. Quite literally, Zinoman reveals, these movies have taught us what to be afraid of. Drawing on interviews with hundreds of the most important artists in horror, Shock Value is an enthralling and personality-driven account of an overlooked but hugely influential golden age in American film.
Call Number: Ocala Circulation ; PN1995.9 .H6 Z56 2011ISBN: 9781594203022Publication Date: 2011
Trick or Treat by
Halloween has spread around the world, yet its associations with death and the supernatural as well as its inevitable commercialization have made it one of our most puzzling holidays. How did it become what it is today? Trick or Treat is the first book both to examine the origins and history of Halloween and to explore in depth its current global popularity. Festivals like the Celtic Samhain and Catholic All Souls' Day have blended to produce the modern Halloween, which has been reborn with new customs in America--but there are also related but independent holidays, especially Mexico's Day of the Dead. Lisa Morton lifts the cobwebs off everything from the explosion in popularity of haunted attractions to the impact of events like the global economic recession, as well as the effect Halloween has had on popular culture through literary works, films, and television series. Taking us on a journey from the spectacular to the macabre, this book is a treat for anyone who wants to peep behind the mask to see the real past and present of this ever more popular holiday.
Call Number: Ocala Circulation ; GT4965 .M676 2012ISBN: 9781789141580Publication Date: 2012
