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Did you know these Books are Horror Movies?

Enjoy scary stories? Then you’re going to love these 27 hair raising film adaptations!

If this last month of me sharing a ridiculous amount of horror based content hasn’t been made glaringly obvious to you that I’m a fan, well, let’s find out how much more I can fit in before Halloween is over..

Warning! These are not your family friendly kind of movies.

Despite the massive following for the horror genre.. it’s still vastly underrated.
Can you believe that some people just don’t want to be scared, creeped out, or unsettled?
Not us, though, right?

This one is for my fellow fans of the dark.. Enjoy!

(Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Any purchases made through these links may earn me a small commission with no additional cost to you. In other words.. You will not be charged for using my links.)


It
The Shining
1408
Dreamcatcher
Firestarter
Pet Sematary

by Stephen King


Ring

by Koji Suzuki

The Inspiration for the New Major Motion Picture RINGS

A mysterious videotape warns that the viewer will die in one week unless a certain, unspecified act is performed. Exactly one week after watching the tape, four teenagers die one after another of heart failure.

Asakawa, a hardworking journalist, is intrigued by his niece’s inexplicable death. His investigation leads him from a metropolitan tokyo teeming with modern society’s fears to a rural Japan–a mountain resort, a volcanic island, and a countryside clinic–haunted by the past. His attempt to solve the tape’s mystery before it’s too late–for everyone–assumes an increasingly deadly urgency. Ring is a chillingly told horror story, a masterfully suspenseful mystery, and post-modern trip.


Frankenstein

by Mary Shelley

Obsessed with the secret of creation, Swiss scientist Dr. Victor Frankenstein cobbles together a body he’s determined to bring to life. And one fateful night, he does. When the creature opens his eyes, the doctor is repulsed: his vision of perfection is, in fact, a hideous monster. Dr. Frankenstein abandons his creation, but the monster won’t be ignored, setting in motion a chain of violence and terror that shadows Victor to his death.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a gripping story about the ethics of creation and the consequences of trauma, is one of the most influential Gothic novels in British literature. It is as relevant today as it is haunting.


Dracula

by Bram Stoker

A thirst for blood, nocturnal debauchery, hypnotic trances … this is Dracula. 

Jonathan Harker is travelling to Castle Dracula to see the Transylvanian noble, Count Dracula. He is begged by locals not to go there, because on the eve of St. George’s Day, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will come full sway. But business must be done, so Jonathan makes his way to the Castle – and then his nightmare begins. His beloved wife Meena and other lost souls have fallen under the Count’s horrifying spell. Dracula must be destroyed.


The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

by Washington Irving

Washington Irving’s classic, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” has been making spines tingle since 1820! Irving tapped into a timeless fear: the prospect of a late night journey shrouded in fog turning suddenly fatal. Our imaginations conjure every conceivable danger, but in one of history’s most famous encounters, one Ichabod Crane comes—dare we say it, face to face? —with the “specter known at all the country firesides,” the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow. A classic, distinctively American tale, that evokes additional terror as Halloween comes and goes each year, this is the original, 1820 version, as originally found in Irving’s collection of short stories entitled “The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.


30 Days of Night

by Steve Niles

Collects all three issues of 30 DAYS OF NIGHT from Steven Niles and Ben Templesmith!
The story of an isolated Alaskan town that is plunged into darkness for a month each year when the sun sinks below the horizon. As the last rays of light fade, the town is attacked by a bloodthirsty gang of vampires bent on an uninterrupted orgy of destruction. Only the small town’s husband-and-wife Sheriff team stand between the survivors and certain destruction.


The Cabin in the Woods

by Tim Lebbon

Read the official novelization to get the full story of this terrifying movie!

From Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Drew Goddard, writer of the monster movie phenomenon Cloverfield, comes the horror film to end all horror films!

The details of the plot are a closely guarded secret, though Joss himself has described it as “a straight-up, balls-out, really terrifying horror movie,” adding,”it is not just a slasher in the woods. It’s a little more complicated than that…”


Bird Box

by Josh Malerman

Written with the narrative tension of The Road and the exquisite terror of classic Stephen King, Bird Box is a propulsive, edge-of-your-seat horror thriller, set in an apocalyptic near-future world—a masterpiece of suspense from the brilliantly imaginative Josh Malerman.

Something is out there . . .

Something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from.

Five years after it began, a handful of scattered survivors remain, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned house near the river, she has dreamed of fleeing to a place where they might be safe. Now, that the boy and girl are four, it is time to go. But the journey ahead will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat—blindfolded—with nothing to rely on but her wits and the children’s trained ears. One wrong choice and they will die. And something is following them. But is it man, animal, or monster?

Engulfed in darkness, surrounded by sounds both familiar and frightening, Malorie embarks on a harrowing odyssey—a trip that takes her into an unseen world and back into the past, to the companions who once saved her. Under the guidance of the stalwart Tom, a motely group of strangers banded together against the unseen terror, creating order from the chaos. But when supplies ran low, they were forced to venture outside—and confront the ultimate question: in a world gone mad, who can really be trusted?


Sphere
Jurassic Park
Congo

by Michael Crichton


The Exorcist

by William Peter Blatty

Originally published in 1971, The Exorcist, one of the most controversial novels ever written, went on to become a literary phenomenon: It spent fifty-seven weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, seventeen consecutively at number one. Inspired by a true story of a child’s demonic possession in the 1940s, William Peter Blatty created an iconic novel that focuses on Regan, the eleven-year-old daughter of a movie actress residing in Washington, D.C. A small group of overwhelmed yet determined individuals must rescue Regan from her unspeakable fate, and the drama that ensues is gripping and unfailingly terrifying.


We Have Always Lived in the Castle

by Shirley Jackson

Shirley Jackson’s beloved gothic tale of a peculiar girl named Merricat and her family’s dark secret

Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate. This edition features a new introduction by Jonathan Lethem.


Flowers in the Attic

by V. C. Andrews

A major Lifetime movie event—the novel that captured the world’s imagination and earned V.C. Andrews a fiercely devoted fanbase. Book One of the Dollanganger Family series.

At the top of the stairs there are four secrets hidden. Blond, beautiful, innocent, and struggling to stay alive…

They were a perfect family, golden and carefree—until a heartbreaking tragedy shattered their happiness. Now, for the sake of an inheritance that will ensure their future, the children must be hidden away out of sight, as if they never existed. Kept on the top floor of their grandmother’s vast mansion, their loving mother assures them it will be just for a little while. But as brutal days swell into agonizing months and years, Cathy, Chris, and twins Cory and Carrie realize their survival is at the mercy of their cruel and superstitious grandmother…and this cramped and helpless world may be the only one they ever know.


The Woman in Black

by Susan Hill

What real reader does not yearn, somewhere in the recesses of his or her heart, for a really literate, first-class thriller–one that chills the body, but warms the soul with plot, perception, and language at once astute and vivid? In other words, a ghost story written by Jane Austen?

Alas, we cannot give you Austen, but Susan Hill’s remarkable Woman In Black comes as close as our era can provide. Set on the obligatory English moor, on an isolated causeway, the story has as its hero Arthur Kipps, an up-and-coming young solicitor who has come north from London to attend the funeral and settle the affairs of Mrs. Alice Drablow of Eel Marsh House. The routine formalities he anticipates give way to a tumble of events and secrets more sinister and terrifying than any nightmare: the rocking chair in the deserted nursery, the eerie sound of a pony and trap, a child’s scream in the fog, and most dreadfully–and for Kipps most tragically–The Woman In Black.

The Woman In Black is both a brilliant exercise in atmosphere and controlled horror and a delicious spine-tingler–proof positive that this neglected genre, the ghost story, isn’t dead after all.


Interview With a Vampire

by Anne Rice

The spellbinding classic that started it all from the #1 New York Times bestselling author

Here are the confessions of a vampire. Hypnotic, shocking, and chillingly sensual, this is a novel of mesmerizing beauty and astonishing force—a story of danger and flight, of love and loss, of suspense and resolution, and of the extraordinary power of the senses. It is a novel only Anne Rice could write.


The War of the Worlds
The Island of Dr. Moreau
The Invisible Man

by H. G. Wells


I Know What You Did Last Summer

by Lois Duncan

Four teens fight to outsmart a killer who intends to avenge a young boy’s death in this suspenseful thriller that inspired the classic horror film. After a party, four teens are in a hit-and-run accident that results in a young boy’s death. Unable to deal with the consequences, they leave the body behind, and make an anonymous phone call to the police, tipping them off. The group makes a secret pact to bury the memory of that night and never speak of it again, but when one of the girls receives a note that reads “I know what you did last summer,” their dark lie is unearthed. With twists and turns at every corner, they’ll have to fight to stay steps ahead of a killer determined to make them pay.

The Amityville Horror

by Jay Anson

“A fascinating and frightening book” (Los Angeles Times)—the bestselling true story about a house possessed by evil spirits, haunted by psychic phenomena almost too terrible to describe.

In December 1975, the Lutz family moved into their new home on suburban Long Island. George and Kathleen Lutz knew that, one year earlier, Ronald DeFeo had murdered his parents, brothers, and sisters in the house, but the property—complete with boathouse and swimming pool—and the price had been too good to pass up.

Twenty-eight days later, the entire Lutz family fled in terror.


The Stepford Wives

by Ira Levin

For Joanna, her husband, Walter, and their children, the move to beautiful Stepford seems almost too good to be true. It is. For behind the town’s idyllic facade lies a terrible secret — a secret so shattering that no one who encounters it will ever be the same.

At once a masterpiece of psychological suspense and a savage commentary on a media-driven society that values the pursuit of youth and beauty at all costs, The Stepford Wives is a novel so frightening in its final implications that the title itself has earned a place in the American lexicon.


I know, I know, there are so many more. What about Hellraiser? Where’s American Psycho?
Well.. I haven’t watched those. *gasp!*
This list consists only of movie adaptations that I’ve actually seen.
(There are a few on here I still need to read though!)

An Obvious Sidenote: I didn’t add all of the Stephen King I’ve watched.. there were just too many. Nor did I add any TV show adaptations like You or Locke and Key because, again, that would just be too much. Anyway..

I hope you enjoyed this post and thank you for stopping by!

I think one of the most memorable horror films for me was probably ‘The Haunting
(which was not originally a book.. just one heck of a freaky film.)

What scary movie still haunts you?

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This Post Has 13 Comments

  1. Mae Clair

    Good collection, Sheri. I’ve seen 19 from your list.
    I only watched the Exorcist once and that was one time too many. That is probably the movie that disturbed me the most!

    1. Sheri Dye

      Thank you! I have my aunt to thank, she started all of us kids on horror young.
      And I do not blame you.. That movie really only needs to be watched to one time anyway. 😳
      Stay safe and happy reading!

  2. Lady Tessa

    You know, I often say that I don’t care for horror. Then I look at your list and go….hmmm…I’ve seen almost all of these movies and read over half of these books. So, I guess my feelings on horror are more complex that a simple like/dislike. Lol 😂 Great selections!

  3. Daphny Aqua

    Just started reading The Shinning

    1. Sheri Dye

      Oh boy. Personally, I would say that’s one of his best.. It’s eerie as all get out.
      I hope you enjoy it, have a lovely weekend!

      1. Daphny Aqua

        Eagerly trying my best to read 😁
        Have a lovrly weekend you too!

        1. Sheri Dye

          Thank you! Happy Reading!

  4. many of these are surprising! i didn’t know they were books beforehand. i’ll definitely be adding many of these to my tbr.

    1. Sheri Dye

      Right? There are so many I didn’t know about! I added a good amount of books to my own Tbr because of this post! 😆
      Thank you for taking the time to stop by and comment! Happy reading!

  5. Carrie

    Unfortunately yes, and I’ve watched most all of these and many many more which is why I don’t read much horror these days as I get that been there, done that feeling all too often.🤣

    1. Sheri Dye

      Ahhh! That makes a lot of sense.
      But most books are regurgitated ideas at this point.. We’re pretty much just picking our favorite toothpaste. 😳🤭

  6. Carla

    What a great list Sheri. I have either read or seen the movie for 18 of these. Most of the others I had not heard of. I don’t read or watch horror or scary stuff anymore, so the newer ones aren’t familiar to me.

    1. Sheri Dye

      Thank you! I can understand that.. tastes and preferences change over time. 18 is still quite a lot!
      I find myself watching less and less horror every year but something about Halloween puts me in the mind for horror. 💀

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