It’s Horrors Week at The A.V. Club

Samhain approaches and the veil between worlds grows thin, which means that it’s time for another week of horrors from your pals here at The A.V. Club. (We wanted to do a Wicker Man-style pagan sacrifice, but corporate said no.) We’re kicking things off today with a guide to Halloween entertainment that won’t give your kids nightmares for weeks, along with a reading list of six suspenseful mysteries written by women as recommended by thriller author Karin Slaughter. Her bloodthirsty ancestors must be proud.

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As for the rest of the week, yours truly will be holding forth on the resurgent witchcraft trend in pop culture, our film editor A.A. Dowd will be running you through the Paranormal Activity series, and Gwen Ihnat will examine the ubiquity of monsters in kids’ media. We’ve also got writers reminiscing on The Halloween Tree, diving deep into The Thing, Inventorying our favorite horror opening scenes, and more. This year, Horrors Week goes until Halloween proper, Monday, October 31, when we cap things off with 24 Hours Of Horror as chosen by some of the hottest directors working in the genre today.

So stay tuned, and whatever you do—don’t go in the basement!