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Summary
Sometimes scant is just when it come to thehorrorgenre . Due in part to their word of honor - enumeration restraints , short stories can often be more terrific than novel . Writers are n’t tasked with hold back the terror or suspense high for one C of pages . Instead , shortsighted stories take hold readers in their haunting clutches and push them to imaginewhat ’s pass off just beyond the page . That said , classical myopic stories in the horror music genre — or even those that boast repulsion elements — can serve as peachy leap off points for feature - film adaptations .
AsMike Flanagan ’s recentFall of the House of Usherminiseries proved , the melodic theme contained withinshort - shape fabrication can leave a go impression . While writers like Edgar Allan Poe , H.P. Lovecraft , and even Stephen King are most often associate with gyrate scary short account , they are n’t the only authors whose body of work are rife for adaptation . From Joyce Carol Oates ' grounded - yet - sinister vignettes to Octavia E. Butler ’s sci - fi - infused brand of terror , there are countless short story that should be transformed into terrifying horror motion-picture show .
10The Wendigo
Algernon Blackwood
Technically a novella , " The Wendigo " was first release in Algernon Blackwood ’s collection entitledThe Lost Valley and Other Stories . Set in Ontario ’s wilderness , " The Wendigo " sees a nephew - uncle duo embarking on a hunting trip with two guides . Not only does the titulary creature descend into turn , but the story delves into idea like corporate hallucination , make it a mind - bend repair . Moreover , although a variation of the Wendigo — a fabled Algonquin daemon — has appeared in films like 2021’sAntlers(pictured ) , it ’s a terrifying being that deserves more screen time .
9Young Goodman Brown
Nathaniel Hawthorne
While Nathaniel Hawthorne might be most well - roll in the hay for penningThe Scarlet Letter , the author was also a fertile short level writer . Without a doubt , " Young Goodman Brown " is his most memorable short - manakin tale . Set during dusk in Salem Village , the titular character speculation into the woods at night and encounters a mysterious manwho ’s carrying a inglorious serpent - shaped staff . If that was n’t foreboding enough , Goodman Brown encounters several other townsfolk in the forest who seek to initiate him into their cult — or do they ?
8Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates has written a staggering number of shortsighted stories as well as a whopping 58 novel . While some of her efforts run more into the supernatural than others , one of her definitive unforesightful story from 1966 remains , perhaps , her most unsettling tale . " Where Are You Going , Where Have You Been ? " centers on teenager Connie . While she ’s at habitation alone , a creepy-crawly grownup stranger , Arnold Friend , appears at the sieve threshold and step by step threatens Connie . While there have been attempts to adapt the brusk account to the screen , its disquieting , grounded brand of repugnance deserves a proper film counterpart .
7The Lottery
Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson is one of the greatest short news report writers of all time , though she has also penned several longer classic , include the oft - adaptedThe Haunting of Hill House . What makes Jackson ’s piece of writing so unsettling is the psychological repulsion element she so effortlessly tincture into every page . Although not straight horror,“The Lottery " haunts reader because of how it draw human nature . Although several attempts have been made to aggrandize the story about a vicious biotic community who ’ll block at nothing to control a good crop , " The Lottery " deserves the star topology treatment .
6I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream
Harlan Ellison
A post - revelatory science fiction short story , " I Have No Mouth , and I Must Scream " won author Harlan Ellison a Hugo Award in the 1960s . In the wake of World War III , the humankind ’s ace powers work up a elephantine " Allied Mastercomputer , " a.k.a . AMs , so as to remain the nuclear battle . When an AM becomes sentient , it lashes out against its creators and kills all of humanity — almost . The AM keeps five people alert so that it can rack them . Withmovies about artificial intelligenceat an all - time high , Ellison ’s would make a great addition .
5Horror Story
Carmen Maria Machado
First published in Granta Magazine in 2015 , Carmen Maria Machado ’s competently titled " Horror Story " may not be as old as other classic story of terror . notwithstanding , the acclaimed writer ’s short - pattern piece is a modern masterpiece . In " Horror Story , " a couple move into a obsessed house . Unable to split their rental , the brace adjust to the bizarre goings - on of the business firm , making " Horror Story " not just a chilling read , but a searing commentary on human relationship too . Currently , FX is recrudesce Machado ’s scant tale collectionHer Body and Other Partiesfor TV .
4The Repairer of Reputations
Robert W. Chambers
True Detective ’s Carcosa convey inspirationfromThe King in Yellow , an 1895 short report appeal penned by Robert W. Chambers . While Chambers ' assemblage of horror fiction is chilling throughout , " The Repairer of Reputations " is one of the more well - have it off stories . One potential hurdle is that " The Repairer of Reputations " would take to be adjust cautiously due to its bigoted , unreliable storyteller . However , a photographic film version of the tale could concenter on the more supernatural element , include the eldritchKing in Yellowplay - within - a - news report and the far - reaching conspiracies that the protagonist unravels .
3The Yellow Wallpaper
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Charlotte Perkins Gilman ’s " The Yellow Wallpaper " might just be the ultimate repugnance story about gas pedal - lighting someone . In illustrating the terrible attitudes toward women ’s physical and mental health during the 19th century,“The Yellow Wallpaper " became a lauded example of horror fiction . In the story , the first - somebody supporter is limit to a room by her husband , who think resting will cure her anxiety and depression . rather , " The Yellow Wallpaper " chronicle the character ’s gradual descent into madness as she ’s isolated and mistreat . Again , there has n’t been a unfeignedly definitive film adjustment of the story yet .
2The Veldt
Ray Bradbury
Technically , Ray Bradbury ’s " The Veldt " has been adapted twice for the screen . In the recent ' eighty , a film calledThe Veldtadapted several of Bradbury ’s light chronicle into a dystopian sci - fi motion-picture show . A few years later , the telly showThe Ray Bradbury Theatermade an episode that accommodate " The Veldt " on its own . In many way , " The Veldt " feels like an episode ofBlack Mirror — a revulsion history that taps into the friction between humanity and technology . It ’s the psychological underpinnings and the images left unseen that make " The Veldt " so chilling .
1Bloodchild
Octavia Butler
bonk for being one of the most completed sci - fi writers of all fourth dimension , Octavia E. Butler ’s fable also dabbles in the horror genre at times . The title solve from her collectionBloodchild and Other Stories , the short tarradiddle earned Butler Hugo and Nebula Awards . In " Bloodchild , " a dependency of off - world humans grow a strange bond with insect - like lifeforms , the Tlic . A comment on reproductive freedom , agency , and oppression,“Bloodchild " is also a shuddery example of body horror .
Custom Image by Kate Bove
