[MrOogieBoogie]

Please mark your spoilers. Be specific, too (don't just cite the whole book).

For me it would be the ending of McCarthy's Blood Meridian:



McCarthy's prose and way with words astounds me. I can't think of another author who so vividly creates imagery with words. It's a remarkable talent.

There's tons of terrifying imagery in this book, but the bit with the judge and the kid in the outhouse near the end, followed by the judge dancing and playing fiddle in the saloon claiming that he would never die just sent chills down my spine the first time I read it. Definitely one of the scariest and most captivating characters in fiction.

[ClassyPenguin]

Cormac McCarthy, The Road. Cellar scene.
My favorite modern author. So much said and so powerful using very simple almost minimalistic language.

[Sentry]

Last true horror book I read was goosebumps or nightmare room... But I remember some instances in Arthur C. Clarke books giving me chills. Childhood's End, for one.

[MrOogieBoogie]

Cormac McCarthy, The Road. Cellar scene. My favorite modern author. So much said and so powerful using very simple almost minimalistic language.

Oh shit, I forgot about that sequence. Definitely one of the standout chapters of the book. Great choice. Seriously, McCarthy is amazing.

[ElectricBlanketFire]

First and second post nail it.

[Cryptozoologist]

Some of the shit in "American Psycho" by Bret Easton Ellis is disturbing. I almost felt physically sick at points.

[Switters]

I don't gravitate to horror, especially in book form, but there's quite a few scenes in Clive Barkers Great and Secret Show and Everville which are pretty disgusting.

naked old wizard cums on some poop snakes to bring them to life.

[PolishQ]

Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Lieutenant Mamiya's flashback. If you've read it, you know what I'm talking about.

[MrOogieBoogie]

I don't gravitate to horror, especially in book form, but there's quite a few scenes in Clive Barkers Great and Secret Show and Everville which are pretty disgusting. naked old wizard cums on some poop snakes to bring them to life.

Book doesn't have to be purely horror.

[Osietra]

Guts by Chuck Palahnuke

The bit when he has a DIY prolapse in the swimming pool. I didn't get the vapours, but still.

[keyboardcat]

Irvine Welsh - Filth - the very last page of that book. The whole book has some pretty crass moments but when you finish a book with:

the main protagonist (antagonist?) hanging himself only to get back at his ex wife. Waits for her to knock on the door, before jumping off the chair with a sign that reads "this is your fault". The last thing he sees before dying is his kid walking in, instead of his ex.

[Blue Ninja]

It's a close call between two, both from stories by Stephen King.

The first is Autopsy Room Four. It's about a guy who wakes up on an autopsy table... But can't move, can't speak, he can't even move his eyes. And they're about to start cutting. Those moments right before the doc wants to make the incision are some of the creepiest ones I've ever read.

The second is 'The Man in the Black Suit'. A boy goes out fishing and encounters... Well, a very strange man. After a while, the main character decides to run for it, but the Man in the Black Suit isn't giving up so easily. The scene where the kid throws a fish at the devil and the guy just swallows it whole, fucking hell.

[Ignatz Mouse]

Clicked on link to mention a specific scene in The Road. Not the one mentioned, but people who have read it can probably guess.

[quadriplegicjon]

Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Lieutenant Mamiya's flashback. If you've read it, you know what I'm talking about.

I read it a long time ago, can't remember that part. :(

[AVclub]

I don't read too many scary books, but I remember vividly a scene in Stephen King's Gerald's Game where the protagonist is trying to free herself from handcuffs. It was described so well that I saw every bit of it in my mind and became physically ill. I was on a NYC subway at the time and had to get off at a stop way before I was supposed to, just so I could get some air and calm myself down, and avoid puking on strangers.

[Fabrik]

Jessie by Stephen King. She was literally peeling her hand with the handcuffs :(

[Fabrik]

I don't read too many scary books, but I remember vividly a scene in Stephen King's Gerald's Game where the protagonist is trying to free herself from handcuffs. It was described so well that I saw every bit of it in my mind and became physically ill. I was on a NYC subway at the time and had to get off at a stop way before I was supposed to, just so I could get some air and calm myself down, and avoid puking on strangers.

lol awesome AVclub we posted almost at the same time! :-) I didn't know Gerald's Game was the original title of the book.

[Sentry]

Anyone remember read the Watchers book series as a kid?

[Burger]

The monster in Perdido Street Station.

A giant bipedal moth like creature, bigger than a man that unfurls giant wings which pulsate with a hypnotic pattern, causing the victim to become physically paralysed. It approaches and unfurls its proboscis which it then forces between the lips and into the mouth, searching for the palate. It then sucks away the victims mind, leaving a barely functional vegetable behind.

[AHA-Lambda]

Irvine Welsh - Filth - the very last page of that book. The whole book has some pretty crass moments but when you finish a book with: the main protagonist (antagonist?) hanging himself only to get back at his ex wife. Waits for her to knock on the door, before jumping off the chair with a sign that reads "this is your fault". The last thing he sees before dying is his kid walking in, instead of his ex.

omg.... =(

[ElectricBlue187]

The OP is spot on for me. Some of the brutality and human depravity in Blood Meridian is difficult to imagine

[Solstice]

Cormac McCarthy, The Road. Cellar scene. My favorite modern author. So much said and so powerful using very simple almost minimalistic language.

Yep. This or the fetus part.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

The monster in Perdido Street Station. A giant bipedal moth like creature, bigger than a man that unfurls giant wings which pulsate with a hypnotic pattern, causing the victim to become physically paralysed. It approaches and unfurls its proboscis which it then forces between the lips and into the mouth, searching for the palate. It then sucks away the victims mind, leaving a barely functional vegetable behind.

Goddammit you beat me to the slake moth.

In the very same book though, The Weaver.. a meta-dimensional spider operating on a plane of logic so inconceivable to humans that its actions and intentions are utterly unpredictable. It might be appeased with a gift of scissors during a brief period of fascination with them; it might also flay the skin off you like a peeled orange out of equally inscrutable curiosity.

[JGS]

Bathtub scene in The Shining.

[jon bones]

Cormac McCarthy, The Road. Cellar scene. My favorite modern author. So much said and so powerful using very simple almost minimalistic language.

I don't care much for McCarthy but this scene killed me. Very scary stuff.

[Like the hat?]

Cormac McCarthy, The Road. Cellar scene. My favorite modern author. So much said and so powerful using very simple almost minimalistic language.

Yes, followed closely by the baby scene

Amazing book.

[Wiggum2007]

I thought the end of Pet Sematary was pretty heartwarming

[bengraven]

Reading quite a bit of "weird fiction", especially the S. T. Joshi-edited books like American Supernatural Tales. Short stories to me are always the creepiest.

- Stephen King's Boogeyman - when the third kid is killed and the bizarre ending
- King's The Mist - the tentacle, the gigantic creature at the end
- King's The Raft - the end...just the pro on a raft alone...his friends dead below him
- King's The Jaunt - his son at the end - I just shivered for real thinking about it "it's forever in there dad, forever..."
- King's Beachworld - starts eating sand
- Clark Ashton Smith's The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis - the doctor escapes but as he's running out he sees one of his crew screaming through the mists, his face covered by a face-hugging creature, before disappearing
- T. E. D. Klein's The Events at Porroth Farm - the bugs, the dead cat, the farmer dead but possessed by something interdimensional manically laughing as he's running after the protagonist and nearly catches him a couple times - as if he's playing with him.
- Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror - basically any scene with footprints because daytime can be scary as fuck when you find evidence of the night
- Lovecraft's The Rats in the Walls - human cattle
- August Derleth's The Lonesome Place - the lumber yard - I swear he grew up in the same tiny town I did in Minnesota, because he describes my town exactly...including the lumber yard that I also was terrified...edit: Google says Wisconsin - close enough regionally - fuck me it was real

Also, speaking of Haunted by Chuck P and The Road, there's a scene in Haunted where a group of "starving" people wake up a woman and try to serve her soup. Where did you get the soup she asks? they tell her to just fucking eat. She then notices she's not pregnant anymore...

The second is 'The Man in the Black Suit'. A boy goes out fishing and encounters... Well, a very strange man. After a while, the main character decides to run for it, but the Man in the Black Suit isn't giving up so easily. The scene where the kid throws a fish at the devil and the guy just swallows it whole, fucking hell.

The WORST part of that scene? It may have actually happened.

King was told the story by a friend who's grandfather insisted it happened to him when he was a boy.

Yep. This or the fetus part.

Wasn't a fetus, it was a full grown baby. Which is much worse.

[rocksteady1983]

Also, speaking of Haunted by Chuck P and The Road, there's a scene in Haunted where a group of "starving" people wake up a woman and try to serve her soup. Where did you get the soup she asks? they tell her to just fucking eat. She then notices she's not pregnant anymore...

Reading that alone made my stomach drop.

[thomaser]

The Hyperion-series by Dan Simmons has at least two very striking, terrifying scenes. Both feature trees. The Shrike's torture-tree that people's souls are impaled on for eternity, and the electric tree that someone is bound to, being killed again and again with no escape in sight.

And I agree with that part in Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. It's a little strange reading something like that in one of his books.

[BlueTsunami]

Stephen King's 'The Stand' when Stu leaves the abandoned Vermont hospital

There are a lot of Lovecraft passages that do this but one that stand out is from 'Color out of Space'. He gives a normal field bunny subtle characteristics that just gives you the chills in the context of the story.

[Yagharek]

The monster in Perdido Street Station. A giant bipedal moth like creature, bigger than a man that unfurls giant wings which pulsate with a hypnotic pattern, causing the victim to become physically paralysed. It approaches and unfurls its proboscis which it then forces between the lips and into the mouth, searching for the palate. It then sucks away the victims mind, leaving a barely functional vegetable behind.

Came to post this, pleasantly surprised to br beaten.

The scene where they escape the glasshouse district in a hurry was disconcerting. As was the meeting with the ambassador and the Weaver

[Burger]

Came to post this, pleasantly surprised to br beaten. The scene where they escape the glasshouse district in a hurry was disconcerting. As was the meeting with the ambassador and the Weaver

I like the fact that you can only look at it through a mirror, and that people eat its shit as a drug to experience the dreams of others.

The scene where the person dons the mirror helmet and walks backwards towards the cage and gets fleeting glimpses of fast moving shadows is masterful.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Reading quite a bit of "weird fiction", especially the S. T. Joshi-edited books like American Supernatural Tales. Short stories to me are always the creepiest. - Stephen King's Boogeyman - when the third kid is killed and the bizarre ending - King's The Mist - the tentacle, the gigantic creature at the end - King's The Raft - the end...just the pro on a raft alone...his friends dead below him - King's The Jaunt - his son at the end - I just shivered for real thinking about it "it's forever in there dad, forever..." - King's Beachworld - starts eating sand - Clark Ashton Smith's The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis - the doctor escapes but as he's running out he sees one of his crew screaming through the mists, his face covered by a face-hugging creature, before disappearing - T. E. D. Klein's The Events at Porroth Farm - the bugs, the dead cat, the farmer dead but possessed by something interdimensional manically laughing as he's running after the protagonist and nearly catches him a couple times - as if he's playing with him. - Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror - basically any scene with footprints because daytime can be scary as fuck when you find evidence of the night - Lovecraft's The Rats in the Walls - human cattle - August Derleth's The Lonesome Place - the lumber yard - I swear he grew up in the same tiny town I did in Minnesota, because he describes my town exactly...including the lumber yard that I also was terrified...edit: Google says Wisconsin - close enough regionally - fuck me it was real

Interestingly, that short story stuck with me too, but I've always recalled that line as "Longer than you think, Dad, longer than you think!" But I haven't read it in at least twenty years, and I wonder if I just invented a different line over the years, haha.

[omgkitty]

Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Lieutenant Mamiya's flashback. If you've read it, you know what I'm talking about.

That's exactly what I was thinking of. That scene is all sorts of messed up.

[Dresden]

I read it a long time ago, can't remember that part. :(

Think it's the part where one of the Japanese soldiers get flayed alive.

[Like the hat?]

Irvine Welsh - Filth - the very last page of that book. The whole book has some pretty crass moments but when you finish a book with: the main protagonist (antagonist?) hanging himself only to get back at his ex wife. Waits for her to knock on the door, before jumping off the chair with a sign that reads "this is your fault". The last thing he sees before dying is his kid walking in, instead of his ex.

jesus

[Yagharek]

I like the fact that you can only look at it through a mirror, and that people eat its shit as a drug to experience the dreams of others. The scene where the person dons the mirror helmet and walks backwards towards the cage and gets fleeting glimpses of fast moving shadows is masterful.

Indeed. I only read the book last month, amazing story. I've got the scar and iron council lined up too.

Also, the last chapter of perdido street station left me going "No, no, no, no" more than any other.

[Fantasmo]

Awesome idea for a thread! I definitely want to get into new authors, stories, or books, and I love creepy and horror stuff.

Are the Cormac McCarthy books worth the $12 Kindle price? Seems kinda steep maybe.

Reading quite a bit of "weird fiction", especially the S. T. Joshi-edited books like American Supernatural Tales. Short stories to me are always the creepiest. - Stephen King's Boogeyman - when the third kid is killed and the bizarre ending - King's The Mist - the tentacle, the gigantic creature at the end - King's The Raft - the end...just the pro on a raft alone...his friends dead below him - King's The Jaunt - his son at the end - I just shivered for real thinking about it "it's forever in there dad, forever..." - King's Beachworld - starts eating sand - Clark Ashton Smith's The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis - the doctor escapes but as he's running out he sees one of his crew screaming through the mists, his face covered by a face-hugging creature, before disappearing - T. E. D. Klein's The Events at Porroth Farm - the bugs, the dead cat, the farmer dead but possessed by something interdimensional manically laughing as he's running after the protagonist and nearly catches him a couple times - as if he's playing with him. - Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror - basically any scene with footprints because daytime can be scary as fuck when you find evidence of the night - Lovecraft's The Rats in the Walls - human cattle - August Derleth's The Lonesome Place - the lumber yard - I swear he grew up in the same tiny town I did in Minnesota, because he describes my town exactly...including the lumber yard that I also was terrified...edit: Google says Wisconsin - close enough regionally - fuck me it was real Also, speaking of Haunted by Chuck P and The Road, there's a scene in Haunted where a group of "starving" people wake up a woman and try to serve her soup. Where did you get the soup she asks? they tell her to just fucking eat. She then notices she's not pregnant anymore... The WORST part of that scene? It may have actually happened. King was told the story by a friend who's grandfather insisted it happened to him when he was a boy. Wasn't a fetus, it was a full grown baby. Which is much worse.

Where can I read these Stephen King and Lovecraft short stories?

[reilo]

Does the toilet scene from Gravity's Rainbow count for the bizarreness of it all?

[BlueTsunami]

Where can I read these Stephen King and Lovecraft short stories?

Lovecraft Tales has all those Lovecraft stories and more: http://www.amazon.com/H-P-Lovecraft-.../dp/1931082723

[Mike M]

Also, speaking of Haunted by Chuck P and The Road, there's a scene in Haunted where a group of "starving" people wake up a woman and try to serve her soup. Where did you get the soup she asks? they tell her to just fucking eat. She then notices she's not pregnant anymore...

Wait, what? Which story was that? I read that book and have absolutely no recollection of anything like that.

Kind of surprised at the Slake Moth and Weaver from Perdido Street Station getting such props, as I found the whole "remaking" and Torque aspects of the New Crobuzon mythos to be far far faaaaaar more unsettling.

Iron Council wasn't as good as Perdido Street or The Scar (Not sure I even actually *liked* it, honestly), but the elementalist attack, the depictions of the effects of the Torque... So much worse than anything the other books threw at you outside the more grotesque and cruel remakings.

[Sho_Nuff82]

My first choice is kind of odd: Neil Gaiman's Coraline. The movie is pretty dark for kids fare, but the book is much, much worse. The scene where her other father transforms in the cellar is unsettling.

Second choice is more obvious: American Psycho. The infamous scene where Bateman beheads a woman and then fucks her severed head is just flat out gross. It's hard to read most of the preceding pages because of the graphic depravity.

[.GqueB.]

A million little pieces... the dentist scene. *Cringe*

[Fantasmo]

Lovecraft Tales has all those Lovecraft stories and more: http://www.amazon.com/H-P-Lovecraft-.../dp/1931082723

Sweet. Thank you!

Can anyone tell me if Cormac McCarthy books are worth the $12 price? Which should I start with?

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Awesome idea for a thread! I definitely want to get into new authors, stories, or books, and I love creepy and horror stuff. Are the Cormac McCarthy books worth the $12 Kindle price? Seems kinda steep maybe. Where can I read these Stephen King and Lovecraft short stories?

Most of those King stories are in Skeleton Crew, which is really just an amazing horror short story collection.

[ezekial45]

Guts by chuck palahniuk made me feel ill after reading it. I felt woozy and was in a bit of a daze after finishing it.

Also, The Jaunt by Stephen King was crazy too.

[MrOogieBoogie]

Awesome idea for a thread! I definitely want to get into new authors, stories, or books, and I love creepy and horror stuff. Are the Cormac McCarthy books worth the $12 Kindle price? Seems kinda steep maybe. Where can I read these Stephen King and Lovecraft short stories?

oh my god yes

Blood Meridian is my favorite book of all time. It will stay with you years after reading. It's so powerful.

[Yagharek]

Wait, what? Which story was that? I read that book and have absolutely no recollection of anything like that. Kind of surprised at the Slake Moth and Weaver from Perdido Street Station getting such props, as I found the whole "remaking" and Torque aspects of the New Crobuzon mythos to be far far faaaaaar more unsettling. Iron Council wasn't as good as Perdido Street or The Scar (Not sure I even actually *liked* it, honestly), but the elementalist attack, the depictions of the effects of the Torque... So much worse than anything the other books threw at you outside the more grotesque and cruel remakings.

For mine, the slake moth is one of the most disturbing fictional species aside from the weeping angels in dr who.

[ahoyhoy]

The description of the soldiers wandering around in the forest outside of town, scalded and blinded with their melted eyes streaming down their faces, will forever haunt my memory.