On a treelined suburban sidewalk, a man wearing a white mask and blue coveralls steps out from behind a hedge.
  • An image from the movie Brain Robbers from Outer Space, which shows a woman in head scarf and overcoat lighting a cigarette against the dark night sky

    Wholly Worthwhile: My Part in the Longest Bad Movie Ever Made by Stefanie Kalem


    This week, a scary season treat from one of our favorite essay writers, Stefanie Kalem, who somehow never told us she was in a straight to video horror B-movie epic a couple decades ago. We made her watch it & write about the experience🖤 Read the essay.

  • A ghoulie emerges from a toilet bowl

    No Fever by Maris Catherine Tiller


    Call in sick today, watch horror movies in bed, & read Maris Catherine Tiller’s gross-out gem, “No Fever” #garfieldmondays Read the story.

  • A line drawing of a vintage projector

    Friday Feature


    Mini-reviews of horror movies, books, albums, and other cultural artifacts dropping every Friday.

    Now screening: Red Rooms (2023)

Recent Work

Elaine, in The Love Witch, drinks from a goblet as she sits on a circular rug that has a pentagram and astrological signs on it. She is surrounded by candles..

Three Poems
by Kia Alice Groom

“There’s an image / replaying on a dusty screen / somewhere in hell—or the next town / over.” “The body is just a house— / backrooms baby, / the boy who is all hallways.” “Piss in a jar, salt & cayenne, / legs slick with black wax / & grave dirt.” Poetry is spellcraft, and Kia Alice Groom knows how to do things with words. Behold!

Published October 14, 2025

From Twin Peaks: The Return: A swirling vortex opens in the sky

Under the Gyre
by Lillie E. Franks

“It is finally as though that thing of monstrous interest / were happening in the sky,” wrote John Ashbery. As Lillie E. Franks tells it: “Millicent Pawlowski, the Happy Medium, stands between the crowd and the police and opens her mind to the glowing cyclone which fills nearly half of the sky above her.” Buckle up: today we feature “Under the Gyre”🌪️

Published October 6, 2025

An image from Lake Mungo of the lake at night with a light shining on the trees that line the shore

What Is Horror Poetics? Part 666: The Medium Is the Monster by J †Johnson

The window in that old house at the end of the block is glowing again. CDSOB returns with Cycle 666 & the latest installment of J †Johnson’s “What Is Horror Poetics?” where we fuck around with haunted media & find out: “Part 666: The Medium Is the Monster”📼🛶🖤🕸️📺⭕️

Published October 1, 2025

A collage by Bill Wolak using illustrations of animal bones

Five Collages
by Bill Wolak

“It is uncanny how I manage to always craft a pile of bones into something that is haunted by a face.” So says Bill Wolak, whose series of dense skeletal collage we feature this week. As you feast your eyes on the meatless assemblage on either side of the keyhole, do cast a glance at the evocative titles as well.

Published May 12, 2025

The cast of A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3: Dream Warriors pose for a promo photo

Dream Warriors
by John Sara

“We make bets on who can stay awake longest / … / Teach me to control my dreams.” John Sara is cooking & we’re eating it up. Today we feature his poem, “Dream Warriors.”

Published May 5, 2025

A hand drawn heavy metal logo that reads CDSOB

Decibel Philly Metal & Beer Fest 2025 Notes Part III: Day Two, The Fillmore
by J †Johnson

Get a whiff of that oud! It’s Part III of JJ’s Decibel Philly Metal & Beer Fest 2025 Notes, featuring 4 shitty concert photos, 3 music novels, 2 outbursts & a metal nap🤘🏼🖤💀

Published April 30, 2025

In the movie Curtains, someone wearing a hag mask skates across the ice while holding a sickle

Two Poems
by Juliet Cook

There’s fear in getting older, but there’s power as well. Isn’t that how horror works? If we can face it, we can be the monster, maybe even survive the ordeal. CDSOB regular Juliet Cook holds up a mirror and lets us see the cracks in two poems.

Published April 28, 2025

In the Twilight Zone episode "The Man in the Bottle," Rod Sterling stands in the foreground facing the camera while in the background Mr. and Mrs. Castle stand looking worried in their antique shop

The Cat's Paw
by Julia Rajagopalan

Be careful what you take home from the black tent at the farmers’ market. Wait a second... We haven’t seen that tent before! Today, we present Julia Rajagopalan’s story, “The Cat’s Paw.”

Published April 21, 2025

A black and white movie still from Nosferatu where the shadow of Count Orlok is creeping up the stairs
An image from the movie Candyman, where Candyman hovers vertically in the air near the ceiling in a hospital room
A still from the movie Carrie, where Carrie stares blankly with eyes wide while she is covered in blood against the blue curtain
A still from the movie Re-Animator where Dr. West is filling a hypodermic needle with a glowing green liquid