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Crypticon Seattle: Comfort Horror Panel Recording

Comfort Horror. It's a thing. It keeps the fandom fed. We come back time and again to get scared, and we love it. Why? This is the third of my series of Crypticon Seattle convention panel recordings. Panels are the lifeblood of this annual horror gathering, feeding the fandom's macabre knowledge cravings. Horror movies are the bonds this community shares, and to understand why, this panel examines the lure of horror for many of us. It seems antithetical that many of us crave the experience of being scared.
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A colorful collection of tiki mugs with tropical drinks and umbrellas at Crypticon Seattle 2026.

Crypticon Seattle 2026: Tiki Terror and Tropical Horror Panel

Feel the sweat and the tropical breezes; it's time to discuss Tiki Terrors and its tropical horror cousins. Transport yourself to an island in the South Pacific or the Caribbean. The exoticism and the removal from "civilization" provide the grounds for some evocative scares. These movies have been with us since the Golden Age. Think King Kong, The Mont Dangerous Game, and The Island of Lost Souls, and it found its heyday in the '50s and '60s. Listen and learn from veteran Crypticon panelists as they talk all things Tiki Terror.
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A woman holding a black and white cat at a street market during Crypticon Seattle 2026: Pets In Horr.

Crypticon Seattle 2026: Pets In Horror Panel

Crypticon Seattle, the great Pacific Northwest horror convention, has once again come and gone, but the memories linger. The panels are what make the convention feel like a class reunion. The panels are produced entirely by volunteer experts from across the region and are the ultimate in fan interaction. This is what it feels like to create a horror community, sharing our ideas and experiences with each other. This year, I decided to record some of the panels I participated in and attended to give you a sense of what happens at these events. This Pets in Horror panel was hosted by Brien Gorham, and I participated in it along with Kathy Fennesy and Todd Johnstson.
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A terrifying slasher movie bracket battle at Crypticon 2026 featuring iconic horror characters and i.

Crypticon Seattle 2026: The Slasher Movie King of the Mountain Bracket Battle Results

At Crypticon Seattle, we held a Slasher Movie King of the Mountain Bracket Battle to decide the greatest slasher movie of all time. Cheers, groans, hoots, and pleading were all part of the event. I asked the audience to get loud, and they made it happen! The final four were from franchises that would not surprise you, but the actual champion was not a highly seeded favorite. Who won? Check out the full interactive bracket right here!
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The 2024 Thingy Awards: Podcast Episode 185

The 2024 Thingy Awards! It is time for the Mid-Year Scariest Things grand celebration: Once again, we surveyed and received votes from our favorite fans and industry contacts to determine the best horror movies of last year. If there were a couple of themes from last year: Possession and Australia. We got a lot of both in 2023, and it was GOOD. It was one of the best years for horror in the past ten years!
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Spooky Time Episode 28: The Overlook Film Festival Overview

April means going to New Orleans for one of the best genre film festivals in the world and one of our favorites: The Overlook Film Festival. This year was a challenge for the festival as the 2023 SGA and WGA strikes had a diminishing effect on studio releases, the fest managed to pull in some terrific foreign films, and the short films shined too.
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The Worst Horror Movies of 2023: Episode 178

The Worst Horror Movies of 2023. It's an unfortunate but needed exposure of what was awful in 2023. What is more unfortunate is that we had to watch these movies last year. You may consider this a warning. A red flag. But admit it, many of you like to kick a bad movie when it's down. Our advice? Kick away! You love this. We know you do.
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The BEST Horror Movies of 2023: Mike’s List

It was the best of years and the worst of years. Really, 2023 contained some of the best horror films of ALL time, but it also contained a lot of duds. Not just crappy little indy films that couldn’t scratch to nickels together, but the big boys laid down garbage all over the cinema interstate.  We may see some incredible holdover fare early in the year, followed by a dusty lull. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll see some great horror films back on the scene in late 2024. Until then, here are…the Best Horror Films of 2023
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Website Metamorphosis!

Pardon us while we do some transformations around the website. The Scariest Things, after six years of operations, is making a website change... and we're doing it ourselves! Oh, the Horror! You might be seeing some amazing adjustments and some horrifically mutated changes. We have been overcome with world-conquering mad science at our cores!
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The Scariest Things Podcast Episode 168: The 2023 Thingy Awards

I hear a limousine pulling up! That could only mean one thing. It's time to announce the winners of the 2023 Thingy Awards! Horror's new Golden Age continues its wonderful run, as the big budget studios have arrived with new original ideas in tow, and there are a number of break-out stars emerging from the genre. Read, or listen in to our podcast for Episode 168: The 2023 Thingy Awards Show!
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The 2023 Thingie Awards Open Ballot Invitation

It's the Midsommar event of the Scariest Things calendar! Time to hand out some awards, for the best of 2022. It's never too late to hand out some accolades! As we do every year, we invite all our fans to join in, but this year we are on a SUPER SHORT schedule. YOU HAVE THREE DAYS to VOTE, as we are making our announcements THIS SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023.
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The Scariest Things Intensity Scale 🩸

We now have a Gore Intensity Rating for our reviews! Being that we are your gateway to the trends and tropes of the horror genre, we need to be able to convey to the newcomers (and our gore hounds) what to expect with these movies. Keep an eye out for the 🩸 on forthcoming reviews.
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Eric’s Top 10 Horror Films of 2022

What a great year for the genre. It feels like both the studios and the indies have hit full stride again, and there were a bunch of really original and entertaining horror movies to watch this year. Eric picks his top 10 and had room for probably 10 more that could have made it.
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Ia! Ia! Cthurkey Ftaghn!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Great Old Ones at The Scariest Things! We recommend at your annual feast to remember that you shouldn't eat anything that is still moving. And, it's always good to know where that mystery meat came from.
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The Top 100 Horror Movies of All Time (2018 Edition)

Behold, THE BIG LIST. In 2018, we summoned a jury of our fans and horror insider contacts, to develop a weighted list of our favorite horror movies of all time. This doesn't necessarily mean these are the BEST movies, in a technical sense, but these are the films we love the most.
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The 2022 Thingy Awards!

Celebrate the best of 2021 Horror in the 2022 Thingy Awards! Yeah, it's a little late in the Awards season, but we're all still recovering from the Will Smith slap heard around the world, and now that we have recovered from being stunned, it's time to concentrate on the Scariest Things you saw from last year. Once again, you are invited to fill in a ballot for your favorites from 2021!
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The 2021 Thingy Award Nominations: Open Ballot!

It's awards season! And for horror genre fans, it is time for the third annual Thingy Awards! 2020 was a scary year for more ways that we could have imagined, but despite the cinemas being closed down, movie makers delivered some great movies for us. The Scariest Things once again invites our valued fans to vote for who they thought was the best of 2020. Our industry insiders will also be weighing in, for what should be a very interesting award!
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Scary Radio Plays: A Garden of Terrible Blooms

Award-Winning playwright Sharon Yablon taps into her noir sensibilities for a new podcast of genre radio dramas, A Garden of Terrible Blooms. Prepare for the surreal one-act dramas that touch on elements of mystery, horror, and true-crime centered around L.A.'s famed Sunset Boulevard.
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Eric’s Top 10 Horror Films of 2020

When the great 2020 pandemic got its hooks into the world in April, and the Cinemas across the country were shuttering their doors, I was guessing that we were going to have really slim pickings for great horror films this past year. I'm so happy to be wrong! There were some absolutely fantastic horror films released, but you had to get to most of them via streaming festivals.
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