"theres a very limited range of monsters and horror settings out there. all the main plots and characters have already been done, so many modern writers merely rearrange the older plots."
..until Clive Barker came along and came up with original plots never before dreamed of such as "Confessions of a Pornographers shroud","In the hills, the cities","the age of desire","The body politic" and "Weaveworld" to name only five.
Lovecraft is great, my first horror reading. Even when he's badly written and nonsensical and over-the-top, he's still fun.
But for me the greatest horror novel-better than anything by King- is Peter Straub's "ghost Story".
As for the movies,for the most part,I'm not a fan of blood and gore (or the overuse of computerized effects)so I prefer the older movies like the black&white "The Haunting" but I do admit that of the later films "The Grudge" was the most frightening and the moment where the girl in the stairwell turns around and reveals.......! is the scariest moment in all horror cinema.
