Ever wondered what to read or binge-watch after your favorite horror movie? From the arctic paranoia of The Thing to the chilling isolation of Misery and the eerie tension of Frozen (2010), we’ve paired these films with spine-tingling books and captivating TV shows that echo their themes. Dive into this curated yet chaotic list for a thrilling journey across mediums, perfect for fans of psychological terror, supernatural suspense, and survival horror!
Is there anything more isolating and nerve-wracking then not knowing who to trust? How about all of that surrounded by virtual strangers with their own violent idiosyncracies and hang-ups in the middle of the Antarctic Circle? John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) holds up to any practical effects film of any modern decade. A masterpiece of paranoia and body horror, The Thing traps its characters—and viewers—in a relentless battle for survival against an unseen, shape-shifting alien terror.
What to read after The Thing: Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell Jr. – This novella is the base material for John Carpenter’s film The Thing and Christian Nyby’s The Thing from Another World. Campbell’s classic story tells of an Antarctic research base that discovers and thaws the ancient, frozen body of a crash-landed alien—with terrifying results!
What to watch on TV after The Thing: The X Files (Season 1, Episode 8: “Ice”) – Mulder and Scully travel to Alaska to investigate a disturbing incident where scientists from the Arctic Ice Core project have apparently turned on one another in a violent frenzy. After setting a record for the deepest core sample, the team began exhibiting strange behavior. Joined by two scientists and a helicopter pilot, the agents arrive at the abandoned outpost and discover that an ancient microorganism from the core sample is to blame. When the pilot becomes the first to show symptoms and needs to be restrained, suspicion spreads as another member of the group is infected, leading the lead scientist to accuse Mulder.
Is there anything more terrifying than being completely at someone else’s mercy? Add to that the suffocating isolation of a snowbound cabin and the unpredictable mood swings of a dangerously obsessive fan. Rob Reiner’s Misery (1990), adapted from Stephen King’s novel, remains a masterclass in psychological horror, portraying a writer’s harrowing fight for survival against his “number one fan” who will stop at nothing to keep him captive.
What to read after watching Misery: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides – Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word. Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London. Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him….
What to watch on TV after Misery: Bates Motel – A contemporary prequel to Psycho, giving a portrayal of how Norman Bates’ psyche unravels through his teenage years, and how deeply intricate his relationship with his mother, Norma, truly is.
What happens when grief blurs the line between the living and the dead? In the icy stillness of a snow-drenched town, a mother, her daughter, and a man with a terrible secret find themselves entangled in a ghostly reckoning. The Deeper You Dig (2019) is a haunting indie gem that explores guilt, loss, and the inescapable consequences of our actions, blending supernatural chills with intimate, raw storytelling.
What to read after watching The Deeper You Dig: Pet Semetary by Stephen King – When the Creeds move into a beautiful old house in rural Maine, it all seems too good to be true: physician father, beautiful wife, charming little daughter, adorable infant son-and now an idyllic home. As a family, they’ve got it all…right down to the friendly car. But the nearby woods hide a blood-chilling truth-more terrifying than death itself-and hideously more powerful. The Creeds are going to learn that sometimes dead is better.
What to watch on TV after The Deeper You Dig: The Haunting of Hill House – The series explores a group of siblings who, as children, grew up in what would go on to become the most famous haunted house in the country. Now adults, and forced back together in the face of tragedy, the family must finally confront the ghosts of their past, some of which still lurk in their minds while others might actually be stalking the shadows of Hill House.
What if the environment you depend on for survival begins to fight back? In the icy desolation of the Arctic, an oil exploration team begins experiencing strange phenomena as nature itself seems to turn hostile. Larry Fessenden’s The Last Winter (2006) is a gripping eco-horror that blends atmospheric dread with a stark warning about the consequences of human interference in fragile ecosystems.
What to read after watching The Last Winter: The Terror by Dan Simmons – The men on board HMS Terror have every expectation of triumph. As part of the 1845 Franklin Expedition, the first steam-powered vessels ever to search for the legendary Northwest Passage, they are as scientifically supported an enterprise as has ever set forth. As they enter a second summer in the Arctic Circle without a thaw, though, they are stranded in a nightmarish landscape of encroaching ice and darkness. Endlessly cold, with diminishing rations, 126 men fight to survive with poisonous food, a dwindling supply of coal, and ships buckling in the grip of crushing ice. But their real enemy is far more terrifying. There is something out there in the frigid darkness: an unseen predator stalking their ship, a monstrous terror constantly clawing to get in. When the expedition’s leader, Sir John Franklin, meets a terrible death, Captain Francis Crozier takes command and leads his surviving crewmen on a last, desperate attempt to flee south across the ice. With them travels an Inuit woman who cannot speak and who may be the key to survival, or the harbinger of their deaths. But as another winter approaches, as scurvy and starvation grow more terrible, and as the terror on the ice stalks them southward, Crozier and his men begin to fear that there is no escape.
What to watch on TV after The Last Winter: Black Spot – Villefranche is a small town without phone reception on the edge of a mysterious forest. The number of inhabitants is dwindling but there’s a sharp rise in crime. Police Inspector Laurène, once the victim of a crime herself, keeps discovering fresh corpses.
What could be more terrifying than being trapped in the open, exposed to the elements, with no one to hear your cries for help? Frozen (2010) turns a simple ski trip into a harrowing tale of survival when three friends are stranded on a chairlift overnight. Suspenseful and gut-wrenching, the film forces its characters to confront their worst fears as they battle the unforgiving cold and their own desperate choices.
What to read after watching Frozen (2010): No Exit by Taylor Adams – Darby Thorne is a college student stranded by a blizzard at a highway rest stop in the middle of nowhere. She’s on the way home to see her sick mother. She’ll have to spend the night in the rest stop with four complete strangers. Then she stumbles across a little girl locked inside one of their parked cars. There is no cell phone reception, no telephone, no way out because of the snow, and she doesn’t know which one of the other travelers is the kidnapper. Who is the little girl? Why has she been taken? And how can Darby save her?
What to watch on TV after Frozen (2010): Yellowjackets – Blending survival drama, psychological horror, and coming-of-age themes, Yellowjackets follows a gifted high school girls’ soccer team whose plane crashes in a remote northern wilderness. The series explores their transformation from a cohesive group into brutal factions, while simultaneously revealing how their harrowing ordeal continues to haunt them 25 years later. It’s a chilling reminder that the past never truly stays buried, and the nightmare that began in the wilderness is far from over.
What if your lifelong friendships became the only thing standing between you and a parasitic alien threat? Stephen King’s Dreamcatcher (2003) plunges four childhood friends into a chilling encounter with extraterrestrial horrors during a remote hunting trip. A tale of loyalty, telepathic bonds, and survival, it weaves psychological tension with visceral terror, testing both trust and humans capcity for survival.
What to read after watching Dreamcatcher: Phantoms by Dean Koontz – They found the first body hideously swollen and still warm. Then they found two severed hands. Then two staring heads in wall ovens. 150 were grotesquely dead and it had hardly begun in the tiny mountain town of Snowfield, California.
and closer…At first they thought it was a maniac. Then they thought it was an obscene new disease. Then they thought it was the Russians.
and closer…Then they found out the truth. And they saw it in the flesh. And it was worse than anything any of them had ever imagined…
What to watch on TV after Dreamcatcher: Fringe – The FBI collaborates with a scientist, once institutionalized for conducting experiments on the edge of accepted science, and his son to investigate bizarre crimes that appear to be linked in a larger pattern. These crimes may be connected to a global corporation named Massive Dynamic.
In a world where isolation and paranoia breed fear, these winter-set horrors offer more than just chilling landscapes—they delve deep into the human psyche, exploring survival, trust, and the unseen forces that prey on us. Whether through supernatural terror or brutal isolation, these stories remind us that the harshest cold often lies within.
NightTide Magazine 
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