The Best Modern Horror Anthologies You Can Watch And Read Right Now

Ah, October. The magical time of year when even the most horror-averse moviegoers pop open their watchlist in search of some new scary thing to watch. And while “Terrifier 3” will certainly be the highest-grossing horror film of October, the early contender for October’s best new scary movie is “V/H/S/Beyond,” the latest entry in the “V/H/S” series. With the introduction of a cohesive central theme — and a handful of emerging horror directors giving each segment their all — “V/H/S/Beyond” has restored the franchise to its former glory and reminded us why horror anthologies can be such a fun way to tell a story.

But if “V/H/S/Beyond” represents a resurgence for the cinematic horror anthology, it’s not the only one. This has been a banner year for horror anthologies across all mediums, with new collections and series dominating the shelves of your local comic and book stores. In fact, let’s make a bold declaration: we have entered the golden era of anthology horror in entertainment, and audiences may never have it this good again when it comes to short form spookiness.

While “V/H/S/Beyond” is the obvious standout among anthology horror, it’s not the only release of 2024 to make great use of the form. This has also been a big year for anthology books and comics, with several new publications and recurring series finding their way to our shelves.

If you’re a comic book fan, one of the biggest stories of the year is the return of EC Comics. Independent comic publisher Oni Press — best known as the home to Bryan Lee O’Malley’s “Scott Pilgrim” series — has shambled back to life, offering a new slate of titles meant to replace old mainstays like “Tales from the Crypt” and “Weird Science.” These new series share their predecessors’ focus on genre: “Cruel Universe” is a collection of science fiction stories, while the delightfully named “Epitaphs from the Abyss” focuses on more traditional horror narratives.

Oni Press is not the only publisher leaning into anthology horror. In July, BOOM! Studios launched “Hello Darkness” a new monthly anthology series featuring a combination of horror, fantasy, and science fiction. Like its EC Comics counterparts, “Hello Darkness” features an impressive lineup of writers and artists, combining established horror auteurs like Cullen Bunn and James Tynion IV with a wide array of up and comers.

Meanwhile, the past few months have also given rise to a wide range of literary horror anthologies. For the YA crowd, there’s “The Black Girl Survives in This One,” a collection of short stories that subvert the typical experiences of Black girls in horror (and includes an introduction from respected horror writer and producer Tananarive Due). “Bound in Blood,” another new anthology series, celebrates stories about haunted books and features a contribution from Eric LaRocca, who specializes in short stories and whose new collection “This Skin Was Once Mine” also hit shelves earlier this year.

And if two collections weren’t enough, Eric LaRocca also appears in “The Darkest Night,” a new collection of stories centered around the theme of winter. This collection also features contributions from writers like Josh Malerman (“Bird Box“) and Jamie Flanagan (“Midnight Mass“), rounding out just a few of the paperbacks on your shelf that also tackle horror through the lens of short narratives and a diverse group of artists.

So why are horror anthologies more popular than ever? Like any other trend, the rise of anthologies feels like something of a course correction for the entertainment industry.

For starters, a lot of this is anchored in the success of horror in Hollywood. Horror films are more popular — and more lucrative ‘ than ever before. In fact, they seem uniquely suited to navigate some of the struggles of the industry over the past decade. These include the death of the movie star — the genre itself is often the headliner in a way most actors can no longer be — and the fact that horror sometimes feels like the only mode of cinema immune to Hollywood’s temptation to min/max their product. In an industry where every new release has to cost either $100,000 or $100,000,000, horror represents a safe middle ground.

And the rise of those nine-figure franchise films has also set the stage for counter-programming in the form of shorter stories. Anthologies feel like a natural response to franchise fatigue. If audiences are indeed both overwhelmed and underwhelmed by the homework that goes into today’s narrative universes, then short form storytelling is the perfect antidote. It doesn’t matter if I miss an issue of “Epitaphs from the Abyss” or if I keep scrolling past one of the middle “V/H/S” movies in my Shudder queue; I can jump into each story or segment as a standalone experience with no concerns about continuity or chronological order.

Finally, in the death thralls of peak television where every prestige show is getting high off its own supply, there’s something wonderful about a simpler form of storytelling. Horror anthologies can be as thoughtful as their longform counterparts, but do so within a modest structure — one cautionary tale or big idea — that gets the message across in as little space as possible. Do I need to watch all eleven seasons of “The Walking Dead” and its various spinoffs to appreciate the bleak nature of the zombie apocalypse? Or can I just enjoy the six pages of Tyler Crook’s “Gray Green Memories” in issue two of “Epitaphs from the Abyss”? When it comes to modern entertainment, less can indeed be more.

In short — pun very much intended — there’s never been a better time for bite-sized horror stories across a wide range of media. Whether your preferred form of fear is film, fiction, or comics, the rise of horror anthologies continue to celebrate our favorite genre while offering a refreshing alternative to the overbaked storytelling that dominates so much of the media we consume. You may not be able to lose yourself for an entire evening in your anthology format of choice, but you can put it down and pick it up without feeling like you’re failing some entertainment open book test. Sometimes, horror is a dish best served on the smallest of plates.