January ScaredyKIT - 1970s-1980s Horror (or Thrillers)

January ScaredyKIT - 1970s-1980s Horror (or Thrillers)

Horror saw a rise in popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. Many classics were published during those two decades. I'll include a few thrillers if you don't want straight up horror.

1970s
Carrie by Stephen King
Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
Hell House by Richard Matheson
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Jaws by Peter Benchley
Marathon Man by William Goldman
The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth

1980s
Pet Sematary by Stephen King
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons
The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker
Sunglasses After Dark by Nancy A. Collins
Outbreak by Robin Cook
The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy

This is just a small sample of the many books that were published during the horror boon of these two decades. I can't wait to see what everyone has chosen. If your copy has an awesome pulpy 70/80s cover please post a picture.

I have chosen a Japanese horror/thriller, The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike. It was first published in Japan in 1986 and was translated into English in 2016. I am assuming that the first picture is the original cover (or close to) from Japan.

It was described as a classic haunted house tale of the Japanese genre.
"Where contemporary Western horror stories tend toward shocks and gore, Japanese horror fiction opts for psychological terror and gradually unfolding suspense, almost always with vengeful ghosts as the big bad." (from tor.com)

Sounds like just my kind of scares!

I am planning on Swan Song by Robert McCammon. published 1987.

Here is the 1987 cover;

I am planning on reading The Rats by James Herbert, originally published in 1974.

I plan on reading Sherlock Holmes vs Dracula, first published in 1978 and well-known enough that it's been performed on The BBC. The tags for it include "horror" but also "detective" and "crossover", so I'm hoping it has enough Dracula.

How's this for a cover?

These covers are fantastic!!!

>JayneCM: That book looks interesting!

I'll be reading Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons. I've been meaning to read it for some time and now is as good a time as any.

I have this cover which is the updated cover.



This is a first addition cover according to Abe books. It certainly looks like it came from back in the day.

>4 DeltaQueen50: Great one to start the Year of the Rat!

>9 Kristelh: LOL - I never even thought of that!

I have one from the 80s on my tbr (that's been on my tbr almost as long!!!). It's not tagged horror (or thriller), but it is tagged "occult", so I think it will fit.

Michelle Remembers / Michelle Smith

I'm going with a King re-read, Cujo; the first King I ever read!

I’m going for The Graveyard Apartment - I love Japanese fiction and this one covers one from the ‘Best Horror Novels of the Decade’ list too as it has an honourable mention because of translation year.

I think I have a few espionage thrillers from that time on my shelves. Could be interesting to see how they stand up...

Just a reminder that our 2020 wiki is here so please add your selections!

If I don't get any good books off my wishlist for Christmas, then I'll probably join in on reading The Graveyard Apartment, which is available at my library.

>15 sturlington: Looks like there will be a few reading this one!

This showed up in my Christmas basket (my mom's tradition): When Darkness Loves Us. Looks like a good pick for January!

I’ll try Red Dragon by Harris.

> 15 sturlington:
> 16 JayneCM:
I just bought it on ebay as a late Christmas present. Hope it will arrive within the next days!

>19 Yuki_Onna: Great! I will be starting reading soon too.

Stayed up till 3:57 AM to finish Cujo by Stephen King. This was a re-read from the 1980's. It's "old" Stephen King but I liked it as well as did in the 1980's. 400 pages 3 1/2 stars

I finished When Darkness Loves Us by Elizabeth Engstrom last night. This is two novellas originally published in 1985. The first one, about a young woman who gets trapped in some tunnels underground, was just wild. The second one, about a woman born disfigured and developmentally disabled, was longer and overall a more psychologically disturbing story. I thought both were great and had some interesting underlying themes about women's lives and how they are treated by the men in their lives. I gave the whole book 4 stars.

This was a reissue from Valancourt Books in the Paperbacks from Hell line. I bought a few more of these over the break so I'll probably read a couple more during January.

This book has been on my TBR forever. I will be reading Necroscope by Brian Lumley originally printed in 1986.

I think I'll go with The Exorcist for this challenge.

>24 chlorine: Classic! I had thought of Rosemary's Baby for this, but when I looked it up it was published too early.

>25 JayneCM: You could save it for Occult month. It would definitely fit there.

>25 JayneCM: Yep too early, but it is really good.

>24 chlorine: Prepare to be scared witless.

I'm thinking of reading The Woman in Black by Susan Hill and/or a thriller by Bill Pronzini, Snowbound.

>26 sturlington: Thank you - perfect!

I finished The Reaping by Bernard Taylor. I have read Taylor's Sweetheart, Sweetheart, a pretty decent ghost story, so I knew about what to expect from this one: a lot of cheese and probably some embarrassingly written sex. The Reaping delivers on both counts. Most of the novel is a slow burn. A painter receives an overly generous commission for a portrait, but to do the work, he has to stay in an isolated manor in the British countryside where there are weird nuns marching around the grounds, weird manservants lurking around, weird noises in the night, a weird old lady wrapped in scarves... lots of weird stuff going on. Oh yes, and the sex. I enjoyed the build-up, but then the book takes something of a left turn, and when the ending comes, the payoff is just not there. It feels forced and rushed, and when it comes to the big reveal, we just don't care. To find this truly horrific, we have to know more about Ilona: who or what is she, what is she trying to accomplish (besides immortality), what is her cult? So many unanswered questions and missed opportunities. For me, this entry in the Paperbacks from Hell series was a big letdown.

ETA: The cover is pretty cool, though. Hope it sticks.

Halfway through The Graveyard Apartment - it is good!

I have now finished The Graveyard Apartment. I enjoyed it but then I do not read horror. I would say for a real reader of horror it was very tame. It was more a thriller to me but a slow burn. Nothing breathtakingly scary.

I listened to Hell House by Richard Matheson - narrated by Ray Porter, and it was well done. I liked I am Legend better, but this was also good.

I was waiting on Woman in Black from the library, but it hasn’t come yet and I was listening to a podcast on The Silence of the Lambs while browsing the used bookstore, so now I’ve started that. It will nicely tick my Bingo box for book written the year I was born, too!

I'm nearly done with Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula. I had expected some humor, but instead, it's a serious pastiche on both.

>21 Tess_W:: I just read Cujo for the first time a few months ago! Very effective and very sad. I think I'd ignored it because the hook -- a scary dog! -- didn't sound like much, but the family dynamic and claustrophobia ended up sucking me in.

I haven't started on Carrion Comfort just yet. I did however start Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice and I can't put it down. I'm listening to it as narrated by Simon Vance. So good.

I just started Swan Song for this. Robert McCammon. Date 1987. It's good so far.

Finished Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula and recommend it to anyone wanting well-written pastiche of either character.
Holmes and Watson are invited to take a look at a ship that has drifted into dock without the crew, just a dog who runs away and the dead captain lashed to the wheel and drained of blood. First published in 1978.

I finished The Tribe by Bari Wood, probably the last in the Paperbacks from Hell series that I will read for a while (need something different). This was a compelling story about a small group of Holocaust survivors living in New York City who create a golem to protect them but it gets out of hand. The character development is good, particularly Rachel, the young widow who determines to go against her beloved father-in-law and stop the golem. This novel had some interesting things to say about the lengths we may go to feel safe after suffering great trauma. Although unfortunately coming off as a bit dated now, this entry in the Paperbacks from Hell series is worth reading for horror aficianados.

>41 sturlington: Seems quite interesting, thanks for the review!

>25 JayneCM: >27 luvamystery65: I really enjoyed Rosemary's baby!

>28 mstrust: I'm hoping for a very scary book actually! The ones I read last year didn't quite make it for me. I've begun The Exorcist and for now the beginning is a bit slow, but I can feel the tension rising. I wonder when the mother will start to consider that her daughter is possessed...

I had a look through my shelves and found The Brownstone by Ken Eulo, from 1980 - on the back cover: THE OLD SISTERS WERE SO KIND, SO GENEROUS, SO ANXIOUS TO HAVE THEM LIVE IN WHAT SEEMED LIKE THE PERFECT HOUSE.

Looks like fun! ;)

I was thinking of reading Outbreak by Robin Cook, if my reserved library copy arrives in time for this month's challenge. However, I just saw a news item about a new coronavirus appearing in China. Yikes, maybe this book is a bit too realistic and scary to read!

>44 LisaMorr: That's a pretty scary cover.

>46 mstrust: The cover is neat.

BUT, the book is not. Sorry to report that I just can't finish it. I gave it 75 pages, but it is just a horrible mess. Blech.

>45 mathgirl40: Very scary and very relevant book. The virus has made it's way to Washington state so it is in the U.S. officially with one case so far.

I was also thinking of Rosemary's Baby for this before I discovered it was too early. Instead I went with The Talisman by Stephen King & Peter Straub. This was pretty good. It was feelling more of a fantasy story than horror for most of the read, but towards the end, I think there were definitely some horror notes. I also read an interesting quick non-fiction book, Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction by Grady Hendrix.

The Rats by James Herbert was very grisly and violent but it was also a fun read. (Although a word of warning, the author is not kind to dogs or children.)

>50 DeltaQueen50: I'm a bit scared by that description - I am picturing rats doing terrible things to little children! Creeping me out!

>51 JayneCM: Your visions are pretty accurate, but I found the violence so over-the-top that it didn't bother me.

Finished Swan Song by Robert McCammon. Published 1987. It definitely is a work of the 80s. This one is from the NPR Top 100 list. https://www.npr.org/2018/08/16/632779706/click-if-you-dare-100-favorite-horror-s.... If anyone is working on that list. It is over 900 pages. 34 hours of listening. Narrator is good. Reminded me of Stephen King's The Stand. Aftermath of nuclear apocalyptic event.

>53 Kristelh: I've read that book twice, believe it or not. I think it's a quick read; I read it the second time for nostalgia's sake but didn't think it held up as much. You are right that it is very reminiscent of The Stand and that it is so '80s.

I finished The Exorcist by William Blatty. It was a much richer book than what I remember of the movie, with a story broaching many other subjects than the possessed child (though I've seen the movie a very long time ago so I might remember poorly). It was decently written but in some parts it felt a bit clumsy, as if the author tried to hard and failed somewhat. This was especially true in the beginning, less so later. The book had some scary parts but I was hoping it would be more scary. The end scene in particular was a bit of a let down, though I thought the book concluded nicely.

Michelle Remembers / Michelle Smith, Lawrence Pazder
3 stars

This was published in 1980. In 1977, Michelle Smith recounted repressed memories (from when she was 5 years old in 1954/1955) to her psychiatrist (co-author Lawrence Pazder). This book follows that therapy. When Michelle was only 5, her unstable mother gave her away to a cult of Satanists to be abused and used in various rituals.

So, I’ve owned this since I was in high school, but I don’t think I read it back then. The first half was more interesting than the second half, when Satan appeared. The second half got much more religious, and it was less interesting to me. Now, this has since been debunked, and I found that out in the middle of reading it, but I don’t think it affected my rating (though it appears that many rated it 1 star, simply because it’s not true); I actually didn’t want that knowledge to affect how I rated the book.

I finished Carrie for this challenge. It's a book I had been curious about for a long time. I enjoyed it enough that I'm thinking of reading more King later this year.

>57 NinieB: Yay! Join us for Stephen King month.

>58 sturlington: Exactly! :)

>57 NinieB: I haven't read Carrie (or any Stephen King) since my teenage years of reading every horror book in the library. Maybe I should give one a go in Stephen King month. I had Horns by Joe Hill on my list as it has been recommended to me though - decisions!

Thank you everyone for joining us in this years 70s/80s horror/thriller challenge. I've added a few books to my TBR list. I would love to revisit this category again sooner rather than later. There is so much to read!

We did Early Modern Horror 1950-1980 One year in the Horror! Group. I will nominate that category for next year. This way all the folks that want to read Rosemary's Baby will be able to do so.

Thanks for hosting! It was a fun category.

I enjoyed this category too and look forward to another opportunity next year.