On a treelined suburban sidewalk, a man wearing a white mask and blue coveralls steps out from behind a hedge.
  • An image from The Love Witch that shows Elaine sitting on a circular rug with a pentagram and astrological signs. She is surrounded by candles and sipping from a goblet.

    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! Read the poems.

  • A vortex swirling in the sky in Twin Peaks: The Return

    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”🌪️ 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: Ring (1998)

Recent Work

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

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

From the movie Don't Look Now, there is a photo of a church dais with a giant stained glass window. A mysterious red blood has spread over the picture

After Eden
by Daniel Beauregard

Find yourself a cup of tea or a glass of something & fall into the dizzy spell of this story from CDSOB regular Daniel Beauregard. You will come through it changed. Today, we are pleased to present “After Eden.”

Published April 14, 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

From the X-Files, Mulder and Scully sit in an office and speak intently to each other. In the background is a poster with a UFO that reads, "I want to believe."

X-Files, S.4, E.21
by Daniel C. Remein

The truth is out there in Daniel C. Remein’s dual ekphrastic notation: “it must have been loud when the screen was eaten” might take us to “the cause of symptoms is a sharp thing” or it might well lead us somewhere else.

Published April 7, 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