Rick Rawes

Where are the monsters? It’s Halloween soon, are they already skulking around the graveyards? Or are they much, much closer to home?

So, I’m not a critic. I mean, sure, I can be critical of something as much as the next guy, but at the end of the day it’s a personal opinion. It gets on my tits when someone is so definitive in their recommendation of something. I once immediately took to disliking someone when during a routine conversation they started going on about how ‘shit’ The Vampire Diaries was, in a derogatory tone that told you as much about their opinion of the show itself and the people who watched it. Have some humility, please.

With that said, I figured I’d let you know my fave horror movies and horror books, to give you some ideas of the types of stories that inspire me in my writing. You may like some of them too, you might absolutely hate them, you might even want to give them a go. And you might want to let me know your thoughts below. That’s cool. But just remember to check any egos at the door.

Film 1: The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Haunting

I toyed with the idea of doing this in order, but honestly argued with myself that I couldn’t. But if I could, there’s a sneaking suspicion that this may be number one. It all goes back to watching Strange But True on a Friday night as a kid, stomach full of a chippy tea. They did a whole half-hour special on the Enfield haunting from the 1970s, where two young girls were tormented by a spectral houseguest who may or may not have been a previous owner. It chilled me to the core then, a normal house like any other – behind which terrifying events took place.

So after the quite enjoyable first Conjuring film, in which husband and wife team Ed and Lorraine Warren are like Demon-busters in conservative clothing, I was already looking forward to seeing them take on this piece of my childhood. I wasn’t prepared for it. The oppressive atmosphere, the creeping dread, the rain soaked streets. The bloody nun! It was the slow burn horror with the modern jump-scares thrown in for good measure. Then deep within the heart of it, a gentle kind of love story. I walked out feeling not just like I’d had a good scare, but filled with a warm glow. The remembrance that in the face of unspeakable evil, simple small acts of domestic love keep the lights on.

Sure, there were a few too many world-building plots for my liking – the Crooked Man seemed particularly pointless. But the flaws seemed minor compared to the story. And boy, even if it may have gone a few steps away from what likely really happened – the story kept me going. Definitely a recommend, even if you don’t watch any of the others.

Book 1: Carrie by Stephen King

Again, I am denying rank here, but Carrie may need a special mention not only as my favourite horror book but perhaps my favourite book of all time. It’s short and in case you have never heard, simply put a teenage girl slowly coming to realise her telekinetic powers is bullied. At the senior prom, she has a bucket of pig’s blood thrown over her and goes into a full on murderous rampage. That’s the surface level, and is probably how you have had it described to you if you’ve never seen it.

The truth is, it’s a story of a human girl. Someone who could be any of us. Any of us that’s ever been the target of a bully, or different, or weird. It’s a story of the systemic abuse parents can enact on children because of their own trauma. It’s a story about what happens when people – teachers, students, adults, children, doesn’t matter – allow bullying to happen, or perpetrate it ourselves. It’s about what happens when someone who is victimised, finally has enough. It tells us that monstrous acts come in many different forms, and don’t always a monster make.

This is perhaps one of only two books who’s ending has ever brought me tears – and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Film 2: The Fourth Kind

The film you’re about to see, consisting of archival footage and reconstructions, as well as an interview between the director and the subject – is a complete fabrication. Yet marketed so heavily into the Blair Witch-esque meta world that it comes across with complete earnestness. Rest assured, not a word of it is true. But could it be? The answer is a resounding – possibly.

The story is essentially that of a single mother and psychiatrist, who lives in the arse-end of Alaska with her son and daughter. When several of her patients start describing the same thing – nightly visitations by an owl – she uses hypnotic suggestion to probe deeper into their subconscious – and comes face-to-face with ancient forces from another world.

Rather than outright terror, the movie goes for a slow disorienting build. Each segment, each side-by-side ‘raw footage’ with ‘reconstruction’ moment, grows in a quiet intensity. It shows little at a time, in breathless whispers – and culminates in a heart-wrenching, absolutely terrifying sequence simply unlike anything I’ve come across in space-horror before. It’s like if you were watching History Channel’s Ancient Aliens – After Dark. And somehow, for me, it works beautifully.

And at the heart of the story? A mother’s quiet love and desperate unravelling.

Book 2: Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

The second book on my list, Hex, takes us back into the more mystical world of witches and evil curses – which are fertile ground for any kind of horror. This book was recommended to me by a colleague once upon a time, after I’d joined the staff book club. I learnt quickly that in a school a ‘staff book club’ consists of the English department and a few brave other souls, meaning – and I mean this with love – all selections fall broadly into the category of ‘literature’. By which, if it has not been nominated for some kind of prestigious award, it is likely not to be considered. But, surprisingly, one of the members suggested I give this a go.

I was blown away. The basic story follows the town of Black Rock, a town which is subject to a curse from a 16^th century witch. The witch wanders around town, half-naked and in chains, mouth sewn shut. There’s a few simple rules – don’t allow the witch to speak being one of the main ones. Thus, we’re thrown into a modern world of social media obsessed teens…and centuries old curses. I didn’t know what to expect going in – and it exceeded expectations I didn’t know I had.

Perhaps the key takeaway from this for me, was how little I understood towards the end. Foregoing easy answers, instead the end feels like some kind of horrifying fever dream, which chilled me to my core and set fire to my imagination at the same time. I don’t want to spoil it, but dear heavens I enjoyed this story to the final page. If you like books with phenomenal endings – go for this one.

Film 3: Alien

I’m rounding off the first part of my Halloween special by focusing on a classic. One which many people may argue isn’t even a horror film – but instead more firmly within the realm of Science Fiction. I would argue that if you can watch this film and not be terrified – then good for you. On first viewing, as a twelve year old boy, I was oddly bored and apart from a few bits of blood and guts, the film was just too slow for my adrenaline seeking mind.

But then I watched it as an adult. Alone, in the dark, on a big Tv with the sound way up. And I fell completely in love. You’re right, this might not be classifiable as horror, perhaps it is more terror. There on the edge of space, a team of regular joes are told to make a detour to a hostile world. Once there, they encounter an alien. But not some big-eyed grey little one, or some fella with a Cornish pasty engraving on his forehead – but a genuine alien organism. Slowly, but surely, they realise how far out of their depths they are as they’re picked off one by one. There are gruesome deaths, but what separates this from other space horror films is the underlying sense of terror.

Stephen King once said (more or less) the difference between horror and terror, is seeing a monster and feeling cold breath on your neck in an empty room. This is how I’d define what struck me about this film. It was the feeling of encountering something completely unknown, that looked, moved and behaved like nothing knowable. It was the sense of normalcy, a group of (as then) relative unknown faces – ordinary people – made idiotic decisions out of sheer instinct. It was the slowly mounting realisation that the humans in the movie were just as disposable to the unseen Mother as teens in a pulp slasher.

And then there’s Jonesy…

Until Next Time

Later this week I’ll finish this list and you can the other two films and other three books that make up my top ten horror experiences. I like horror which makes us think, which delves deeper than ‘oooh there’s a scary monster’. Some of the best horror films do everything without the need for graphic gore, or splashes and splashes of blood. It has it’s place – don’t get me wrong – and certainly does the job for a lot of people.

For me, I guess, true horror blends the gore with the terror. The seen with the unseen. The truly terrifying horror stories are the ones which lean into our own imaginations. That make us wonder what is around the next darkened corner, or try to anticipate what someone will do next. They make us question heroes and villains, the characters we see. Make us wonder where the monsters are – the ones within and without.

Perhaps that’s why horror of that nature works so well for me. It forces me to allow my imagination out. And when that happens we realise how dark our imagination can be by itself. It reminds us of that part of us, inside all of us, the existence of true evil – even if only in a shadowy imagination. With that in mind, I ask you again…

Where are the monsters?

Rick Rawes

Leeds, West Yorkshire

Monday 27th October, 2025

P.S. Part 2 coming Halloween itself!!