September is over, and we are now fully in autumn. I’ve been playing cryptic sudoku for fun along with Kingdom Rush 6: Genesis, continuing with the Horror Movie challenge, running the podcast, trying to get a new 9-to-5, and, finally, writing.
100 Horror Movies Challenge continues, so I’ve got a lot more films to add to the list. See the RSS Feed below to listen to the Eldritch Girl episodes and hear me yap about the films I’ve seen so far.
RSS Feed
CONTENTS
Musical Greetings
I’m still listening to a lot of Yws Gwynedd, but I can’t pick my favourite album. Tra Dwi’n Cysgu is their latest (2024), but I really like Codi /\ Cysgu (2014) as well. Give them a listen if you haven’t yet, and if they are your kind of thing, let me know which album was your favourite!
In the later half of the month, I listened to ROMANESA (Tekir’s album) on repeat again.
No gigs lined up this month, but I did get tickets to The Haunting of Hill House (stage play) for the start of October, so that is something to look forward to.
Books & Podcasts
Everything I read/listened to in September! I’ve listened to a lot of classic horror stories by women from the 1800s-1950s, and some more recent stories! It wasn’t exclusively women authors, though – Waugh and Stoker snuck in there as well…
I also got a few ARCs and even managed to read one (a novella)! Here are all my short September reads.
ARC READ: Devourer by R.M. Sayan.
This is a novella available via Itch.io.
I really enjoyed it. It’s very well-written and immersive. I was really intrigued by the cover and the premise, and it’s also very short! I’m on a short story kick again this month, so that worked for me. I also think it’s the right length for the story – it’s a good one for nautical adventure lovers. Full review coming to Divination Hollow soon.
Somewhere off the coast of Peru, 1879.
Half a world away from home, Bo is rescued from a shipwreck by the crew of the Ayar, a ship manned by runaways and deserters with a mute captain and an enigmatic first mate. But mutiny festers in the bilge, and between luck spells and sea dragons, surviving on the high seas becomes a matter of ‘kill or be killed’ — eat or be eaten.
What is a captain to a god? What is a god to a cook?A short historical horror with eldritch sympathies.
Short Stories
I got a head start on A Scare A Day which is in October, and I’ve been scheduling the posts for each day. This is a curated list of stories and poems which are set one per day through October, and each day we chat about that day’s story on the hashtag #AScareADay. It’s mainly on Bluesky this year.
I’ve started early so I can schedule posts about each tale and poem, which are mostly a bit tongue-in-cheek for the older stuff and I’ll get more serious with the newer pieces. Last year, I wrote some creative fiction and non-fiction responses to the stories we read, and got a whole fantasy short out of it – Bone Puppets.
This year, I’m doing a film pairing for each story. I’m having to watch a few Gothic films again to see what they fit, but the films for the older stories are mostly 1960s Gothic outings.
October 1st – Joanna Baillie – Night Tales of Other Times – 1790 – Read it here
October 2nd – Nikolai Karamzin – The Island of Bornholm – 1794 – Read it here
October 3rd – Anne Bannerman – The Black Knight of the Water – 1802 – Read it here
October 4th – William Harrison Ainsworth – The Spectre Bride – 1822 – Read it here
October 5th – Charles Pigault-Lebrun – ‘The Unholy Compact Abjured’ – 1825 – Read it here
October 6th – Mary Elizabeth Braddon – ‘The Cold Embrace’ – 1860 – Read it here
October 7th – Amelia Edwards – ‘In the Confessional’ – 1871 – Read it here
Podcasts / Audio Dramas
The Magnus Protocol (still updating) by Rusty Quill, created by Jonathan Sims and Alexander J. Newall, dir. Alexander J. Newall, written by Alexander J. Newall, script edited with additional material by Jonathan Sims.
Started the month up to ep 41 so catching up to the current series!
Alice and Sam, a pair of low-level civil service workers at the underfunded Office of Incident Assessment and Response, have stumbled across the legacy of The Magnus Institute. A legacy that will put them in grave danger.
EnCrypted: The Classic Horror Podcast.
I fancied a change, so I thought I’d give this one a go. I’m listening to more classic horror tales by women. I generally feel they go harder than their male counterparts, they are often funnier, and you encounter less mediocrity when dipping in and out of their stories. Other opinions are available, but that’s mine.
Episodes Listened To: mostly by women. Those by men are marked with a
- “Let Loose” by Mary Chalmondley, published in 1890. This has a lot of dry humour in it, which I really appreciated, and it’s a fun, creepy, supernatural tale. I enjoyed the sound effects on this one, it’s a real labour of love. Won me over to the podcast. [44:35] (LISTEN)
- “What Comes” by Rebecca Lloyd, published in 2014. Not a classic one, a modern one, but still a good one! I like a new story in the mix with the oldies. As an introduction to Lloyd, I think this is excellent, and has really encouraged me to read more of her work. This podcast hosts a lot of it! I’ll be listening to it later, but I want to get as many women in as possible. [36:32] (LISTEN)
- “Mr Tallent’s Ghost” by Mary Webb, first published in The Ghost Book: Sixteen New Stories of the Uncanny, ed. Lady Cynthia Asquith, 1926. Yes, that’s Lady Cynthia who married the novelist Herbert Asquith (not to be confused with his father, the Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith). Lady Cynthia married down. Anyway, the story is fantastically funny. It’s very Cold Comfort Farm in humour and tone, all the way through, and is now one of my absolute favourites even though it has a Supernatural Explained punchline. [38:31] (LISTEN)
- “The Moaning Lily” by Emma Vane, first published in Wonder Stories, May 1935. Later collected in Evil Roots: Killer Tales of the Botanical Gothic (ed. Daisy Butcher, pub. British Library). This is a genuinely good body horror piece, with some fantastic imagery and blurred lines between plant and animal kingdom. [29:46] (LISTEN)
- “Deborah” by Josephine Tay, first published in 1929. This is a very chilled out ghost story, where there is no scares or horror per se, but there is a growing sense of unease and subtle domestic wrongness about the cottage the couple rent out. [21:31] (LISTEN)
- “Harry” by Rosemary Timperley, first published in The Third Ghost Book, ed. Lady Cynthia Asquith (1955) – the version read here is a slightly abridged version of the story. The narrator wasn’t aware of this at the time of recording, as the version he read from didn’t say that it was the shorter edition. The full story can be heard via the Classic Ghost Stories Podcast [43:21]. I really liked this one, abridged or not. It reminded me strongly of one of the West Country Tales episodes, “With Love, Belinda”, aired in 1983, but without the happy ending. I wonder if that tale was loosely based on, or inspired by, this Timperley story? For this story itself, I really liked the cyclical structure and the repetition of the opening paragraph at the end. I imagine the abridged version is the more ruthlessly edited one, as it felt like a complete story to me. I didn’t feel like anything was missing, and the pace was about right. [28:46] (LISTEN)
- “Behind the Wall” by Violet Jacob, first published in The Fortune Hunters, and Other Stories (1910). Later collected in And Midnight Never Come, eds. Hugh Lamb, Richard Lamb (2021). This is a pretty good one, the most chilling aspect of which is the revelation of the purpose of the house at the heart of it, and the sad tale of the mysterious woman behind the wall. I liked the vengeance aspect, and the regaining of agency after death, and death as both the ultimate freedom and the Great Leveller. [23:55] (LISTEN)
- “The Playfellow” by Lady Cynthia Asquith, first published in Shudders ed. Lady Cynthia Asquith (1929). Later collected in This Mortal Coil by Lady Cynthia Asquith (1947). Well, this one made me cry on the train. I fancied a story from the Lady herself, and it was really good. Heartbreaking. There’s a lot going on under the surface at the start, and then it unravels. [01:07:39] (LISTEN)
- “The Haunted Saucepan” by Margery Lawrence, first published in The Tatler, December 1922. Later compiled (retitled “December: The Engineer’s Story. The Haunted Saucepan”) in Nights of the Round Table by Margery Lawrence (1926), and most recently in Women’s Weird: Strange Stories by Women, 1890–1940, edited by Melissa Edmundson (2019). My book group read and loved Edmundson’s collection, and this is a great story from it. I love the domestic terror of a saucepan haunting a bachelor and his man, the home comforts becoming a site of horror (and terror!) for single men. I really like it. A great review of the collection, with this story featured, is here, from The Gothic Library‘s site. [01:03:19] (LISTEN)
- “The Twelve Apostles” by Eleanor Scott, first published in Randall’s Round by Eleanor Scott (1929). I loved this one. It’s a treasure hunt with a strange, slimy, tentacle creature hidden in a 16thC house, bought by an American who really wants it to be haunted. Of course, nothing of note ever happened in the house to the English people who have worked there for years, because they simply don’t go poking around in the room everyone knows is bad news. It was a really fun mystery, and I loved the clues and the Weirdness of it transplanted to England rather than New England. [01:06:35] (LISTEN)
- “Young Magic” by Helen de Guerry Simpson, first published in The Baseless Fabric by Helen de Guerry Simpson (1925) . This one struck me as a contemporary Gothic tale of a young girl who wants to be a prince of a magical kingdom (yes, a prince, not a princess, but she appears to outgrow this later), who develops Matilda-like powers and conjures a strange elemental being. Her powers don’t seem to last into late teenage-hood, though, and she has to cope with a first crush situation and the absence – then possible return – of the being called ‘Binns’. It’s not a ‘scary’ story, but it has a lot of pathos in the darker undertones of repression, as a young child learns to conceal parts of herself from the grown-ups around her, and in then the hopelessness in the final confession that brings things back into focus. [01:03:19] (LISTEN)
- “More Than Shadow” by Dorothy Quick, first published in Weird Tales magazine, July 1954. I enjoyed “The Artist and the Door” (1952), and so I was very interested to try more from Quick. She was a novelist too, but I’m sticking to short stories for now. I am enjoying the subgenre of stories where domestic mundanity is turned into something threatening, Otherworldly, and disturbing. In this case, a small black poodle is a sneaky fae soul-snatcher. [34:20] (LISTEN)
- “The Gorgon’s Head” by Gertrude Bacon (sometimes attributed to Dorothy Baker), first published in The Strand magazine, December 1899. A fun take on Medusa myth and the afterlife of her severed head, told by a ship’s captain to a passenger, Dorothy Baker. Enjoyable! [32:40] (LISTEN)
- “Luz” by Elinor Mordaunt, first published in Short Shipments (1922). A pea-souper with a hidden menace! My goodness, what a ride this one is. Another wild ride. [50:19] (LISTEN)
- “The Chinese Apple” by Marjorie Bowen (as Joseph Shearing), first published in The Illustrated London News, 18 November 1948 and subsequently in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, April 1949. Later collected in Mystery for Christmas, ed. Richard Dalby (1990). This is a noir mystery rather than Horror, and it’s a really interesting look at the masks women wear, and how they can escape their circumstances and social positions. Sometimes by marriage, sometimes… by murder! [42:29] (LISTEN)
- “With and Without Buttons” by Mary Butts, first published in Last Stories, 1938. Two sisters start off a chain of supernatural events by playing a trick on their rationalist male neighbour. [34:03] (LISTEN)
- “The Fifteenth Green” by Margery Lawrence, first published in The Nights of the Round Table: A Book of Strange Tales (1926). A haunted golf course with a weird curse! [42:48] (LISTEN)
- “The Nature of the Evidence” by May Sinclair, first published in Fortune magazine, May 1923, and collected in Uncanny Stories (1923). I liked this one a lot – a man’s late wife disapproves of the lady he marries out of lust, and her ghost shows him such a good time that the second marriage is anulled so he can continue living with his ghost-wife. [31:57] (LISTEN)
- “Mrs Raeburn’s Waxwork” by Lady Eleanor Smith, first published in the London Mercury, March 1931. This one is so fatphobic and uses appearance to equate to morals, which felt very mean-spirited to me. I doubt I’ll be reading more by Lady Eleanor. I started “No Ships Pass” by her, and there was more stuff I didn’t enjoy in that, so it was a DNF. [39:53] (LISTEN)
- “Kecksies” by Marjorie Bowen, first published in Regent Magazine, January 1925. First collected in The Last Bouquet: Some Twilight Tales by Marjorie Bowen (1933). I enjoyed this one – it was pretty grim, and had a bit of Uther Pendragon’s rape of Igraine about it (Geoffrey of Monmouth’s story). [39:05] (LISTEN)
- “An Experiment of the Dead” by Helen de Guerry Simpson, first published in The Tatler, 19th October 1938. Later collected in The Ash Tree Press Annual Macabre, 2001 and, more recently, in The Outcast and The Rite: Stories of Landscape and Fear, 1925-1938 ed. Melissa Edmundson (2022). Another good one – a murderess takes a chance to hold onto life, and possession fuckery is afoot. [29:09] (LISTEN)
- “The Man Who Liked Dickens” by Evelyn Waugh , not a female author but an accidental exception as I let the podcast play without queuing the stories. First published in Hearst’s International Combined with Cosmopolitan magazine, 1933. There’s a 2 star review of this on GoodReads that says “God what a little weasel Waugh is” and I think that about covers it. The end works, though. [34:59] (LISTEN)
- “Randall’s Round” by Eleanor Scott, first published in Randalls Round by Eleanor Scott (1929). Randalls Round: Nine Nightmares by Eleanor Scott is available to buy from the British Library. Sinister Morris dancing! Long barrows! Superstition! Witchcraft! This is very fun. [32:50] (LISTEN)
- “Outside the House” by Bessie Kyffin-Taylor, first published in From Out Of The Silence: Seven Strange Stories, (1920). I loved this one!! This and “With and Without Buttons” are forming the backbone of my Gothic fantasy horror/mystery/age gap romance novella, The Brackenridge Affair. [01:26:44] (LISTEN)
- “Dracula’s Guest” by Bram Stoker written in 1897, published in Dracula’s Guest, and Other Weird Stories by Bram Stoker (1914). This is the first time I’ve properly read this or taken it in, and it was read really well! [37:05] (LISTEN)
I returned to the Just Chills podcast in my quest for more classic horror short stories written by women, and got a banquet thanks to Taesha Glasgow, whose voice is the most soothing thing to listen to while I have these on at work to help me concentrate (ADHD). I’ve linked to Spotify but you should be able to find this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.
Episodes Listened To (all by women):
- “On the Stroke of the Clock” by Ellen Louise Chandler Moulton (1889) – Really moving and sad. (read here / listen on Spotify)
- “The Vacant Lot” by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (1903) – this one is really fun, shadows on the ground lead to more sinister goings-on as cult activity leads to drama. (read here / listen on Spotify)
- “The House of Silence” by Edith Nesbitt (1907) – I think this one is a really sinister Rapunzel/Sleeping Beauty tale. I liked it being from the POV of a thief. (read here / listen on Spotify)
- “The Invisible Girl” by Mary Shelley (1833) – a romantic little piece, with a HEA. (download PDF / listen on Spotify)
- “How the Third Floor Knew the Potteries” by Amelia B. Edwards (1863) – this one is pretty sad, with domestic drama turning into something more sinister, and the conclusion is also pretty grim. (read here / listen on Spotify)
- “Devereaux’s Last Smoke” by Izola Forrester (1907) – enjoyable seafaring tale! I quite liked the idea of a ghostly cigar… (read in the British Library collection From the Depths: And Other Strange Tales of the Sea / listen on Spotify)
- “The Picture on the Wall” by Katherine Tynan (1895) – this was very creepy and has a sad ending, but is a really good one for atmosphere and doomed love. (Read here / listen on Spotify)
- “A Sworn Statement” by Emma Frances Dawson (1881) (Read it in The Valancourt Book of Victorian Ghost Stories, Vol. 4 / listen on Spotify or via the Internet Archive)
- “The Face in the Glass” by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1880) (Read in The Face in the Glass from the British Library Publications / listen on Spotify)
- “Lady Tantivy” by Rosa Mulholland (1898)
- “A Life Watch” by Georgina C. Clark (1867)
TV Shows & Mini Series
Not many of these shows this time, but I’m still watching some series!
Tensei Shitara Suraimu Datta Ken/That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (2018-) created by Fuse.
Still watching this for little snack-size episodes when I want to relax! They fill a nice 20-30min. Loving the arcs and the story so far.
Average 37-year-old Minami Satoru dies and is reincarnated as the most unremarkable creature imaginable-a slime.
Films
This year, as well as doing the 100 Horror Movies Challenge, I’m doing HoopTober5.0 – the 5th of the HoopTober challenges, and my very first! The premise of this one is to honour Tobe Hooper films, so the challenge always includes a prompt to watch x2 of them.
As the creator started this early (15th Sept), I also started a list this month and doubled up on my films. The original list by Cinemaster on Letterboxd is here: letterboxd.com/cinemonster/list/hooptober-cinco-your-terror-is-a-locked-room.
My list, with all the prompts and notes for each film, is here: letterboxd.com/cmrosens/list/hooptober-2026-my-first-one
My 100 Horror Movies List is here: letterboxd.com/cmrosens/list/100-horror-movies-in-92-days-2026.
I’m breaking this into 2 sections: one section for the Non-100 Horror Movies Challenge films (which includes films that count towards the HoopTober prompts), and one for the 100 Horror Movies Challenge.
Non-Horror Challenge Films / HoopTober Films
Sayyedat al-Bahr / Scales (2019) dir. Shahad Ameen, written by Shahad Ameen.
The Arabic title translates to ‘Lady of the Sea’, and I think that’s much better than the English one! This has some gorgeous cinematography of light on water in sharp contrast. Black and white shot modern fairytale, sticking with the marine theme of a lot of my films this month.
This is a gorgeous fantasy-drama from Saudi Arabia, from a first-time director. It’s got so much in it, including gender roles, belonging, community norms and subversions, and finding your way in a world not built for you.
This is the feature paired with Ioeh Island on the Severin Films box set All The Haunts be Ours, and it’s also about a coastal community and their rituals, but I got on with this much better than Ioeh Island. I initially included it towards my Challenge count, but as it isn’t listed as Horror on either Letterboxd or IMDb, and I definitely appreciated it more as a Gothic Fairytale, I thought I would highlight it separately. I could get a consensus in the Discord, but I didn’t feel like doing that.
Bound by tradition. Controlled by no one.
Hayat, a 12-year-old strong-willed girl, lives in a poor fishing village governed by dark tradition, in which every family must give away a daughter to the sea creatures who inhabit the waters near by. In turn, the sea creatures are hunted by the men of the village. Saved from this ordeal by her father, Hayat is outcasted by her village and considered a curse. But Hayat never surrenders. When Hayat’s mother gives birth to her new-born brother, Hayat must accept the brutal custom by sacrificing herself to these creatures or find a way to escape.
Other Films Watched
- Suzzanna: The Queen of Black Magic (2024) dir. David Gregory. Documentary on the life of Suzzanna, Indonesia’s Horror icon. Really interesting! I can include documentaries in the Horror challenge, but I’m not counting this as it’s not just about her Horror career. It was a fun watch.
- Beauty and the Beast (1987) dir. Eugene Marner, written by Carole Lucia Satrina, based on the tale by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve. It’s fine, one of the Cannon Movie Tales, a musical even though the main voices aren’t that strong, and the songs aren’t at all catchy. But it will do as a BATB version. I liked the way they handled the family in this.
- Horror/The Blancheville Monster (1963) dir. Alberto De Martino, written by Bruno Corbucci, Giovanni Grimaldi, Sergio Corbucci, and Natividad Zaro . This is was a Gothic double-bill with Lady Morgan for me, as I wanted to remind myself of the plots and couldn’t remember which was which! HoopTober5.0
- La vendetta di Lady Morgan/Lady Morgan’s Vengeance (1965) dir. Massimo Pupillo, written by Giovanni Grimaldi. Lillian is a very similar character to Eleanora in The Blancheville Monster, and they even introduce themselves to the new wife with the same line. Grimaldi worked on both films, so that would account for the scripts being so similar! HoopTober5.0
- Meridian (1990) dir. Charles Band written by Dennis Paoli. Incredibly rapey. I rewatched it to see if I had remembered it right; I had remembered basically nothing. Gothic melodrama where a woman falls for the man who date rapes her, except his human-looking twin is the true monster, and he just happens to turn into a Beast physically. I don’t know. It’s erotic, but in the ’80s way they made rape erotic; that was genuinely a thing, and this is the tail end of it. If that’s what you’re into, then it’s fine I guess. I can’t say I am personally, which is a shame, because the whole concept around it is really interesting and it’s a very different Beauty and the Beast take. Probably the darkest one I’ve seen. HoopTober5.0
Anything I watched in September that did not count towards my 100 Horror Movies total can be found here. My Horror movies watched for the challenge can be found below.
100 Horror Movies In 92 Days
Here are the highlights. Click the heading below them to see the complete list of films watched this month for the challenge.
– this symbol denotes a film written/directed by at least one woman
– this symbol denotes a film with queer representation.
Kraken (2026) dir. Pål Øie, written by Vilde Eide, Kjersti Helen Rasmussen, and Natasha Arthur
The CGI on this is fairly decent for the budget. And genuinely, I get really freaked out by massive sea creatures and the shots from above built tension so well. Reminded me of the shot of Maxine Minx swimming just ahead of the gator she didn’t know was behind her in X. I also really fucking hate parasites. Tell me why this is my first 5* watch of the challenge
Only 5% of the ocean has been explored for a reason…
A marine biologist is doing research on a fish farm when she encounters several strange occurrences. Along with the brutal deaths of two teenagers, all signs point to the deep fjord; can there be more to the depths than the eye can see?
鬼婆/Onibaba (1964) dir. Kaneto Shindō, written by Kaneto Shindō.
This is a great film – I can’t believe I haven’t seen it before. It’s such a good premise and I love the elements of it, the grim reality of warfare set against questions of what it is to be human. I liked the pacing too, although I was surprised how late in the film the mask shows up (due to the poster and the things I knew about it beforehand).
The most daring film import ever…From Japan!
While her son, Kichi, is away at war, a woman and her daughter-in-law survive by killing samurai who stray into their swamp, then selling whatever valuables they find. Both are devastated when they learn that Kichi has died, but his wife soon begins an affair with a neighbor who survived the war, Hachi. The mother disapproves and, when she can’t steal Hachi for herself, tries to scare her daughter-in-law with a mysterious mask from a dead samurai.
Loop Track (2023) dir. Tom Sainsbury, written by Tom Sainsbury.
Hiking horror where the horror is other people, but also the dangers lurking in the New Zealand bush. Essentially a wildlife documentary. I kid, but I really enjoyed this, and the hiker dynamics in the group – but I wish there had been more Ian back story.
Trust your fear.
A four-day journey turns into a fight for survival. This is a psychological thriller about Ian, who wants to get as far away from humanity as possible, into the New Zealand bush. Some other individuals get attached to him. And he has the feeling that they are being followed. Is that real though?
Jack Be Nimble (1993) dir. Garth Maxwell, written by Garth Maxwell.
Aotearoan/New Zealand Gothic Horror. Twins, a boy and a girl, are separated by the adoption system and then go and find one another. It’s a gritty start and gets worse. I had no idea where any of it was going at any point, and it just kept getting worse. I had an inkling we’d get twincest, but we didn’t (exactly). It gets so weird, and I was here for it. RIP Alexis Arquette (who plays Jack).
Dangerous! Hypnotic! Deadly!
Jack and Dora, abandoned by their parents as babies, are desperate to find each other after years of adoption. Jack’s young life has been spent with a sadistic family. Dora, whose life has been somewhat better, has developed extra-sensory powers which tell her that Jack’s in danger and drives her to search for him.
Yndige Mennesker/Adorable Humans (2025) dirs. Anders Jon, Kasper Juhl, Michael Kunov, and Michael Panduro, an anthology film with each segment written by each director.
The gay repression is sapphic yearning in this anthology, but they’ve stayed true to Hans Christian Andersen’s repression and self-Othering, along with a lot of psychosexual spins on the stories. Worth a watch, but only if you’re alright with gore, and a lot of mouth stuff. Full review on Letterboxd.
Not all fairy tales have a happy ending
As supernatural forces slip through the cracks, four destinies are intertwined, and four souls are forced to confront their demons. A young woman’s hope for a fresh start is derailed by a mysterious enchanted mirror, while her psychiatrist is struck by visions of a terrifying accident. In the nearby city, a care worker uncovers dark and perverted secrets as he tends to a dying man, and writer’s block turns demonic for an ambitious musician.
undertone (2025) dir. Ian Tuason, written by Ian Tuason.
I really enjoyed this, even though it’s essentially a run-of-the-mill demonic tale with a Roman Catholic context, but I thought the concept made it a bit different, and the sound effects were used very well. It might be one for the rewatch pile.
It wants to be heard.
The host of a popular paranormal podcast becomes haunted by terrifying recordings mysteriously sent her way.
The Serpent’s Skin (2025) dir. Alice Maio Mackay, written by Alice Maio Mackay and Ben Pahl Robinson.
Alice Maio Mackay is an Australian filmmaker, and I think this is a US-Australian collab. I’m putting it under Australia as that’s where Mackay is from, and also a lot of the cast. This is basically queer Scanners but with a punk trans feel, and that’s pretty cool.
Desire leaves a mark.
Two young women form a romantic bond after discovering they have supernatural powers. Their insecurities unknowingly release a demon, which possesses one of their exes and begins feeding on their friends. As the bodies pile up, it becomes up to the women to face their pasts and stop the growing evil.
Pou/Peacock (2023) dir. Jaco Minnaar, written by Jaco Minnaar and David Cornwell.
Queer Afrikaans Gothic, in conversation with apartheid, racism, and the spectre of colonialism. Not an easy watch if you struggle with depictions of dementia, either. I enjoyed this one a lot, and the song choice at the end – nailed it.
POU is a South African gothic horror following the journey of a young woman into the dark recesses of the Afrikaner psyche and its compromised past.
The Love Witch (2018) dir. Anna Biller, written by Anna Biller.
I can see why the modern setting but 1960s mash-up aesthetic doesn’t work for people, and I found it slightly jarring, but I got into it. I also didn’t especially like the BPD comment. I did, however, really enjoy the way it was shot, and I got into the whole thing. I really didn’t think I’d like it, but it did something for me, and it’s a highlighted watch.
A modern-day witch uses spells and magic to get men to fall in love with her, with deadly consequences.
Tiger Stripes (2023) dir. Amanda Nell Eu, written by Amanda Nell Eu .
This is Eu’s first feature film. In her work, she explores the female body and identity within the cultural context of Southeast Asia, and Tiger Stripes is an exploration of puberty and transformative rage in a Malaysian school girl as she finds herself changing in strange ways.
A carefree student at an all-girls school shows unusual symptoms when she begins puberty, forcing her to grapple with a mysterious and visceral power.
Rabbit Trap (2025) dir. Bryn Chainey, written by Bryn Chainey.
Chainey is a British-Australian director, and this is a UK-USA collab, but I’m putting it under UK as it’s set in Wales, and has British actors, etc. It’s a really interesting one about the connection between the natural world, music, and magic, so Wales is the perfect place for that. I loved the connection between the Tylwyth Teg and water, which is preserved very subtly in the film, fairy rings, and all sorts of lovely call backs to folklore. 5 star watch for me.
Let them in.
When a musician and her husband move to a remote house in Wales, the music they make disturbs local ancient folk magic, bringing a nameless child to their door who is intent on infiltrating their lives.
Aotearoa/New Zealand Horror
- Loop Track (2023) dir. Tom Sainsbury, written by Tom Sainsbury. Hiking horror where the horror is other people, but also the dangers lurking in the New Zealand bush. I either vibe with NZ humour or I don’t, it’s a lot drier and sometimes more cringe-humour than I can take, while Aussie humour is dark as fuck and brutal, but I really got on with this. I was invested in Ian’s anxiety and need to be alone, as I strongly relate, but also the way that horror ramps up as we get into the forest is really well done. I really enjoyed the tension, and the character dynamics were great. Nicky was such a massive dick but I kind of liked him. It turns into a creature-feature using some very NZ prehistoric wildlife. A four-day journey turns into a fight for survival. This is a psychological thriller about Ian, who wants to get as far away from humanity as possible, into the New Zealand bush. Some other individuals get attached to him. And he has the feeling that they are being followed. Is that real though?
- Jack Be Nimble (1993) dir. Garth Maxwell, written by Garth Maxwell. New Zealand Gothic Horror. Twins, a boy and a girl, are separated by the adoption system and then go and find one another. It’s a gritty start and gets worse. I had no idea where any of it was going at any point, and it just kept getting worse. I had an inkling we’d get twincest, but we didn’t (exactly). It gets so weird, and I was here for it. RIP Alexis Arquette (who plays Jack). Jack and Dora, abandoned by their parents as babies, are desperate to find each other after years of adoption. Jack’s young life has been spent with a sadistic family. Dora, whose life has been somewhat better, has developed extra-sensory powers which tell her that Jack’s in danger and drives her to search for him.
- The Devil’s Rock (2011) dir. Paul Campion, written by Paul Campion, Paul Finch, and Brett Ihaka. What a ride. I love how tight the cast is – the drama, the tension, the sexy devil lady. Set in the Channel Islands on the eve of D-Day, two Kiwi commandos, sent to destroy German gun emplacements to distract Hitler’s forces away from Normandy, discover a Nazi occult plot to unleash demonic forces to win the war.
Australia / Australia-USA Horror
- The Serpent’s Skin (2025) dir. Alice Maio Mackay, written by Alice Maio Mackay and Ben Pahl Robinson. Alice Maio Mackay is an Australian filmmaker, and I think this is a US-Australian collab, putting it under Australia as that’s where Mackay is from, and also a lot of the cast. This is basically queer Scanners but with a punk trans feel, and that’s pretty cool. Two young women form a romantic bond after discovering they have supernatural powers. Their insecurities unknowingly release a demon, which possesses one of their exes and begins feeding on their friends. As the bodies pile up, it becomes up to the women to face their pasts and stop the growing evil.
Canadian / Canadian-Us Horror
- undertone (2025) dir. Ian Tuason, written by Ian Tuason. This is a Canadian-US collab, written and directed by a Filipino-Canadian director. I’m counting it as Canadian for this reason, and also because Black Fawn Films funding this are also Canadian, alongside US studio Spooky Pictures and a US-based distributor. I really appreciated the concept here and the slowburn of the script. I think it would have been better with headphones for a first watch… The motherhood themes here are fairly standard horror fare – the mother vs the anti-mother, the nurturer vs the destroyer, and I can see why these themes are so relevant for today in North America. This is also very Catholic, which I’m guessing is Tuason’s religious background, so the stark contrast of mother/anti-mother makes more sense in that context. The host of a popular paranormal podcast becomes haunted by terrifying recordings mysteriously sent her way.
Danish Horror
- Yndige Mennesker/Adorable Humans (2025) dirs. Anders Jon, Kasper Juhl, Michael Kunov, and Michael Panduro, an anthology film with each segment written by each director. (The Snow Queen segment is sapphic).
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The first tale is a psychosexual spin on Dødningen, [The Dead Man], first published in 1830. Gnarly body horror in this one, and a lot of stuff about power over helpless bodies, necromancy, and an unfortunate care worker, Jonas.
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The second story, The Story of a Mother is bad enough as it is thanks Hans, but the retelling forefronts the depression of an overworked widow confronting Death for the life of her suicidal child, refusing to give him up even when he is rotting away (literally), and is a tough watch.
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The Snow Queen is the most fucked up story anyway, but they made it brutal, sapphic, psychosexual, and religious horror. I thought it was an interesting take on shame and the desire to become the monster you see yourself as – also sapphic shame, specifically, in a Lutheran context. There’s a lot of very visceral body horror here, a lot of internal and external reversals, and ways of seeing yourself.
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The final story, Aunty Toothache, sees a return of Sofie, the love interest in the first segment, as a character in this one, to tie the end to the beginning. This story is basically HCA deciding that toothache is the most powerful thing in the world (as most children in his audience might agree) and uses it to prevent the world from gaining yet another poet. It’s a funny story, but this take on it is really dark. Don’t worry though, the humour is there, and returns at the end when he learns to work with and power through his imposter syndrome, which I think is what Aunty Toothache represents in this one. I hate tooth stuff. The whole using pain/messed up sex/drugs etc to open up has a much more positive ending than the story does – and indeed, veers off in the opposite direction to HCA’s story!
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As supernatural forces slip through the cracks, four destinies are intertwined, and four souls are forced to confront their demons. A young woman’s hope for a fresh start is derailed by a mysterious enchanted mirror, while her psychiatrist is struck by visions of a terrifying accident. In the nearby city, a care worker uncovers dark and perverted secrets as he tends to a dying man, and writer’s block turns demonic for an ambitious musician.
EUropean Horror
Yes, I know this heading is a cop-out. But look. Some films are cross-European endeavours funded all over the show and helmed by a wide variety of nationalities, so it’s hard to pin down.
- The Other Lamb (2019) dir. Małgorzata Szumowska, written by Catherine Smyth-McMullen. This is collaboration between Belgium, Ireland, USA, and UK, with a Polish director and a British writer, performed in English. This is a forest cult of women serving one man, Shepherd, and his daughter Selah, who begins to question her life there. A lot of weird period stuff, as people are indeed very weird about periods, coming-of-age in a repressed religious commune. This is the most fucked up family I’ve seen in a while, and I love the good-for-her at the end. I did also like that the explosion of violence that we see was only in her mind, and the external thing was much quieter and more in-keeping with her character. I think I would have liked to have seen a bit more at the end, but I also really liked that ending as it was. For her entire life, the cult she was born into has been all that teenage Selah has known. Along with a band of similarly cloistered young women she lives seemingly unstuck in time, cut off from modern society in a remote forest commune presided over by a man called Shepherd, a controlling, messiah-like figure with a frightening dark side. But when her insular world is rocked by a series of nightmarish visions and disturbing revelations, Selah begins to question everything about her existence—including her allegiance to the increasingly dangerous Shepherd.
Indonesian Horror
- Sundel Bolong (1981) dir. Sisworo Gautama Putra, written by Darto Joned. I’m not really into rape-revenge, but this has some humorous scenes and some great moments – including good old ’80s action sequences. I loved the bit where she killed a guy with her tombstone. A newly-married woman and former prostitute whose husband, a ship’s captain, has gone to sea, is pressured into returning to her old profession. When she refuses, she is violently gang-raped and left pregnant and despondent. She kills herself while attempting to abort the fetus but returns as a vengeful Sundel Bolong, a ghost with a putrid, rotting hole in her back. When the rapists and conspirers start turning up dead, her husband and the police try to put a stop to the violence, once and for all.
- Primbon (2023) dir. Rudi Soedjarwo, written by Lele Laila . I enjoyed this – a lot of dark family drama, loss, people grieving in incompatible ways, rituals, and a bit of tragedy. It starts with Rana and his best friend Janu who are climbing a mountain in bad weather. In the middle of a dense forest, they got separated and lost. Janu is lucky to be back home at last. But not with Rana. An extensive search was carried out. Rana not found. A week has passed. Rana’s extended family decided to hold a tahlilan. Rana is considered unlikely to have survived and will surely die there. Dini can’t accept that. As a mother, Dini doesn’t want to just give up and still believes that her daughter Rana is still alive. Sure enough. After the tahlilan, Rana came home in the pouring rain.
- Shutter (2025) dir. Herwin Novianto. God, poor Lilies. Men ain’t shit, babe. Kill them all. This is the second remake of the Thai 2004 original, after the Japanese 2005 remake. I haven’t seen these, so I started with the most recent one. I was curious to see what they’ve done with this 20 years later! Indonesia has also remade the Turkish Siccin films so I’m on the lookout for these too. After a senior analog photographer discovers the spectral image of a former college student haunting his photos and coming to life, his girlfriend investigates the phantom, uncovering a horrific past crime that is now claiming his friends’ lives one by one.
Irish Horror
- The Canal (2014) dir. Ivan Kavanagh, written by Ivan Kavanagh. A UK/Ireland collaboration. This had a good premise. Domestic violence horror that makes the perpetrator sympathetic, and uses vaginal birth as a body horror shock moment. I’m a bit over that. It’s a good creepy story, but I had some issues with it, so it’s not a highlight. A man who suspects his wife is cheating on him begins having nightmarish visions of an evil presence that he believes inhabits his house.
Italian horror
- Schreie in der Nacht/The Unnaturals (1969) dir. Antonio Margheriti, written by Antonio Margheriti. German-Italian collaboration, but I’m putting it under Italian for the director. Gothic melodrama, where it’s all about cheating lovers, murder, and documents proving corruption or something. Evil lesbians ahoy. It’s part of the predatory lesbian trope, and definitely written by a man. Hence the title. During a thunderstorm, a group of members of London’s high society seek refuge in a remote mansion in the countryside. They are received by Uriat and his mother, who appears to be able to communicate with the dead. The guests engage in a séance, but it will reveal each and everyone’s darkest secrets.
- Il tuo vizio è una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave/Your Vice Is A Locked Room, And Only I Have The Key (1972) dir. Sergio Martino, written by Adriano Bolzoni, Sauro Scavolini and Ernesto Gastaldi. I guessed I wasn’t going to love this one, but it’s a Martino classic giallo, so I thought I’d try it out. I went in cold so didn’t expect the sapphics! The murders are suitably dramatic. Oliviero is a drunk, burned-out writer who amuses himself by hosting orgies at his grand country manor and humiliating his wife Irina. When a number of women are murdered in grisly fashion, Oliviero becomes a prime suspect.
Japanese Horror
- 婆/Onibaba (1964) dir. Kaneto Shindō, written by Kaneto Shindō. This is a great film – I can’t believe I haven’t seen it before. It’s such a good premise and I love the elements of it, the grim reality of warfare set against questions of what it is to be human. I liked the pacing too, although I was surprised how late in the film the mask shows up (due to the poster and the things I knew about it beforehand). While her son, Kichi, is away at war, a woman and her daughter-in-law survive by killing samurai who stray into their swamp, then selling whatever valuables they find. Both are devastated when they learn that Kichi has died, but his wife soon begins an affair with a neighbor who survived the war, Hachi. The mother disapproves and, when she can’t steal Hachi for herself, tries to scare her daughter-in-law with a mysterious mask from a dead samurai.
- ミンナのウタ/Sana (2023) dir. Takashi Shimizu, written by Rumi Kakuta and Takashi Shimizu. Japanese ghost girl who likes killing kittens gets freaky with some pop stars in this creepy tale from Shimizu, director of Tomie: Rebirth and a whole load of Ju-On films. I really liked the ending. I need to rewatch this when I’m not distracted by waiting for a package that then gets delivered to my neighbour with a nice pic of their front door. Added to my Music Horror list. Takashi Shimizu’s newest film is about a mysterious cassette tape containing a melody. People who hear this melody gradually begin to hum it themselves and become involved in a mysterious incident. What is the mystery behind this melody?
Korean Horror (South Korea)
- 이어도/ Ioeh Island (1977) dir. Kim Ki-young, written by Ha Yu-Sang, based on the novel by Yi Cheong-jun. This is an eco-folk horror from Korea, which swings around themes of infertility, addiction, loss, and climate change. It’s about so many things, and I wonder how well it has adapted the novel? Some laud this as a masterpiece, so I think there is a lot to get out of this film and its narrative structure, which doesn’t come from a single viewing. I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to watch this, and I should really have watched something else and saved this for another time. I think it’s one I will have to return to properly, but for now – not a highlight. A company hopes to open a spa hotel named after Ieodo, a mythical island inhabited by the souls of drowned sailors. During a study trip to the proposed location of the hotel, a journalist disappears under mysterious circumstances. One of the contractors goes to Ieodo’s neighboring island, populated by widows of the dead sailors, to unravel the mystery.
- 늑대사냥/Project Wolf Hunting (2022) dir. Kim Hong-sun, written by Kim Hong-sun. I’ve wanted to watch this one for a while now, as it’s one I found in for my Crime Doesn’t Pay list. I have to say, I really am enjoying whatever is wrong with Kim Hong-sun. It’s a great film. I do like a good action thriller-horror. One character who isn’t a main character does have a guy suck his dick, but that’s incidental, and I wouldn’t give it a rainbow for that. While under heavily armed guard, the dangerous convicts aboard a cargo ship unite in a coordinated escape attempt that soon escalates into a bloody, all-out riot. But as the fugitives continue their brutal campaign of terror, they soon discover that not even the most vicious among them is safe from the horror they unknowingly unleashed from the darkness below deck.
Malaysian Horror
- Mikael: Pemburu Dua Alam/Mikael: Hunter of Two Realms (2026) dir. Zahir Omar, written by June Tan . So, I liked this for the action sequences mixed with horror-comedy, which is the first local Malay film to have these elements in combination. It has fun characters and a decent plot, which could have been a little more fleshed out in places. The few seconds of very brief animation flashback looked similar to the AI animations I’ve seen. Some reviewers say this is an AI sequence – it does look like that, and it’s a shame.
- Tiger Stripes (2023) dir. Amanda Nell Eu, written by Amanda Nell Eu . This is Eu’s first feature film. In her work, she explores the female body and identity within the cultural context of Southeast Asia, and Tiger Stripes is an exploration of puberty and transformative rage in a Malaysian school girl as she finds herself changing in strange ways. A carefree student at an all-girls school shows unusual symptoms when she begins puberty, forcing her to grapple with a mysterious and visceral power.
Norwegian Horror
- Kraken (2026) dir. Pål Øie, written by Vilde Eide, Kjersti Helen Rasmussen, and Natasha Arthur . The CGI on this is fairly decent for the budget. And genuinely, I get really freaked out by massive sea creatures and the shots from above built tension so well, as did the score. A few moments reminded me of the shot of Maxine Minx swimming just ahead of the alligator she didn’t know was behind her in X. I also really fucking hate parasites. Tell me why this is my first 5* watch of the challenge?? A marine biologist is doing research on a fish farm when she encounters several strange occurrences. Along with the brutal deaths of two teenagers, all signs point to the deep fjord; can there be more to the depths than the eye can see?
South African Horror
- Pou/Peacock (2023) dir. Jaco Minnaar, written by Jaco Minnaar and David Cornwell. Queer Afrikaans Gothic, in conversation with apartheid, racism, and the spectre of colonialism. Not an easy watch if you struggle with depictions of dementia, either. POU is a South African gothic horror following the journey of a young woman into the dark recesses of the Afrikaner psyche and its compromised past.
Spanish Horror
- El celo/Presence of Mind (1999) dir. Antonio Aloy, written by Barbara Gogny, Mitch Brian, and Antonio Aloy. Original writer: Henry James. A Turn of the Screw adaptation that leans into the very weird, inappropriate sensuousness of it, and is one of the better versions. Nice to see Sadie Frost in a role that isn’t Lucy (I recognised her from Coppola’s Dracula). A governess, caring for two children at a remote estate, becomes convinced that the grounds are haunted and the children are under an evil influence.
Swedish Horror
- Koko-Di Koko-Da (2019) dir. Johannes Nyholm, written by Johannes Nyholm. A Danish-Swedish collab, which is a wild ride of trauma pouring out of a bereaved couple after the death of their little daughter. Surrealist time loop in the woods. As a couple goes on a trip to find their way back to each other, a sideshow artist and his shady entourage emerge from the woods, terrorizing them, luring them deeper into a maelstrom of psychological terror and humiliating slapstick.
UK HOrror
- Asylum (1972) dir. Roy Ward Baker, written by Robert Bloch. An anthology of fairly predictable horror shorts with an interesting frame narrative, very 1970s British, and very Blochian at the same time. Decent. A young psychiatrist applies for a job at a mental asylum and must pass a test by interviewing four patients. He must figure out which of the patients, is in fact, the doctor that he would be replacing if hired.
- The Innocents (1961) dir. Jack Clayton, written by William Archibald and Truman Capote. The classic tale of child abuse trauma in an isolated country house. Another The Turn of the Screw adaptation, and this one is an influential classic film version in its own right. In a mid-19th century Essex country house, a young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted by ghosts and that the children are being possessed.
- Rabbit Trap (2025) dir. Bryn Chainey, written by Bryn Chainey. Chainey is a British-Australian director, and this is a UK-USA collab, but I’m putting it under UK as it’s set in Wales, and has British actors, etc. It’s a really interesting one about the connection between the natural world, music, and magic, so Wales is the perfect place for that. I loved the connection between the Tylwyth Teg and water, which is preserved very subtly in the film, fairy rings, and all sorts of lovely call backs to folklore.
USA Horror
- The Love Witch (2018) dir. Anna Biller, written by Anna Biller. I can see why the modern setting but 1960s mash-up aesthetic doesn’t work for people, and I found it slightly jarring, but I got into it. I also didn’t especially like the BPD comment. I did, however, really enjoy the way it was shot, and I got into the whole thing. I really didn’t think I’d like it, but it did something for me, and it’s a highlighted watch. A modern-day witch uses spells and magic to get men to fall in love with her, with deadly consequences.
Previous Media Round Ups
August 2026 Media Round-Up
All the media I’ve read, watched, and listened to for the month of August. Also, the start of the 100 Horror Movies in 92 Days Challenge!
July 2026 Media Round-Up
Another month has passed, and here we are with another round up of all the things I’ve read, listened to, and watched! Dive into July…
June 2026 Media Round-Up
A round-up of all the things I read, listened to, and watched, over June! This month had a lot of travel, so there are way more books on the list than usual!
May 2026 Media Round-Up
My media round-up for May! Everything I watched, listened to, and read over the previous month, with highlights and recommendations.
Media Highlights: The Best of the Best
I began my media round-ups in Nov 2025, so I thought I’d do a media highlight post of my Top 5 books, short stories/collections, TV shows, and films from Nov-Apr. Find out what made the ultimate cut!
April 2026 Media Round-Up
Everything I’ve watched, read, and listened to in April! Skim the highlights, or expand the details to see the full lists.
February 2026 Media Round-Up
What I read, listened to, and watched in the month of February! Skim the highlights, or expand the details to see the full lists and my thoughts.
January 2026 Media Round-Up
My monthly media round-up for January 2026 – all the books, podcasts, tv shows, and films I’ve been enjoying this month!
December 2025 Media Round-Up
My monthly media round-up for December 2025 – all the books, podcasts, tv shows, and films I read/listened to/watched this month.
November 2025 Media Round-Up
I’m starting a new monthly series where I post a round-up of all the media I’ve watched/read/listened to for the previous month. Here is November’s media round-up!
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