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The Shining (The Shining #1) (1977)

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HALLOWEEN REVIEWS 2026 by Stephen King Jack Torrance takes a winter caretaker job at the isolated Overlook Hotel, bringing his wife Wendy and young son Danny with him in hopes of rebuilding his life and finishing his writing.  But Danny’s psychic sensitivity awakens a malevolent force, and the Overlook begins working on Jack’s anger, addiction, and resentment to turn him against his family, get access to his son’s gift, and manifest itself more fully in the world.  The setting is one of the book’s strengths, and Stephen King uses it effectively.  Stephen King Dread accumulates slowly as the supernatural elements exploit forces that already exist within the family.  The horror is grounded in real domestic fear, especially the fear of living with someone whose rage makes him unpredictable.  Jack Torrance is not simply a monster.  He is damaged, often sympathetic, and sometimes genuinely loving, but his alcoholism, self-pity, resentment, and lack of personal r...
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The Poison Belt (Professor Challenger #2) (1913)

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by Arthur Conan Doyle Professor Challenger, the aggressive, ego-driven bulldozer of The Lost World, comes back for another adventure, but this time he’s more of a protector than an explorer.  He and his companions barricade themselves in a sealed room with oxygen canisters after discovering that the Earth is passing through a lethal zone of "poisonous ether" in space.  They watch from their window as the entire world appears to fall into a death-like trance, forcing them to confront the potential end of the human race.  Very little actually happens in this story, which was serialized in The Strand magazine in 1913.  The protagonists are passive observers looking out a window while the world succumbs, and the drama comes less from action than from the possibility that this is the way the world ends.  The highlight of the story is the protagonists’ sojourn out of the house to investigate the effects on the world.  Arthur Conan Doyle has a neat idea but settle...
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Anthropophagous (AKA The Grim Reaper AKA The Savage Island) (1980)

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 HALLOWEEN REVIEWS 2026 Director: Joe D'Amato Writers: story by George Eastman and Joe D'Amato, screenplay by George Eastman Stars: Tisa Farrow, Saverio Vallone, Serena Grandi, Margaret Mazzantini, Mark Bodin, Bob Larson, Rubina Rey, Simone Baker, George Eastman On a secluded Greek island, a group of people (Tisa Farrow, Saverio Vallone, Serena Grandi, Zora Kerova, Mark Bodin, and Bob Larson) try to escape a cannibalistic maniac (George Eastman) who has slaughtered the inhabitants. Quickly and cheaply made, this film has become something of a landmark effort in the history of Italian gore. It’s hard to call this a good movie, but it is strangely watchable, perhaps because Eastman has such a menacing presence and his make-up, which resembles oatmeal smeared on his face, is suitably disturbing and disgusting. This film has the dubious distinction of featuring two of the most depraved and disgusting scene concepts that I personally have ever encountered, but their execution isn’t...
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