Horror Recommendations Perfect for Father’s Day
Another June, Another Father’s Day!
Know a dad who loves horror?
Maybe you’re a father who enjoys spooky stories!
Even if you’re neither, this curated list is a great diving board for getting into horror that focuses on the theme of fatherhood, or else involves a father as a heavy-hitting character (good or bad)!
Books
The Shining — Stephen King
Jack Torrance is a father battling through his recovery with alcoholism. He takes a job as an off-season caretaker for a hotel with a complicated past, thinking it’s his last chance at redemption in his professional and personal lives. However, as winter descends upon the mountain, Jack’s young son, Danny, begins to see the hotel for what it really is — something sinister with a bloodlust for the Torrance family.
The Troop — Nick Cutter
Tim Riggs is a scoutmaster who takes his troop of boys on a yearly camping trip. This year, though, something dangerous happens upon them and what was meant to be an enjoyable nature experience becomes a terrifying struggle to survive.
The Night Parade — Ronald Malfi
The world appears to be falling apart as an unexplained disease dubbed, Wanderer’s Folly, rips through neighborhood after neighborhood, culling otherwise healthy individuals left and right. When David Arlen’s wife dies, he believes his only course of action is to steal away his daughter, Ellie, from under the nose of the CDC, defying all government edicts involving travel, testing, and distancing. Unfortunately, Ellie appears to have something everyone wants — immunity. Can David hide her away as her immunity transforms into something else? Or will he succumb to the very disease that’s tearing civilization apart?
At Dark I Become Loathsome — Eric LaRocca
Ashley Lutin is a father grieving both the death of his wife and the disappearance of his son. To find meaning in his life as well as perform a type of penance, he begins a strange ritual to help others overcome their depression and gain a new lease on life. However, as the past haunts him, he secures a commission from a client who might know more about Ashley’s son than Ashley bargained for.
The Spite House — Johnny Compton
Eric Ross is running from his past with his two daughters in tow, struggling to find jobs that will pay their way. When he finds the employment ad for a caretaker of a supposedly haunted house, Eric takes it, hoping it will not only provide him with funds, but also potentially give him answers as to the power driving him forward on his run from the past.
I was a Teenage Slasher — Stephen Graham Jones
Tolly Driver still hasn’t found a precise way to move on from his father’s death. Along with his best friend, Amber, he attends a summer party where he makes a fool of himself, earning the ire of classmates who decide to try and make an example of him. Unfortunately, a deceased classmate turns up at the same time, and as undead madness descends upon the partygoers, Tolly inadvertently undergoes a transformation that he can’t take back — one that may ultimately lead to either his, or Amber’s, death.
The Book of Accidents — Chuck Wendig
Blurb from Goodreads: “Long ago, Nathan lived in a house in the country with his abusive father—and has never told his family what happened there.
Long ago, Maddie was a little girl making dolls in her bedroom when she saw something she shouldn’t have—and is trying to remember that lost trauma by making haunting sculptures.
Long ago, something sinister, something hungry, walked in the tunnels and the mountains and the coal mines of their hometown in rural Pennsylvania.
Now, Nate and Maddie Graves are married, and they have moved back to their hometown with their son, Oliver.
And now what happened long ago is happening again . . . and it is happening to Oliver. He meets a strange boy who becomes his best friend, a boy with secrets of his own and a taste for dark magic.
This dark magic puts them at the heart of a battle of good versus evil and a fight for the soul of the family—and perhaps for all of the world. But the Graves family has a secret weapon in this battle: their love for one another.”
The Last House on Needless Street — Catriona Ward
Ted remembers what happened ten years ago. At least, he remembers that a young, out-of-town beachgoer went missing and that the police searched his home. Many believe Ted is the culprit, but he maintains his innocence while caring for his difficult, crippled daughter, and Olivia, his closest confidante and cat. As time passes through the ten-year anniversary of the child’s disappearance, Ted begins to experience new revelations — ones that lead to discoveries about himself, his daughter and his cat, as well as ones that elucidate his memories of his mother, and the summer the little girl went missing.
The Outsider — Stephen King
Terry Maitland is the town-respected Little League coach, devoted husband, and loving father. Unfortunately, the police in Flint City also believe he’s the monster that violated and murdered a young boy. After arresting him, however, things slowly come to light that don’t make sense — alibis that are watertight, time frames and schedules that can’t coincide, and the growing unease among Flint City denizens. When Terry dies and a strange, diabolical man starts visiting his youngest daughter, the entire investigation is thrown into chaos.
Something Wicked This Way Comes — Ray Bradbury
Jim Nightshade and William Halloway are best friends with back-to-back birthdays straddling Halloween. As their thirteenth birthday approaches, a peculiar carnival comes to town, enticing the boys. However, they find out that something is terribly wrong with the carnies, and must rely on Charles Halloway, William’s father, to help them overcome the carnival’s dark power.
Movies/TV
Woman in Black
After the loss of his son, a young lawyer takes a job handling a peculiar, isolated estate. However, he encounters more than he bargained for when he discovers the house is haunted.
The New Daughter
When a single father moves his two children to a new home, his daughter suddenly begins acting more and more peculiar.
The Possession
A divorced father must team up with his ex-wife to protect their child after she buys a cursed box at a yard-sale that unfortunately curses her.
Father of Flies
A young boy must confront the supernatural forces at play when his father chooses a new, strange woman over his biological mother.
Train to Busan
A man must struggle to protect and survive with his estranged daughter on a train ride while a zombie outbreak wreaks havoc across South Korea.
AHS Murder House
After an affair with a student, a man moves his family into a new house that takes a vested interest in his wife and daughter.
AHS Hotel
A man gets drawn into the peculiar and sinister reality of a LA hotel that slowly affects his family.
Splice
A pair of genetic engineers who are also romantically involved manage to splice together genetic material to create a new hybrid creature intended for medical research. However, the couple falls apart as they take different standpoints on their relationship to the creature.
Insidious
A father must protect his comatose child when sinister forces threaten him in a separate realm called, The Further.
Sinister
A true-crime writer discovers a set of home movies that calls into questions the crime he’s investigating, all the while putting his family in danger.
Signs
A priest renounces his collar after the death of his wife, only to find that inexplicable things exist when extra-terrestrials set their sights on his son.
1408
A paranormal investigative writer checks into a supposedly haunted room at a hotel despite the hotelier’s warnings, only to face something supernatural that forces him to confront buried pain from his fractured, family life.
Fall of the House of Usher
Based on the tales of Edgar Allen Poe, this series focuses on the paranormal forces that fall upon a man and his children, all because of a deal made in the heyday of his young adult life.
Games
Resident Evil VIIIage
Although fathers feature in a couple of the franchise’s games, Resident Evil VIIIage takes the cake, starring new father, Ethan Winters, as he scours a European village for his daughter, Rose.
Silent Hill
No stranger to the theme of fatherhood, the Silent Hill franchise features fathers in several games. However, most agree that none compare to the original Silent Hill’s Harry Mason (who also appears at least once more in Silent Hill 3).
Evil Within 1 & 2
Sebastian Castellanos must traverse a dangerous world filled with zombie-like antagonists after havoc breaks loose. However, the revelation of what drives the world he’s traversing may come down to his personal, family life.
Mad Father
In this game, you play as an eleven year old girl to discover the diabolical truth behind an incident that befalls the Drevis residence.
The Joy of Creation: Reborn (officially backed FNAF Fan Game)
Play as the Creator, a game developer, and navigate the secrets and truths behind the Creation.
Bendy and the Ink Machine
An animation studio descends to madness when one of its beloved characters comes to life. The secrets behind Bendy and the main protagonist may surprise you as you journey onward.
Amnesia: Machine for Pigs
Play as a father awakening from an extended fever and being drawn through the plot by the voices of your sons whom you are led to believe are trapped in The Machine.
Layers of Fear
You are the Painter, working towards your magnum opus. However, as you navigate your creative vision, you discover buried memories of your past and come to understand the tragedy of your once happy, family life.
ReMothered: Tormented Fathers
Playing as an investigator of sorts, you break into the estate to discover the truth behind the disappearance of Dr. Richard Felton’s adopted daughter, Celeste.
Visage
Wander through an ever shifting home and discover what happened to its family of inhabitants.
Dead Rising 2
The zombie outbreak is still raging, and Chuck Greene must do what he can to make sure he can provide his infected daughter with her necessary doses of Zombrex.
The Forest
Stay alive in a forest inhabited by cannibals after the plane carrying you and your child crashes.
Honorable Mentions
Indie Book, Victims, has a surprising reveal about a character’s parentage and how it affects the antagonists’ behaviors.
The movie, Dream House, is an engaging thriller that focuses on a man’s confused memories regarding his wife and children.
Lies of P is a steampunk, Pinocchio retelling, with a major portion of the plot focusing on protagonist Carlo’s relationship with his “father,” Gipetto.
Whatever your plans for this Father’s Day…
I hope you have an excellent time! And if you intend on giving any of these recommendations a go, I’d love to hear your thoughts!