I made the first part of this list in the beginning of March, and I'm happy to return to it. I've read some more horror tales in the interim, and I've collected my thoughts on five authors and tales that deserve some love. They run the gamut from low-key creepiness to jaw-dropping shock.
"In the Hills, the Cities" by Clive Barker
Again, we return to the Books of Blood, which currently stand as my favorite horror anthology ever put to paper. I can't say that easily, but Barker bests all others in two key ways. First: he's fearless regarding the power of the erotic. In this story, the two main characters operate on pure physical attraction. Second: Barker holds the most unexpected developments. Poe had his premature burials, Lovecraft his maddening sights of eldritch terrors. But this story's ending, one of the most stunning in the entire genre, is both unpredictable and unforgettable.
"The Apple Tree" by Daphne du Maurier
One of many creepy yarns by du Maurier, "The Apple Tree" gets bonus points for making my favorite fruit into an eerie bloom that spells trouble for its owner. That owner is a nasty widower who associates the worst qualities of his late wife with the apple tree in the yard. The apple tree responds in its own way. Daphne du Maurier's stories were frequently adapted by Alfred Hitchcock, and this tale, along with "The Birds," presents nature as a frightening adversary to man's petty interests.
"The Mezzotint" by M. R. James
Poe had an oval portrait, Wilde gave us Dorian Gray, Lovecraft offered Pickman's model. M. R. James's short story reworks the "haunted painting" idea with both honor and a sly sense of humor - an out-of-left-field takedown of Tess of the D'ubervilles amuses as much as the creepier changes occurring in the corners of the picture. James never received the cinematic attention lavished to Poe or Stoker, although his "Casting the Runes" eventually inspired the horror classic Curse of the Demon.
"Down by the Sea Near the Great Big Rock" by Joe R. Lansdale
Lansdale gave fuel to horror/fantasy director Don Coscarelli, who won critical raves for Bubba Ho-Tep and "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road," which both had a streak of humanism buried in the horror. But left to his own devices, Lansdale is less forgiving and even crazier than one would expect. "Down by the Sea" offers up a nasty story about a family vacationing by a beach, and on that beach, there is a rock. And when they're near that rock, these people just get the darndest ideas. Like what fun it would be to hurt each other...
"The Red Tower" by Thomas Ligotti
"The Red Tower" is nothing more and nothing less than the detailing of a red tower that sits at the edge of a grey, foggy plain. Within that tower lies evidence of a sickening type of manufacture, and it only gets worse the further one descends. As a modern author working in the "weird tale" mode, Ligotti masters the form: skip the characters, drench the story in atmosphere, and build the terror of understanding, brick by red brick. Teatro Grottesco, the omnibus that houses this creeper, offers plenty more chills for adventurous readers.
The Red Tower is absolutely brilliant.
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