# Most Terrifying Book (Movie, etc.) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 5, 2009, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772 "2009-06-05T03:04:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/41 "2009-06-06T20:57:52Z")
Not terrifying, but painfully suspenseful: [Bound](http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19961004/REVIEWS/610040302/1023) (the movie.) I watched it on video and it took three hours to get through 110 minutes, because I kept pausing it to stalk around the house trying to become detached from what was happening on the little TV screen. The Ebert review in the link above starts out: _"Bound’’ is one of those movies that works you up, wrings you out and leaves you gasping._ And that’s what happened to me. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/42 "2009-06-06T21:21:24Z")
OK, I see that the cover of House Of Leaves has the word House in blue - and I see that people here are holding to the convention. Does the word being in blue have significance? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/43 "2009-06-06T21:31:00Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > OK, I see that the cover of House Of Leaves has the word House in blue - and I see that people here are holding to the convention. Does the word being in blue have significance? Not a significance, exactly, but every time the word house appears in the book, it’s blue. The highlighting of that one word adds to the general sense of creepiness and foreboding. Why blue? Who knows? Any color, or italicizing, would have had the same effect. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/44 "2009-06-06T22:11:16Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Not a significance, exactly, but every time the word house appears in the book, it’s blue. The highlighting of that one word adds to the general sense of creepiness and foreboding. Why blue? Who knows? Any color, or italicizing, would have had the same effect. How bizarre. I’m almost tempted to read it now, just for that. But I hope it doesn’t lead to a new trend, like that one book that started the trend of putting footnotes in a fictional book to give it an air of being real. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/45 "2009-06-06T22:38:12Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > OK, I see that the cover of House Of Leaves has the word House in blue - and I see that people here are holding to the convention. Does the word being in blue have significance? There are four different editions of the novel, with different uses of color and strikethrough on certain words. The author said he used blue in part because of the use of bluescreen technology in films: [House of Leaves - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Leaves#Colors) ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/46 "2009-06-07T02:19:19Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > **A Winter Haunting**. All the major plot points are nearly identical. Other people [like this one](http://kellyshaw.livejournal.com/2006/10/23/) have noticed too. I couldn’t get through the first chapter of **A Winter Haunting**. I was so disappointed because it was the long awaited sequel to **Summer Of Night** , which scared the ever loving crap out of me. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/47 "2009-06-07T04:52:07Z")
Pigeons From Hell by Robert E Howard The name is stupid and does not reflect what happens in the story. Better (non spoiler names) would have been The Whistler In The Dark, The Thing On The Stairs, or The Old Blassenville House. I’ve read a lot of horror. But, Pigeons From Hell is far and away the scariest thing I’ve ever read. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/48 "2009-06-07T05:04:04Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Pigeons From Hell by Robert E Howard [Howard corresponded](http://www.google.com/search?q=robert+e.+howard+lovecraft&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a)with H.P. Lovecraft, and Conan sometimes dealt with creatures resembling the elder gods. In the links, note that a book about their letters is going for $90.00 PFH is in one of my Howard collections. I started it, but didn’t become interested. I’ll look it up again. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/49 "2009-06-07T05:10:55Z")
I’m well aware of the friendshi0p between Howard and Lovecraft. I read Pigeons From Hell in the collection The Cthulu Mythos And Kindred Horrors. BTW I’m convinced that the monster from the end of the first HellBoy film was the titular creature from Howard’s Valley Of The Worm. Michael Mignola, the creator of HellBoy, is a huge fan of the Cthulu mythos. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772.md?page=2)