Horror Book Reviews

‘Twas the Night by Kevin Johnson Review: The Village That Worships Santa

Kevin Johnson’s debut sends a sceptical reporter into Yule, Maine, where Santa Claus is worshipped as a god and children keep vanishing. My ‘Twas the Night review looks at its dark humour, its folk horror roots and the thin mythology that keeps this Christmas horror novel just short of the top.

by Jim McLeod•16 October 202615 October 2026

Horror Movie Reviews

Nightmares Film Festival 2026 Reviews: Nine Films Worth the Fright

Four reviewers take on nine indie horror films from Nightmares Film Festival 2026, from horror comedy and slasher films to found footage horror and a 1970s throwback. Seven of the nine land at four stars, and none falls below three and a half.

by Jim McLeod•16 October 202615 October 2026

Horror Features

Stephen Graham Jones’s Blackfeet Books: From Revenge to Redemption

Off the Reservation brings Nate Yellow Tail back from The Only Good Indians, with The Buffalo Hunter Hunter standing between them. This feature traces Stephen Graham Jones’s Blackfeet books from an elk hunt to the Marias Massacre to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, and shows how Indigenous horror turns revenge into return.

by Jim McLeod•16 October 202616 October 2026

Horror Features

St Andrew’s Eve: The Carpathian Night You Had to Keep Talking

In Romanian folklore, St Andrew’s Eve is the night the strigoi begin to walk. Corben Vale, author of the Carpathian Chronicles and The Village of the Hanged, looks at the garlic, the unnamed wolf and the oldest defence in Carpathian folk horror: keep telling stories until dawn.

by Jim McLeod•15 October 202615 October 2026

Horror Book Reviews

Nordic Nightmares Review: Margrét Helgadóttir’s Terrifying Winter of Fear

Margrét Helgadóttir’s Nordic Nightmares carries twenty horror stories from seven nations into English. Not every one lands, but the best of this Nordic horror anthology rank among the year’s finest translated horror fiction.

by Jim McLeod•15 October 202616 October 2026

Horror Features

How 90s Horror Hooked Kevin Johnson, Author of ‘Twas the Night

Before he wrote ‘Twas the Night, Kevin Johnson was a 90s kid with a bookcase full of Goosebumps. In this guest post he traces how Are You Afraid of the Dark?, The X-Files and the horror aisle at Blockbuster Video got him hooked. His Christmas horror novel is out now from William Morrow.

by Jim McLeod•14 October 202614 October 2026

Horror Interviews

Doing Too Much: Samantha Josephs on Carrying

Samantha Josephs talks to Ginger Nuts of Horror about Carrying, her trans body horror debut about a stealth trans woman and an impossible pregnancy. She covers drag timing, erotica, TikTok cures and why this pregnancy horror novel was never meant to be tamed.

by Jim McLeod•14 October 202615 October 2026

Horror Book Reviews

Twisted Pike by David Barnett Review: Withered Hill Comes Full Circle

My Twisted Pike review: David Barnett sends a small film crew into Withered Hill and ties his whole folk horror world together. A sly, cruel and beautifully paced British folk horror novel from Canelo, and the finest of the four.

by Jim McLeod•14 October 202614 October 2026

Horror Book Reviews

The Cracks by T.H. Huddleston Review: Punk Rock Versus the Stately Home

In this haunted house novel, T.H. Huddleston sends a widowed, broke chef to stay at a crumbling stately home that wants her below stairs, and turns class horror up to punk volume. Read The Cracks review to see why this Gothic horror novel earns five stars.

by Jim McLeod•13 October 202614 October 2026

Horror Book Reviews

Hobbe’s Folly by Adam Macqueen Review: The Brick Box You Must Never Open

Adam Macqueen’s Hobbe’s Folly sends a prim Edwardian bookseller and a modern council officer to the same bricked-up window, a century apart. This Hobbe’s Folly review explains why the Swift Press novel is the occult horror novel and Edwardian ghost story to read this autumn.

by Jim McLeod•13 October 202613 October 2026