Have we always been the caretakers? I am joined by reviewer George Dunn (@georgesreads) to talk about horror stories that are centered around the giving or receiving care either professionally or for a loved one. 

Movies: 

• Relic
• The Taking of Deborah Logan
• Insidious 
• The Perfection
• The Haunting
• Would You Rather?
• Saint Maud
• The Skeleton Key
• I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House
• Misery

Books: 

• A Veritable Household Pet by Viggy Parr Hampton
• The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer
• Frost Bite by Angela Sylvaine
• The Vessel by Adam Nevill
• The Only One Left by Riley Sager
• Helpmeet by Naben Ruthnum
• The Shining by Stephen King
• Mary: An Awakening of Terror by Nat Cassidy
• Nestlings by Nat Cassidy
• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
• My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon
• We Spread by Iain Reid

Chilling Obsession: The Ervil LaBaron Cult

Final Girl Playlist: 

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The 2026 Books in the Freezer Reading Challenge

Get your tickets for Rachel Harrison's Kiss Slay Replay event at BottleRocket courtesy of White Whale Books (9/10)

Patreon fun 

Books Mentioned: 

• Fabulous Bodies by Chuck Tingle
• The Red Sacrament by Sara Hinkley
• The Sea Hides Its Dead by Megan Bontrager
• Scary Movie Night by Miranda Smith
• Cross My Heart, I Hope You Die by Mallory Arnold
• The Flayed Man by Chloe Lautner
• Meat Bees by Dane Erbach
• The Quiet Resurrection of Sister Evelida Livingston by Nick Wallin
• Devil Inside by Clay McLeod Chapman
• Stay Buried by Jennifer McMahon
• Reliquary by Hannah Whitten
• The Calamities by Chuck Wendig
• The House That Eats the Dead by Max Doty
• The Minimalist by Kailee Pedersen
• These Walls Remember by Del Sandeen
• Lights! Camera! Frendo! by Adam Cesare 
• The Burn Line by Jonathan Sims
• Blacktail by Scott Hawkins
• Kiss Slay Replay by Rachel Harrison
• Pictures of You by Josh Malerman
• This Movie Doesn't End the Way We Want by Hailey Piper
• Mazywood by Tananarive Due
• Worry Box by Christopher Panatier
• Trad Wife by Sarah Langan
• Nightjars by Michael Wehunt
• The Ship of Death by Kyle Winkler
• The House Built on Alligator Bones by Sophia Honeycutt
• It Looks Like You in the Dark by Mathilda Zeller
• Quaint Folk by Bitter Carella
• Bruja's Nest by Brenda LaTorre
• What Feeds Below by Tatiana Schlotte-Bonne
• Amityville Awakens by Robert Ottone
• This B Just Won't Die by Tanya Pell
• Solace House by William MacLean
• Off the Reservation by Stephen Graham Jones
• What A Nightmare by Rebekah Faubion
• Public Access Afterworld by Jane Schoenbrun
• There Used to Be People Here by Kennedy Cole

 

CJ Leede is in the house and we are solving crimes! Not really, but we are talking about her latest novel Headlights and blend of horror and crime, weird (and romantic!) sex scenes, the importance of pop culture in stories, the romance of Americana, her upcoming work and more! We also talk about books that balance the tightrope of crime and horror, some with possibly vampires and some with definitely vampires

Movies/Shows Mentioned: 

• True Detective (Season 1)
• Seven
• Hannibal
• Longlegs
• Red Dragon
• Zodiac

Books Mentioned: 

• Headlights by CJ Leede
• The Gathering by CJ Tudor
• The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
• All These Bodies by Kendare Blank
• The Grownup by Gillian Flynn
• Hydra (Six Stories #2) by Matt Weselowski
• The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
• Mothersucker by Kim Boyhun (translated by Archana Madhavan)
• The Outsider by Stephen King
• All the Sinners Bleed by SA Cosby
• Broken Harbor (Dublin Murder Squad #4) by Tana French

Chilling Obsessions: Hacks and Wuthering Heights

Final Girl Song: Wolf Like Me 

I basically forced Anna from Anna Rose Reads to watch Mad Men, so we decided to record an episode to get all of our thoughts out and decide what books to recommend for each character. 

Books Mentioned: 

• Gerald's Game by Stephen King
• Small Town Horror with Ronald Malfi
• The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin
• Trad Wife by Saratoga Schafer
• The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
• Her Body & Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
• The Unmothers by Leslie J. Anderson
• Duma Key by Stephen King
• The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White
• All's Well by Mona Awad
• Greedy by Callie Kazumi
• The Dead Spot: Stories of Lost Girls by Angela Sylvaine
• The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own by Gwendolyn Kiste
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Misery by Stephen King
• Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• 11/22/63 by Stephen King
• Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley

Chilling Obsessions: 

Something Very Bad is Going to Happen (Netflix)

Challengers

Final Girl Playlist

Support the podcast on Patreon

I bid you welcome, listener

Anette is on the podcast today to discuss books that were inspired by Bram Stoker's Dracula

Movies/Shows: 

• Renfield
• The Last Voyage of the Demeter
• Dracula 20000
• Dracula Untold
• Nosferatu
• Penny Dreadful

Books: 

• A Route of Ice and Salt by Jose Luis Zarate
• Lucy Undying by Kiersten White
• Dowry of Blood by ST Gibson
• The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
• Reluctant Immortals by Gwendolyn Kiste
• "Abraham's Boys" by Joe Hill
• "The 8 People Who Murdered Me" by Gwendolyn Kiste
• Brenda and Effie Mysteries
• The Fox & the Devil

Chilling Obsession - Eye of the Devil Movie

Final Girl Song - Which Witch by Florence and the Machine

Join our Patreon community 

Howdy y'all. We're heading down to the honkytonk with author Grace Reynolds to talk about her slasher novella Neon Moon and Texas Horror

Movies: 

• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre : The Next Generation
• X
• Pearl
• The Town That Dreaded Sundown
• House of 1000 Corpses
• 3 From Hell

Books: 

• Neon Moon by Grace Reynolds
• In the Valley of the Sun by Andy Davidson
• Spite House by Johnny Compton
• Devils Kill Devils by Johnny Compton
• Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan
• Rising Sun Over the Devil's Nest by Sirius
• Goddess of Filth by V Castro
• Stargazers by LP Hernandez
• The Haunting of Alejandra by V Castro
• When the Devil by Emma E Murray
• The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias
• Sh!tshow by Chris Panatier

Chilling Obsession: The rise of Trad Wife Horror

Check out the Final Girl Playlist

Support the podcast on Patreon to access the newsletter, The Cold Front and the bonus series, The House at the End of Fear Street and get early, ad-free access to episodes.

Gwendolyn Kiste is on the pod to talk about her latest short story collection and fairy tale horror. 

Movies: 

• The Ugly Stepsister
• Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
• The Lure
• The Company of Wolves
• La Belle et la Bete
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Books Mentioned: 

• The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own by Gwendolyn Kiste
• The Candy House by Jennifer Egan (Goon Squad #2)
• The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
• Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook by Christina Henry
• Wendy Darling by AC Wise
• Hooked by AC Wise
• Chlorine by Jade Song
• Sing Me Your Scars by Damien Angelica Walters
• House of Salt and Sorrow by Erin A Craig
• Small Favors by Erin A Craig
• The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel by Alyssa Palombo
• Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (Wayward Children #1)
• White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link
• It Came From Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo 

Chilling Obsession - Eye of the Devil Movie

Final Girl Song - Which Witch by Florence and the Machine

Join our Patreon community 

 

Listen to the full episode here.

What happens when a small decision turns into a dangerous web of lies? Wealthy girl Carter is going to find out. This was a very interesting entry into the fear street series

“You can check out anytime you’d like, but you can never leeeeaaaave”

Originally aired 5/17/22

What’s so scary about hotels? Is it the being away from home? Is it the idea that you don’t know who’s there with you? Is it the idea that someone could be watching you?

Books Mentioned:

• The Return by Rachel Harrison
• Horror Hotel by Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren
• The Nightly Disease by Max Booth III
• The Summer Job by Adam Cesare
• The Last by Hanna Jameson
• The Grand Hotel by Scott Kenemore
• Security by Gina Wohlsdorf
• Deadfall Hotel by Steve Rasnic Tem
• Creepers by David Morrell
• The Resort by Bentley Little
• Psycho (trilogy) by Robert Bloch
• When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen
• A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers
• Tender is the Flesh by Agustine Bazterrica
• Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder

Final Girl Song

Jocelyn picked “666” by Anvil for her third final girl song. Really getting into those kids with bikes vibes. Check it out here!

How to support Books in the Freezer

We are on Patreon! Check us out! There’s a lot of fun going on in the Patreon community. At the Final Girl level you can get episodes early and find out about topics and guests beforehand. Axe-Wielding Maniacs get to be part of a Voxer group chat and join in Netflix movie nights. Malevolent Spirits get everything that’s been mentioned and bonus episodes!

Do you use Amazon? Use the podcast link when you make any purchases, for an easy way to support the podcast! The links for this episode are using the podcast affiliate link.

Are you a fan of audiobooks?

Libro FM is a great way to listen to audiobooks and support your local bookstore! You can use code FREEZERBOOK at checkout and you can get TWO audiobooks for the price of one ($14.99)! It’s a great deal and a great way to be a part of supporting local businesses

Full episode available here.

Happy Fear Street Friday! Author Rae Wilde is here to talk to me about this very Single White Female story that somehow ends up being the DARKEST entry in this franchise. Holy gaslighting and psychological warfare

Are time loops stressful? Rachel and I discuss how anxious people consume time loop media and talk about her upcoming novel, Kiss Slay Replay. We talk about horror movies and books that play with the idea of time or time travel. So let’s dive in and make sure not to mess up this timeline.

Movies Mentioned:

• Happy Death Day
• Palm Springs
• Donnie Darko
• Totally Killer
• Time Cut
• The Butterfly Effect
• Sliding Doors

Books Mentioned:

• Kiss Slay Replay by Rachel Harrison
• The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
• Kindred by Octavia Butler
• Slade House by David Mitchell
• 11/22/63 by Stephen King
• The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch
• Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• My Death by Lisa Tuttle
• The Haunting of Velkwood by Gwendolyn Kiste

Chilling Obsession: Four Weddings on HBO Max & This is Propaganda

Check out the Final Girl Playlist

Support the podcast on Patreon to access the newsletter, The Cold Front and the bonus series, The House at the End of Fear Street and get early, ad-free access to episodes.