“Soft” by F. Paul Wilson (1984)
“The sound comes in the night when all is quiet.”
I don’t think I’d physically shuddered yet in this month’s readings, but this one really brings it on. It’s a disturbing story and the peril involved for the characters is horrifying. I bet if I let this percolate it’ll also bring up some weird feelings about this pandemic era that we’re smack in the middle of.
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“In Each and Every Package” by Reed Crandall, et al. (1954)
“I kept thinking of you and that gave me the strength.”
This came up in a list of noteworthy horror comics from the mid-century due to this gnarly cover that got held up as an example of the questionable artistic merits of this sort of stuff at the time. I also doubted the horror qualities of this series since the title itself says it’s crime fiction, but I gave it a shot. It’s crime fiction for sure and I don’t think I’ll read other Crime SuspenStories, but it definitely feels like something I’d see on Tales from the Crypt.
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The Other Side of the Underneath dir. Jane Arden (1972)
“Tell me about your head.”
A psychological horror about mental illness and the careless institutionalization of women who don’t confirm to expectations. It lacks a typical plot and instead is presented as a series of vignettes, sometimes surreal or unhinged scenes of a state of mind, sometimes banal stuff like people at a hootenanny. Wouldn’t be surprised if Ari Aster had this in mind with parts of Midsommar.