The most supernatural horror novels ever written
Ranked on VHSCREAM’s threat axis, where 0 is a supernatural threat and 100 is human monsters. These are the 10 lowest-scoring of the 21 horror novels and collections we have scored. Every number is a human judgment against a published rubric, not an average of votes.
Print got here first and has never really left. The bottom of the threat axis in our book index is where the ghost story, the curse and the cosmic intrusion live — the forms that horror fiction invented and film borrowed. Ranked by measurement, so a novel with a human villain and a haunted house scores higher than its cover suggests.
The most supernatural horror novels ever written, ranked
| # | Title | Year | By | The Threat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Between Two Fires | 2012 | Christopher Buehlman | 010 |
| 2 | The Fisherman | 2016 | John Langan | 015 |
| 3 | Books of Blood | 1984 | Clive Barker | 025 |
| 4 | Ring | 1991 | Koji Suzuki | 025 |
| 5 | The Elementals | 1981 | Michael McDowell | 025 |
| 6 | Dracula | 1897 | Bram Stoker | 030 |
| 7 | House of Leaves | 2000 | Mark Z. Danielewski | 030 |
| 8 | Pet Sematary | 1983 | Stephen King | 030 |
| 9 | The Croning | 2012 | Laird Barron | 035 |
| 10 | Ghost Story | 1979 | Peter Straub | 040 |
Scores run 0–100 on a single axis and say nothing about quality. A work can be the bleakest thing here and still be the best on the list.
What the numbers say about this list
The list runs from 010 at number one to 040 at number 10. The median of all 21 novels and collections we have scored on this axis is 040, which the bottom of this list reaches rather than clears — read the last place or two as typical rather than extreme.
Ten of these 10 also place on another of our ranked lists — Between Two Fires, The Fisherman, Books of Blood among them. Extremity tends to arrive on more than one axis at a time, which is the most useful thing six numbers tell you that one cannot.
The same axis, over a different shelf
Threat is scored the same way whatever the medium, so these ask the same question of the other media we score.
The most supernatural horror movies ever made · The most supernatural horror albums ever recorded
Questions about the most supernatural horror novels ever written
What is the most purely supernatural horror novel in your index?
Between Two Fires (2012), at 010 on threat. Second is The Fisherman at 015, and number 10 on this list scores 040. The full table is above, with the year and the creator for each.
How is this list of horror novels and collections ranked?
By one measured axis and nothing else. We score all 21 horror novels and collections in the index on six continuous axes against fixed anchor works, then sort by threat and take the 10 lowest. There is no vote, no average of other people's ratings and no overall score — the numbers on this page are the whole ranking, and they run 010 to 040.
What does the threat axis measure?
Where a work sits between a supernatural threat at 0 and human monsters at 100. It is a description rather than a verdict: a work can be at either end and be excellent or worthless. Among the novels and collections in this index the median on this axis is 040, which is the number worth holding in mind while you read the list — 010 means something only against it.
Are these the scariest horror novels and collections?
Not as a claim we would make. Threat measures one thing, and only the bleak end of tone is simply harder to endure — the other five axes describe a kind of fear rather than an amount. Between Two Fires tops this list at 010 and scores 022 on tone, which are two separate facts about it. The scariest horror we have scored takes the question apart properly.
Want this ranked against you rather than against the axis?
Build your tape →Every ranked book list → · All 21 novels and collections → · How the axes relate →