Book Review: Stephen King’s IT

I won't keep this long. I'll keep it as brief as possible. This is more of an honest review dump immediately after finishing Stephen King's IT. This is his 22nd book, published in 1986 and has 1,153 pages. And from the beginning to the end, I felt so many things. I gave his book a …

The Fashionable World of Vampires: An Essay

It is a way to identify a character, a feeling, a story. What did you feel when you saw Darth Vader for the first time on screen? He’s shrouded in white, blinding fog, emerging out from the background into the foreground wearing all black and it’s reflective and he’s imposing and he’s terrifying and he’s …

The Form is a Book, the Art is Horror

If I showed you this cover, what would you think? As someone who has been reading books since the end of 2022, mostly horror, the cover of any book is important. You may not read the back first but the cover will tell YOU whether or not it’s worth investing. And like with eating, we …

Double Feature Review: The Boogens (1981) & Night of the Comet (1984)

This was not planned! I had another idea I was planning on doing but I basically missed the entire first day to get started on it (aka Monday, went out for 3 hours to do errands and got exhausted) and with Tuesday, I know I don’t have enough time to research and go looking through …

Book Review: Spectre (1988)

This is the book that started it all.In 2022, I went down a little rabbit hole of bookstagram or booktube and I had accumulated quite a few horror books in my collection but never read. Well, that all changed. And this is the first book that I started and finished in September and I wish …

High School Horror (2003-2006)

It’s 2003 and I’m entering high school. What was happening in 2003? I was watching The WB and America’s Next Top Model (what an awful show looking back) and enjoying Power Rangers Ninja Storm (I still think that’s a great PR season). It’s also a time when for me, horror was a bit more “mainstream” …

Book Review: Five Nights at Freddy’s “The Silver Eyes” Trilogy

I am a fan of FNAF aka Five Nights at Freddy’s. I’ve been a fan for quite some time. If I had to throw in a year, maybe around 2018? 2019? 2017? It’s clearly before the pandemic and so I’ve seen a lot of the fandom change and grow or shrink depending on what’s happening. …

Technology & Horror

I’m shocked I haven’t touched on this topic. It’s something that has been on the list of topics to do for so long that I kinda forgot about it. Oops. In a time where we depend so much on technology and it changes so fast overnight, we’ve seen more horror films use technology as the …

Stephen King’s The Stand: Book (1978) vs Miniseries (1994)

Ohhhh I’ve been dreading this one. And not for bad reasons but overwhelmed reasons? Look, we’re talking about Stephen King and his works and those can be a manifesto type of situation but we don’t have time for that! I’ll say up front, last read, picked up a few new thrifted books and one was …

Retro Rundown: Goosebumps “It Came from Beneath the Sink” Episode

I’m doing another post! It’s a miracle! And it’s a theme on the blog I haven’t done in quite some time! Here we do underrated, color theory, cinematography focused posts, book reviews, movie reviews, watchlist and one of my personal favorites, retro rundown. And that’s what we’re doing today. Retro Rundown is basically me as …

Book Review: Fright Time (1995)

Well, well, well.We’re back again!Thanks to all you guys who checked out past posts and followed this blog or on Instagram, just want to say thank you after being awol for MONTHS and I love doing this so just seeing activity and views, makes me feel good.If you missed previous blog posts such as Rosemary’s …

Book Review: The Beast of Loughby Island (2023)

Oh this was an unexpected addition to my TBR but I’m glad I included it. If you’ve been around for a while, you know that werewolf content is not a big favorite of mine compared to witches or vampires, demons, etc. Werewolf is low on the pole but I still respect it and what the …

Book Review: The Essential Tales of HP Lovecraft (2016)

Oh we’re back! We’re really doing this! I would like to say thank you to all the views and likes and comments I’ve seen on previous blog posts since I’ve come back (kind of) and I appreciate seeing that. Makes me feel like… I’m not just doing this to be doing it. I really do …

Book Review: Rosemary’s Baby (1967)

I think this will be an interesting new series on the blog. I’m going to do a test run and see how it goes. Since late 2022 and onward, I’ve been on a very interesting reading journey. And I’ve read some great classics, young adult horror, sci-if and so on. And I may do thorough …

Horror Watchlist & Booklist of 2023

Ohhhh this year has been something else. Little ole me looks back at the previous years and what I watched and how much I watched and honestly, I'm surprised I watched ANYTHING this year. It has been a rough year mentally and still going in that direction due to some personal family changes and situations …

Common Themes: In the Dark

Hello everyone! This is the last post of October since the 31st is on Tuesday so no post next week or the entire month of November (personal things happening, nanowrimo participation) but come December, I will be doing an overall post over things I’ve watched, what I’ve read this year, etc so be ready for …

October Fun Questions

Happy October aka the spookiest month of them all! I wanted to do something a bit more different, fun, not stress myself out which I already do on a normal basis but this is something you can do yourself! I wanted to do some fun questions about horror or Halloween in general so some questions …

Top 13 Fashion/Costume Moments in Horror

The other day, I was randomly watching the 1971 film “Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb”, a Hammer film production (and I mean I randomly chose this) and while watching it, my eye kept getting caught by the lead character Margaret (played by Valerie Leon) and her purple coat. Every time she wore this coat, I …

Top 10 Favorite Monsters of AYAOTD

Well, well, well. Look at who and what is back!Happy Spooky season everyone! I took 2 months off (this was mentioned on instagram stories) and I needed to not overwork and stress myself out. I originally wanted to be done with this blog but considering I paid for the year (into next June), I might …

Retro Rundown: Goosebumps “The Werewolf of Fever Swamp” Review

WELL. I was not expecting to do a Retro Rundown! I was originally going to watch Poltergeist 2 and then do a review on it but the weather here in the midwest had other ideas in mind and for about 4 hours, I was without power. So I had to use my phone to entertain …

A Color Story: Crimson Peak (2015)

Title: Crimson Peak Year: 2015 Dir.: Guillermo del Toro Producer(s): Guillermo del Toro, Callum Greene, Jon Jashni, Thomas Tull Writer(s): Guillermo del Toro, Matthew Robbins Costume(s): Kate Hawley Cinematography: Dan Laustsen Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Hunnam and Jim Beaver Fun fact: I’ve seen this movie but I don’t remember much about …

Small Town Horror

Fun fact, I live in a township. I don’t know if that qualifies as “fun” but it is a fact and it is true. I also had to look up what the hell a township even is and it is “numbered” and “sectionalized land system” which makes sense in the state where I live, there …

SoH Reviews: The Vault of Horror (1973)

THIS was probably one of the most randomly picked movies to watch and that says something. Hello, everyone and welcome back to another review post on Shots of Horror. Um, like I said at the top, this was probably the most randomly picked movie to check out on Wednesday cos I was in the mood …

Invasion Horror

I didn’t know what to write about this week… I will say the benefit of being a constant writer and note taker is that I will write down ANY idea that comes into my head about topics on this blog. I haven’t had time to watch anything new (especially Poltergeist II) but I’m hoping for …

SoH Reviews: The Fly II (1989)

The day (6/12) started out weird with the wifi going in and out. And since it was being unreliable, I had 2 options: watch dvds or watch my vhs tapes and there were only 2 left in my collection that I had to watch. I chose the latter. The other option was Poltergeist II which …

A Color Story: The Shining (1980)

Title: The Shining Year: 1980 Dir.: Stanley Kubrick Producer(s): Stanley Kubrick Writer(s): Stephen King (novel), Stanley Kubrick, Diane Johnson Costume(s): Milena Canonero Cinematography: John Alcott Starring: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers, Danny Lloyd Imagine my surprise when I saw that I never did A Color Story post for The Shining. I swore I did… …

Favorites: Special Effects & More

WE ARE BACK BABY! I took last week off and I don’t feel guilty about it. I’m learning when to just take time for myself and not push myself into doing something I don’t feel like doing. Plus, I didn’t really have much to say or post about here and get my head back on …

SoH Reviews: The Black Cat (1934)

Oh it’s time for another review! I also sang that but you can’t hear that cos this is a Google docs and I am not inserting an audio file but believe me! I’ve been in a watching movie phase this year that was NOT present last year and it seems like each month is about …

Triple SoH Reviews: Tales from the Crypt (1972), Altered States (1980) and All Hallows’ Eve (2013)

I’ve done these posts in the past before and if you’re interested in reading more than two reviews under one post, I’ll link it here! But I’ve been on a watching kick lately, I’m not sure why or this extra energy came from but I did watch 3 very different films basically one week after …

Scooby-Doo Where Are You? (1969) – Season 1 Best Villains/Episodes

Oh Scooby Doo… you’ve been around forever and yet I’ve never done a post about you! This is going to be for fun so don’t take it too seriously but we do have to recognize that it has its own legacy in the genre. Whether we think it’s overrated or corny at times, Scooby Doo …

The Grit of Horror (in movies)

It’s been a week, I've been waiting to do part two since last week! If you missed it, I did a post about some of the more aesthetically appealing horror movies and we got some pretty decent movies out of that. And I did promise that I wanted to do a “second part” which is …

The Horror Aesthetics of It All

Another day, another idea that has been sitting on the white board of ideas for weeks. This week, I wanted it to be a little bit easier and simpler. And focus on something that I think we all take note of and that is… aesthetics. We live and operate in a world where we encounter …

Horror Movies that Shifted the Landscape

This was mildly inspired by a recent Kill Count from Dead Meat on the movie 28 Days Later. It was something that was mentioned about how this movie changed the “undead” or zombie genre, even though it isn’t a zombie film but the antagonists were able to RUN. Zombies, walkers, the undead, they don’t run. …

Favorites: One Offs

This idea kinda came out of nowhere, on a Saturday evening at like 12 midnight. Like always, I’m always thinking of what to talk about here or give suggestions on movies and I only had maybe 2-3 ideas on my little whiteboard that I was thinking of. And I think I must have been scrolling …

Judging a VHS Tape by its Cover

For those who are not aware, I’ve been on a reading journey for 2023. It started in 2022 but we’re full throttle now. And something came to mind in the middle of the night to come up with this idea. When I go thrifting or book hunting in general, it’s always about the cover. Granted …

Retro Rundown: The Twilight Zone “The Odyssey of Flight 33” Review

Oh I haven’t done one of these in a while! So for anyone who isn’t new, Retro Rundown is a series I do on here where I rewatch episodes (mostly tv shows) of horror shows and just give a review of them in the mindset of more maturity, adult life instead of like… half watching …

SoH Reviews: Skinamarink (2022) + The Notes Edition

Title: Skinamarink Director(s): Kyle Edward Ball Year: 2022 Producer(s): Dylan Pearce Starring: Jaime Hill, Dali Rose Tetreault, Lucas Paul, Ross Paul These are the written notes during my watch of Skinamarink on Feb 22, 2023. - Angles. - A child's height? Too high or very low (eye level) - Atmosphere and sound design - This …

X (2022) Review

Well.This was NOT on the itinerary for this week but when you randomly find Showtime playing a film that’s been on your watchlist for a bit, you take the chance to watch it. Even if it is Super Bowl Sunday!I did a mini short blurb on my Letterboxd so if you aren’t following that for …

When Your Day is Ruined in Horror

Imagine you go to sleep tonight, things are going okay. Maybe not perfect or great but not bad, just that middle gray area and you are preparing yourself for the next work day or school day or just general day to do errands or planning out when SOMETHING goes wrong. Something out of your control. …

Common Themes: Haunted Houses

First big thing I wanted to say before I forget is thank you to everyone who is following the blog. I’m so happy and excited and shook that a lot of people are following and don’t worry, the energy will be reciprocated! I’m just so behind on so many things, it’s insane. But I did …

Seasonal Horror or How Spring Horror is Lacking

I’m writing this as I look at the remnant of a light snow. Since we are still in winter, most of us, I was thinking about something and that was seasonal or to some degree, holiday horror. And I thought, is it that common that we watch certain films around a certain time because it …

SoH Double Review: Perfect Blue (1997) and Possession (1981).

It seems fitting that the first set of reviews would be bunched together in one post, considering I watched both films within the same week and haven’t been the same since. I want to say that these films were on my watchlists or radar for QUITE some time and thankfully Shudder had both films available …

The Weirdness and Horror of Rugrats

This idea has been living rent free for quite some time on my “future ideas to do” list from last year. For those who do not know, I have been doing Retro Rundown posts of looking at television shows from when I was younger that are in the genre of horror/thriller or scifi. We’ve looked …

Horror Watchlist 2022

You guys!it's the end of 2022! And are we ready? Is it coming too fast? December went by really fast! This year for me personally has been about some personal growth and realizations, what I want to do, what I need to get rid of, etc., so a lot of personal work and less horror …

A Color Story: Creepshow (1982)

Title: CreepshpwYear: 1982Director: George A RomeroWriter(s): Stephen King (screenplay)Producer(s): Richard P. RubensteinCostume(s): Barbara AndersonCinematography: Michael Gornick Starring: Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Fritz Weaver, Leslie Nielsen, Carrie Nye, E.G. Marshall, Viveca Lindfors, Ed Harris, Ted Danson, and Stephen King. (the entire cast is even longer)   Oh goodness, I thought I did this for Creepshow? Apparently …

Chamber of Horrors (1940) Review

Y’all know by now I am INTO visiting early horror, especially pre-1960s, even 70s and I have been thoroughly enjoying it. Yes, there are TONS of recent horror that I am behind on like X/Pearl or catching up on the Halloween franchise, Smile, Barbarian, etc and I will get to those eventually. Those aren’t going …

Retro Rundown: AYAOTD “The Tale of the Nightly Visitors” Review

It’s been a while since I’ve done a Retro Rundown post… For the new readers out there, Retro Rundown is when I watch episodes of a tv series towards a younger audience featuring horror so Goosebumps, Are You Afraid of the Dark, possibly Eerie, Indiana, spooky episodes of Hey Arnold, Rugrats, anything like that. So …

80s Horror Gems

As of yesterday, Sunday (11/27), I had the time to sit and watch the backers edition of In Search of Darkness Part III which was about 5 hours and some change, more like 6 cos of the credits and I enjoyed it so much. It made me remember in the past couple of years all …

Top 10 BEST Goosebumps Covers (Original)

Ah, Goosebumps, we meet again!I have a huge soft spot for this book series and even the television series. I read these books when I was much younger, I am currently trying to add more of the original books into my collection and it’s very hard to and I have been watching some past Goosebumps …

Effective Jump Scares aka What Got ME!

An idea that has been brewing in my head for a week and then in that same week I begin working on my continual story for nanowrimo. This idea has been pushed back a few times just to make my life a bit easier but here we are, I’m finally doing this.This week, we’ll be …