The horror anthology Horror USA: California is out today in ebook/Kindle format from Soteira Press. It contains dozens of great horror stories about the unknown, weird-ass side of The Golden State for

Shock (1977), directed by Mario Bava; starring Daria Nicolidi, John Steiner, and David Colin Jr. Shock is Mario Bava’s last film: he died three years later. (It's not his last directing credit, though,

Paul Wendkos's early Seventies film, The Mephisto Waltz, is a minor classic that should be remade with better production values. The Mephisto Waltz (1971), directed by Paul Wendkos; based on the book of

Three greats of horror literature and film -- Stephen King, George Romero, and Michael McDowell -- team up on a pretty good horror anthology from the early 90s. Tales From the Darkside: The Movie (1990),

Milton Sabotsky, producer of the fabled Amicus horror anthologies of the late 60s-early 70s, gives it another go with a Canadian film studio -- with uneven results -- in The Uncanny. The Uncanny (1977),

It's best to forget about Stanley Kubrick's The Shining and just try to appreciate Doctor Sleep as an entertaining but average horror film. Doctor Sleep (2019), directed by Mike Flanagan from his own script;

In response to an Urban Legend challenge by @modernzorker, here is a description of the first Urban Legend I was ever told. I was maybe seven, and I heard it from an older sibling or maybe one of their

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Robert De Niro plays Louis Cypher -- get it? -- a hood who wants Mickey Rourke to find a singer who signed a contract with him in Alan Parker's Angel Heart. Angel Heart (1987), directed by Alan Parker;

I'm on Twitter at @janenightshade. I've already sassed Mike Flanagan and expressed my opinion about Sinister (2012) to Fangoria. Come on and follow me!

My short story, The Warriors of the Sand, will be published on December 13, and will be available on Amazon in paperback and e-book format. A hardcover will follow later. Mark your calendars, please! It

Four horror stories are told in From Beyond the Grave, courtesy of Peter Cushing as the proprietor of a curious antiques shop in London. From Beyond the Grave (1974), directed by Kevin Connor; starring

Katharine Ross, the sweetheart of the late 60s and early 70s, stars with her future husband Sam Elliott in this uneven Satanic Panic film from the director of Return of the Jedi. The Legacy (1978), directed

M. Night Shyamalan's 1999 film The Sixth Sense unleashed several over-used horror tropes on an unsuspecting public. I get horror and thriller fatigue often. Not because I’m tired of those genres, but because

Cheeky and campy, The Monster Club is a graveyard smash. The Monster Club (1981), directed by Roy Ward Baker; starring Vincent Price, John Carradine, Donald Pleasence, Stuart Whitman, Barbara Kellerman,

I remembered the original Amityville Horror as a good film, but sometimes, our memories are not all they're cracked up to be. The original version of The Amityville Horror (1979), directed by Stuart Rosenberg

Karen Moncrieff's The Keeping Hours isn't scary or particularly creepy, but it is a compelling ghost story that's worth watching. The Keeping Hours (2017), directed by Karen Moncrieff from a script by

Paperhouse (1988), directed by Bernard Rose from a script by Matthew Jacobs, based on the book Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr. Starring Ben Cross, Glenne Headley, Charlotte Burke, Gemma Jones, and

In both Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, you can find the strongly held American belief in reinvention. Vertigo (1958) -- Hitchcock’s most highly regarded film, is

For once, Dennis Hopper plays a fairly normal guy in Curtis Harrington's Night Tide. Night Tide (1961), directed by Curtis Harrington from his own script; starring Dennis Hopper, Linda Lawson, Luana Anders,