Cosy horror for dark nights
Same nightmares. Different stories.
News and reviews
Horror films, books, television and games, with no spoilers. Ever.
Every October I promise myself a proper shortlist. Every Halloween I end up stood in front of the shelf with a candle already lit and no film chosen, so here's what I've actually learned about deciding on the night itself.
29 October 2026 · 1 min read
Short ghost stories are meant to be read one at a time, not devoured in one sitting. Here's why a collection you dip into beats a novel you race through, and which ones I keep by the bed.
28 October 2026 · 1 min read
Robert Eggers' werewolf film Werwulf is getting a limited 35mm cinema run on Christmas Day, with tickets already on sale. Here's what's actually confirmed, no plot guessing involved.
27 October 2026 · 1 min read
I want a horror twist to change how I understand the story I’ve just watched. Here’s what makes that feel fair, with clearly marked spoilers for two episodes of The Twilight Zone.
27 October 2026 · 1 min read
Ask ten people for the scariest horror movies they know and half of them will describe a shape in a doorway, not a monster. This is why the empty frame does more damage than the reveal ever could.
26 October 2026 · 1 min read
I started reading a classic horror story aloud on camera once a week, and the first one taught me something I didn't expect: the old, public domain stories aren't just free to use, they were built for a voice.
25 October 2026 · 1 min read
Ridley Scott is going back to the Alien universe, and he's brought in Raised by Wolves creator Aaron Guzikowski to write it. Here's what's actually confirmed so far, and why the David angle has me paying attention.
24 October 2026 · 1 min read
Everyone's got the thing that gets past their defences, no matter how many horror films they've sat through. Here's mine, and why my brain still falls for it every single time.
24 October 2026 · 1 min read
Prime Video has confirmed that Mike Flanagan's Carrie is coming back for a second season, and Erin barely had time to finish the first before the news landed.
23 October 2026 · 1 min read
A horror-game shortlist needs more than a lovely sinister cover. Here’s how I’d compare the actual playing, Xbox compatibility and edition extras before Black Friday starts making everything look tempting.
23 October 2026 · 1 min read
Three solid horror franchises are joining Netflix next month, so there's no excuse to stop watching just because the pumpkins are in the bin. Here's what's arriving and when.
22 October 2026 · 1 min read
My February watchlist runs from Halloween to Scream, with haunted rooms and terrible neighbours along the way. Here’s how I’d choose the evening’s scare, plus what to check before streaming in the UK or US.
22 October 2026 · 1 min read
All three Terrifier films are heading back to US cinemas for Halloween week, tied to a crossover with the game Dead by Daylight. Here is what Bloody Disgusting's report actually says.
21 October 2026 · 1 min read
There's exactly one week left where reading a ghost story at 11pm still counts as seasonal and not just odd. Here's what's worth pulling off the shelf, and what to look for if you're hunting in an old bookshop instead.
21 October 2026 · 1 min read
Dread Central reports that Diablo Cody has finished the script for a Jennifer's Body sequel and says it is moving forward. Here is why that matters to anyone who loves the first one.
20 October 2026 · 1 min read
Some nights I only have the nerve for twenty five minutes of horror, not a two hour commitment. Here's what I actually put on when I want a proper fright in a small, manageable dose.
20 October 2026 · 1 min read
I turned off a film once, muted, on purpose, just to see if the noise was doing the work my brain thought the story was doing. It was. Here's what actually gets under my skin.
19 October 2026 · 1 min read
There is more to Dickens’s ghosts than Scrooge’s visitors. The Signal-Man turns a lonely railway cutting into somewhere I’d rather not wait after dark.
18 October 2026 · 1 min read
Every October the same handful of films come off the shelf, whether I plan it or not. Here's the rewatch pile that gets me properly into spooky season.
17 October 2026 · 1 min read
The long-awaited Friday the 13th prequel series has dropped in full on Peacock. Here is what it actually is, where to watch it, and why I am staying well away from the spoiler galleries already doing the rounds.
16 October 2026 · 1 min read
A noise behind a wall can be worse than a monster in plain sight. I look at how horror games ration what we hear and see, and what to notice before opening the next door.
16 October 2026 · 1 min read
The director and star of The Black Phone are teaming up again, this time for a nine-episode horror fiction podcast set on late night AM radio. It premieres on 22 October, and I have already cleared space in my evening for it.
15 October 2026 · 1 min read
The horror films I'm saving for January 2027, when the tree is down, the sky is dark by teatime and the sofa is the only sensible place to be. Seven cosy-ish picks, no spoilers.
15 October 2026 · 1 min read
Hulu has given Ryan Coogler's X-Files reboot a full series order, which means it has moved past the pilot stage and is now a real, commissioned show. Here is what that actually means, for anyone who has never watched the original.
14 October 2026 · 1 min read
Hammer Films has bought the rights to Susan Hill's entire body of work, the author behind The Woman in Black. Here is what that actually means and which of her other stories I want adapted first.
13 October 2026 · 1 min read
Three seasons of a talking doll is a lot to take on with Halloween five weeks away, so I worked out whether Chucky earns the time or whether it can wait until the nights are properly dark.
13 October 2026 · 1 min read
Erin picks the horror anthology movies she actually rewatches every October, and explains why commitment-free horror is the correct choice for the sofa on a proper Halloween night.
12 October 2026 · 1 min read
A biometric app called ScareScore just had its debut at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, tracking how scared people actually get while watching horror. Here's what it does and why I want to try it.
12 October 2026 · 1 min read
Blumhouse confirmed at New York Comic Con that it is adapting the viral VHS horror game Amanda the Adventurer into a live-action feature. Here is what that game actually is and why the news has already got me twitchy.
11 October 2026 · 1 min read
The first full trailer for The Exorcist: Martyrs is out, and between its reported cast, a Se7en-level sense of dread and Mike Flanagan talking about it as his bleakest work yet, I am already rearranging my 2027 around it.
10 October 2026 · 1 min read
Every October the same five Halloween films turn up on every "best of" list, and I have sat through all of them under a blanket with a coffee going cold, wondering why nobody else seems to mind what I mind. Here is my honest ranking, and the ones I'd actually put on instead.
10 October 2026 · 1 min read
Shudder has set a Christmas release for Split Rock, a supernatural chiller shot on 16mm from the director of The Strings. Here's what's confirmed so far, and why it's already on my festive watch list.
9 October 2026 · 1 min read
The honest answer to what horror games are worth your dark evenings this month, plus the one I keep going back to with every lamp in the flat switched off.
9 October 2026 · 1 min read
My New Year horror plan is to catch up with the films I keep meaning to watch. A small shortlist, a comfortable sofa and absolutely no attempt to turn January into homework.
8 October 2026 · 1 min read
Here's when you can actually watch Joko Anwar's genre-bending horror-comedy Ghost in the Cell at home, now that it's leaving cinemas.
8 October 2026 · 1 min read
The trailer for Human is out, and the coverage describes it as a supernatural nightmare. Here is what the trailer news tells us and where to read the full piece.
6 October 2026 · 1 min read
Every October the schedules fill up with "spooky specials", and most of them are filler wearing a pumpkin hat. Here's how I sort the handful worth an evening from the ones that just want your remote control.
6 October 2026 · 1 min read
The first clip from Mike Flanagan's Carrie series is out, and it opens with Carrie slamming a door on her mum. Here is why that moment matters to anyone who grew up with De Palma's version.
5 October 2026 · 1 min read
Someone in my comments asked, for what felt like the hundredth time, what actually started the slasher genre. So I made the coffee, put on the big jumper and went looking.
5 October 2026 · 1 min read
Never After Dark is heading to digital and video on demand later this October, so you can watch the chilling haunter from home. Here is what the news says, and what to check before you press play.
4 October 2026 · 1 min read
Rue Morgue reports that filming has wrapped on Twilight of the Dead, George A. Romero's closing zombie chapter, with Kate Beckinsale and Betty Gabriel as the leads. It is the last of the Romero films.
3 October 2026 · 1 min read
A second visit can be scarier, stranger or simply more fun. These are the horror follow-ups I’d put ahead of their originals, with one fairly large argument waiting in space.
3 October 2026 · 1 min read
One of the most unnerving American horror films ever made is getting a proper restoration for its fortieth anniversary, just in time for a dark October night in.
2 October 2026 · 1 min read
No one to jump-scare with is not the same as no one to hide behind a cushion for. Here's what I'm actually loading up when the flat's empty, the heating's on, and the only company is whatever's chasing me on screen.
2 October 2026 · 1 min read
Dread Central says Sam is getting new animated shorts, a "Sam: The Soul of Halloween" teaser and a care package reveal this October, and I have feelings about every bit of it.
1 October 2026 · 1 min read
After a night of bangs and flashes outside, I started noticing how much of horror actually happens in your ears rather than your eyes — here are six films, grouped by what they do with sound, for the evening your nerves are already switched on.
1 October 2026 · 1 min read
Jennifer Lawrence is set to star in The Flood, the next film from Barbarian and Weapons director Zach Cregger. Here's why an Oscar winner turning up on his slate is bigger news than it might first sound.
30 September 2026 · 1 min read
M. R. James puts an orphaned boy in a country house where kindness feels just a little too interested. Here’s why Lost Hearts is such an unsettling choice for a cosy night, without giving away its ending.
30 September 2026 · 1 min read
A documentary crew goes looking for a missing person and finds something they were never meant to film. Here is what the first teaser for The Dark Gets In actually shows, and why found footage still gets under my skin more than most polished horror ever manages.
29 September 2026 · 1 min read
A true-crime horror hybrid that Stephen King himself has already sized up against two very different classics is landing on Shudder on 23 October, and I have already ringed the date on my calendar.
29 September 2026 · 1 min read
One evening, one complete story, and a bedtime worth protecting. Here’s how I narrow the choice by running time, standalone storytelling and the sort of scare I actually fancy.
29 September 2026 · 1 min read
Quiet ghosts, terrible invitations and a church I would absolutely refuse to investigate. These are the horror films I’d put on when the familiar favourites need a night off.
28 September 2026 · 1 min read
People keep asking me what folk horror actually is, so here's the honest answer, plus the four films I'd hand a total beginner.
27 September 2026 · 1 min read
Every autumn someone asks me for the best sci-fi horror books, so here's the shortlist I actually stand by, tested by more late nights than I'll admit to.
27 September 2026 · 1 min read
Hammer made horror properly cosy long before I was born, all fog and candlelight and Peter Cushing looking faintly disappointed in everyone. Here's where to start, and where the hunt gets a bit trickier.
27 September 2026 · 1 min read
The Black Cat gets read out this Halloween weekend, and I want to talk about why it unsettles me more than the story everyone quotes at parties.
27 September 2026 · 1 min read
People only ask me about horror movie nights in September, like the rest of the year doesn't exist. It does. Here's how I actually do it, whatever month it happens to be.
27 September 2026 · 1 min read
Prime Video has set a premiere date for its zombie sequel, and they have somehow landed it on the one night I am guaranteed to be on the sofa anyway. Halloween eve, obviously.
27 September 2026 · 1 min read
The second the mornings turn grey, my film nights turn dark. Here's why September, not October, is when my horror season actually begins, and what's already queued up.
27 September 2026 · 1 min read
Every September the streaming apps quietly start behaving differently, and I've been watching mine do exactly that. Here's what's actually worth your evening this week, and why I've stopped trusting the apps to keep it there.
27 September 2026 · 1 min read
Every autumn the streaming services quietly reshuffle their horror shelves, and every autumn I fall for the same three tricks. Here's how I actually work out what's worth queueing up this week, and what's just noise.
27 September 2026 · 1 min read
Shudder has picked up a Finnish vampire Santa horror-comedy, and I already know exactly which evening in December it's getting. This is the kind of daft, bloody, cosy pick I want lined up well before the actual chaos of Christmas starts.
27 September 2026 · 1 min read
The new Resident Evil film has done something video-game horror movies almost never manage: opened huge and stayed huge. Here's what the numbers actually mean.
27 September 2026 · 1 min read
I keep getting asked which old horror films actually still work, so here's my honest answer: the ones built out of rubber, blood bags and a very patient crew, not the ones built out of pixels. Horror films from the 70s got that right before anyone had a choice.
27 September 2026 · 1 min read
A moody, candlelit vampire story with Jason Isaacs and Nell Verlaque arrives in cinemas on 7 October. I watched the trailer, and it has gone straight onto my dark-night list.
26 September 2026 · 1 min read
The best horror games, for me, aren't new ones. It's the one game I already know inside out, back on my laptop the second the evenings start drawing in.
26 September 2026 · 1 min read
Evil Dead Burn is heading to HBO Max in early October, according to Bloody Disgusting, with the earlier Evil Dead films on before it. Here's how I'd plan the night in.
26 September 2026 · 1 min read
Some nights a whole horror film is too big an ask, so I reach for horror TV shows instead: shorter, easier to abandon, and just as good for the mood.
25 September 2026 · 1 min read
I went looking for one specific paperback and came out two hours later with four books, a headache from the dust, and a plan for the rest of my autumn. Here's why the hunt is worth it.
24 September 2026 · 1 min read
Forty horror films, from the 1920s onwards, ranked with a short write-up for each. Join the Club to receive the complete After Dark Top 40 as a free download.
23 September 2026 · 1 min read
Is your watchlist just "whatever's trending"? Mine's built around anniversaries this year, and it turns out the classic horror films are the ones worth clearing an evening for.
22 September 2026 · 1 min read
Carrie, The Omen, Scream and Nosferatu are all having anniversaries this year, but the order you watch them in on the night matters more than any of the birthdays.
21 September 2026 · 1 min read
People keep asking what I'm actually watching once the nights draw in, so here's the honest list: the films I reach for every year, not the ones I only pretend to have seen.
20 September 2026 · 1 min read
A fresh batch of horror trailers landed this month, and I have opinions on every single one. Here's what the trend lines are telling me before the films even land.
19 September 2026 · 1 min read
Mike Flanagan has confirmed he is adapting Stephen King's The Mist, and he says he is starting from the book, not from Frank Darabont's film. Here is what that actually means.
18 September 2026 · 1 min read
A festive title, a chainsaw, and a leather daddy. The first teaser for Christmas at the Kringles' proves the only thing that changes round here in December is the tinsel.
17 September 2026 · 1 min read
I watched the new Other Mommy trailer completely cold, no spoilers, no warning, and it has quietly wrecked the rest of my week. It is also, without question, going straight on the watch list.
16 September 2026 · 1 min read
The scrappy found-footage anthology that lived and died on streaming is heading to actual cinema screens in 2027, with A24 attached. I have thoughts, and most of them are suspicious.
14 September 2026 · 1 min read
The YouTube analogue horror series that ruined several of my evenings is getting a proper cinema date. I have feelings about this, and not all of them are calm ones.
14 September 2026 · 1 min read
A new trailer just landed for The Last Kiss, a Blumhouse slasher starring McKenna Grace, and it's on digital in a matter of days. Here's what's in the trailer and where I found it.
14 September 2026 · 1 min read
The new Crystal Lake trailer dropped and it is not the simple "man in a hockey mask" story I grew up on. I have questions, and a few of them are delighted ones.
14 September 2026 · 1 min read
The last fortnight before Halloween is the only fair excuse for watching something scary every single night. Here is what is queued up on my sofa, in the order I am actually going to get through it.
13 September 2026 · 1 min read
Halloween came out decades before I did, and it still manages to unsettle me more than most horror films made last year. Here's why the original slasher refuses to age.
12 September 2026 · 1 min read
Everyone knows "Here's Johnny" and the twins in the hallway, whether or not they have ever sat through the film itself. I finally did, on a night I probably shouldn't have chosen, and I understand the fuss now.
12 September 2026 · 1 min read
As Halloween creeps closer, horror fans everywhere are swapping real scares rather than talking about films for once. I want to hear yours, and I will go first with mine.
12 September 2026 · 1 min read
My reading pile for the run-up to Halloween, from an old ghost story collection to a sci-fi horror novel that made me leave a light on. No spoilers, just what's actually worth your time.
12 September 2026 · 1 min read
Some films only come out once a year, when the nights draw in and the flat gets that proper autumn gloom. These are the ones I never skip.
12 September 2026 · 1 min read
Black Friday is coming, which means every shop will try to sell you a box set you don't need. Here's the ones I'd actually clear shelf space for.
12 September 2026 · 1 min read
I put this off for years because everyone recommending it made it sound like homework. It is not homework. It is the best haunted house television I have ever sat through with the lights off.
12 September 2026 · 1 min read
Bonfire Night always turns into a ghost story night in my flat, whether I plan it or not. Here are the ones I actually tell, and why they still work after all these years.
12 September 2026 · 1 min read
The nights are drawing in and my rewatch pile has come out again. Here is what actually gets put on, and why the same handful of films win every single year.
12 September 2026 · 1 min read
I finally sat down with Phasmophobia expecting to feel brave. Instead I learned, in under ten minutes, that I am constitutionally unsuited to hunting ghosts, even pretend ones.
12 September 2026 · 1 min read
Everyone told me Midnight Mass was about a monster on a fog-bound island. It isn't, not really, and that is exactly why it stayed with me longer than most horror I have watched this year.
12 September 2026 · 1 min read
I finally played Alan Wake 2, badly, mostly through my fingers, and it turns out the scariest thing in my flat this month was a video game.
12 September 2026 · 1 min read
Forty horror films counted down like the charts, from silent classics to new favourites, picked by Erin and sent the moment you join.