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By Fox Cantrell She wasn’t sure what they could possibly want, as they often asked for everything and nothing at the same time. Most of their letters seemed to say, “Hello, yes, we are your insurance, doing insurance things. Would you like us to continue to insure you? If yes, do nothing.” Other times they didn’t seem to be asking or offering anything. Ignoring them had no consequences, so she had allowed them to pile up unopened in a stack now half pushed under her microwave

RESIDENT EVIL (2026) Writer/director Zach Cregger (Barbarian, Weapons) lends his strong directorial efforts and a healthy sense of humor to the Resident Evil film franchise, based on a popular series of action/horror video games. Milla Jovovich starred in a slew of these films between 2002 and 2016. I’ve seen none of these movies and I’ve never played the video game either. So my opinion of this new 2026 reboot is one that takes the film on its own merits. Is it faithful to t

by C. Rommial Butler The excerpt below was discovered in the case files of Doctor Apis Tahuti, psychoanalyst, paranormal investigator, and head of the Department of Psychic Research at Miskatonic University. The entry is from early in his career, in the 1920s, after the end of The Great War, in which he served with distinction, but before the beginning of the Great Depression, during which he was distinguished among his peers by his charity and philanthropy. The venerable doc

Here’s the darkness again. It’s rarely clear when it begins — the lights just get progressively dimmer, and I finally realize that the everyone else has departed. There really is so very much about all of this that is yet unclear to me. And looming in the darkness … could it be “They”? I know I shouldn’t be fearful … I, whose hand has touched the face of the Sphinx. But "They" have been looming, ever since my last visit to the Magic Castle. Oh, would you believe that I learne

(Life Sucks and Then You Never Die) THE LOST GENERATION I am a member of a lost generation. We came into this world, birthed between competing moralities. Our progenitors could only raise us with what they knew. They could not have known that our instincts would be counterproductive, their well-meaning intuitions and intentions—meaningless; but when they loved us, they gave us the only gift of any value that was left in a decaying, broken world, bequeathing the last vestige o

“The man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out.” -Aldous Huxley First up, let me state that the following piece is a supplemental article for the latest episode of the INSANE SIGNALS podcast devoted to psychedelic horror. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s begin! Without a doubt my favorite psychedelic horror film of all time (and a favorite in general) is the cult classic Altered States from 1980. Some

The Masquerade The masks are slipping. Not the little paper ones humans wear to parties. Those have never interested me. I'm talking about the masks you've spent years constructing. The charming smile. The practiced confidence. The perfect relationship. The carefully rehearsed version of yourself you present to strangers while quietly hoping no one notices the cracks. Leo has filled the heavens with performers. Every stage is occupied. Every spotlight burns brighter. Every eg

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Stanley Kubrick advanced the art of special effects and brought the science-fiction genre out of low-budget purgatory with 2001: A Space Odyssey. With a script co-written by Arthur C. Clarke, based on Clarke’s short story “The Sentinel”, 2001 opens at the ‘Dawn of Man’, depicting a tribe of proto-human apes fighting over a watering hole. One day, a mysterious black obelisk appears that disturbs the apes tremendously. Shortly afterwards, one of the

Plus Notes on Managing Inner Demons Horror-comedy is a bizarre genre. Most of the laughs are on camera, but most of the horrors occur behind-the-scenes. As writer / producer / director of the cult series Grave Mood Rings, I've endured horrors beyond comprehension, all rooted in terrifying reality. "Real horror is a fragile, glass-boned thing" (Carlos Clarens). Forget so-called friends cancelling you for being honest about your discomforts, or the excruciations of strugglin

By C. Rommial Butler The first time I saw the thing’s face in my rearview mirror I damn near drove off the road. It was only there for a moment, but it was enough for me to lose track of steering my car. I couldn’t even have described it then. Its appearance and disappearance were too quick; but after catching a glance of it, I could feel its presence behind me as I drove. Sitting. Waiting. Watching. At the time I tried to convince myself it was the DT’s. I’d not drank in sev

By Matt Cowan Having written and edited over fifty books from novels - to short story collections - to anthologies, while collecting two British Fantasy Awards and a slew of Stoker and Shirley Jackson Award nominations along the way, Mark Morris has certainly established himself as a force in the field of horror fiction. When I was asked if I’d be interested in receiving an advance copy of his new novel to review for the website, I jumped at the chance. That novel is Bad Thin

Electric Meat is the upcoming indie film from acclaimed creator Daniel Schaffer premiering at Tubi FrightFest - 2026, on August 28th. A psychosexual thriller, the film centers around a photographer who is slowly spiraling into madness when a murdered model he's adopted as his new muse decides she doesn't want to stay dead. Like Schrodinger's cat, the young woman is neither alive nor dead, changing from a posable doll to a vengeful revenant, taking the work in a more dangerous

The Wicker Man (1973) Edward Woodward (TV’s The Equalizer) stars as a Christian police officer investigating the disappearance of a child on a remote island in the Scottish isles. Attempts to solve the case are complicated by the locals, all pagan practitioners who deny the child ever existed. The Wicker Man is a British cult classic that never had much of an original theatrical release, but has since collected fans around the world on home video. It’s a creepy, atmospheric f

Independence Day Edition The humans are celebrating again. Fire in the sky. Alcohol in abundance. Questionable decisions made with tremendous confidence. All of my favorites. For those of you who have not yet had the pleasure, I am Pharaoh Ramsleazis—eternal playboy, collector of poor choices, and living proof that immortality is best enjoyed irresponsibly. The stars are unusually lively this week. Fire signs burn hotter. Water signs drift deeper. Air signs are spreading secr

[Author's note: For every lost tooth, from babyhood to wisdom tooth extractions and so on, does a ghost inhabit our mouths? And do these phantom fangs have the power to drive us mad? That's the premise of this of bizarre horror story, whose playful vocabulary is deliberately meant to be a "mouthful."] I curse myself for biting my tongue, forgetting for a moment that the nefarious responsibility lies elsewhere, then remembering with a curdled chill that the wickedness is i

By C. Rommial Butler “Let the semen of a man putrefy by itself in a sealed cucurbite with the highest putrefaction of the venter equinus for 40 days, or until it begins at last to live, move, and be agitated, which can easily be seen. After this time it will be in some degree like a human being, but, nevertheless, transparent and without body. If now, after this, it be every day nourished and fed cautiously and prudently with the arcanum of human blood, and kept for 40 weeks

“A computer does not smell… if a book is new, it smells great. If a book is old, it smells even better… And it stays with you forever. But the computer doesn’t do that for you. I’m sorry.” - Ray Bradbury I was fortunate enough to grow up in a time when everything didn’t completely suck. That’s right, the 1980’s. Sure it was an endless parade of dancing cartoon characters selling products, marketing gimmicks to create “must have” fads and fashions, and cereals that would rot y

Night of the Living Dead (1968) When cosmic radiation transforms the dead into flesh-eating ghouls, a ragtag team of survivors make a last stand at a remote Pennsylvania farmhouse where tensions rise between the living as much as from the growing zombie horde. Co-writer/director George Romero became an inspiration to countless future filmmakers when he made this ultra-low-budget horror film that became a global phenomenon, inventing the modern zombie character and changing th

-GOBLINKO- MAD: Sean, thanks for taking a little time with us today at House of Scream! I recently ran across your wonderfully weird and whimsical “Halloween Book” (2022). It’s a very cool and colorful hardback edition, filled cover to cover with the creepy and quirky art of “Goblinko”. Can you please give us a little insight into your creative background? SEAN: I decided to be an artist when I was 7. I had a teacher in grade school (Mr. Osborne) that saw some artistic promis

Good evening, degenerates. Or perhaps… Happy Birthday is the more appropriate greeting tonight. The woods are humid, your cheap beer is warm. And somewhere beyond the tree line, something with glowing eyes is currently eating sheet cake directly with its hands. Somewhere behind the treeline, some creature with glowing eyes shovels sheet cake into its mouth…with its hands. I do so love such festivity. For those of you stumbling into the celebration for the first time, I am Pha