Ever wondered what to read or binge-watch after your favorite horror movie? Winter horror films have a chilling way of freezing fear into our bones. With icy landscapes, relentless isolation, and the bone-numbing cold, these stories create an inescapable sense of dread. From the ghostly hauntings in Wind Chill to the creeping cosmic terror of Black Mountain Side and the twisted psychological games of The Blackcoat’s Daughter, these films show how winter’s harshness magnifies supernatural horrors and human fragility. Whether it’s the eerie calm of snow-covered terrain or deadly storms that trap characters in peril, winter horror delivers atmospheric tension laced with survival, madness, and the unknown. If you love this frosty subgenre, we’ve got you covered with a curated list of books and TV shows that perfectly complement each film, keeping the chills alive all season long.
What if the cold wasn’t your only enemy? Wind Chill takes the eerie isolation of a winter road trip and turns it into a chilling tale of survival and the supernatural. As the snow falls and temperatures drop, the boundaries between the living and the dead blur, leaving you to wonder: is the coldest danger outside, or does it lie somewhere deeper, unseen?
What to read after Wind Chill: Snowblind by Christopher Golden – The small New England town of Coventry had weathered a thousand blizzards…but never one like this. Icy figures danced in the wind and gazed through children’s windows with soul-chilling eyes. People wandered into the whiteout and were never seen again. Families were torn apart, and the town would never be the same.
Now, as a new storm approaches twelve years later, the folks of Coventry are haunted by the memories of that dreadful blizzard and those who were lost in the snow. Photographer Jake Schapiro mourns his little brother, Isaac, even as-tonight-another little boy is missing. Mechanic and part-time thief Doug Manning’s life has been forever scarred by the mysterious death of his wife, Cherie, and now he’s starting over with another woman and more ambitious crimes. Police detective Joe Keenan has never been the same since that night, when he failed to save the life of a young boy . . . and the boy’s father vanished in the storm only feet away. And all the way on the other side of the country, Miri Ristani receives a phone call . . . from a man who died twelve years ago.
As old ghosts trickle back, this new storm will prove to be even more terrifying than the last.
What to watch on TV after Wind Chill: Dead of Winter (Miniseries, Discovery+) – True tales of murder featuring first-person interviews with family and investigators. Each episode shows the detectives work to track down a killer, all while battling the unforgiving elements.
What happens when safety is an illusion? Dead of Winter is a chilling psychological thriller where a struggling actress finds herself isolated in a snowbound mansion, lured into a sinister plot. As the snow piles up outside, so does the paranoia and dread, making you question who can truly be trusted when escape feels impossible.
What to read after watching Dead of Winter: Misery by Stephen King – Paul Sheldon. He’s a bestselling novelist who has finally met his biggest fan. Her name is Annie Wilkes and she is more than a rabid reader – she is Paul’s nurse, tending his shattered body after an automobile accident. But she is also his captor, keeping him prisoner in her isolated house.
What to watch on TV after Dead of Winter: The Undoing– On the cusp of releasing her first novel, a therapist’s life unravels after she learns that her husband might be responsible for a widespread disaster.
Can isolation unlock something darker? The Blackcoat’s Daughter delves into the eerie stillness of a snow-covered boarding school, where two students are left behind during winter break. Supernatural forces and psychological fragility collide in a tale that keeps you guessing whether the true terror lies in the unseen or in the mind.
What to read after watching The Blackcoat’s Daughter: The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell – When newly widowed Elsie is sent to see out her pregnancy at her late husband’s crumbling country estate, The Bridge, what greets her is far from the life of wealth and privilege she was expecting . . .
When Elsie married handsome young heir Rupert Bainbridge, she believed she was destined for a life of luxury. But with her husband dead just weeks after their marriage, her new servants resentful, and the local villagers actively hostile, Elsie has only her husband’s awkward cousin for company. Or so she thinks. Inside her new home lies a locked door, beyond which is a painted wooden figure —a silent companion —-that bears a striking resemblance to Elsie herself. The residents of The Bridge are terrified of the figure, but Elsie tries to shrug this off as simple superstition–that is, until she notices the figure’s eyes following her.
A Victorian ghost story that evokes a most unsettling kind of fear, this is a tale that creeps its way through the consciousness in ways you least expect–much like the silent companions themselves.
What to watch on TV after The Blackcoat’s Daughter: Chapelwaite – In the 1850s, Captain Charles Boone relocates his family to his ancestral home in the small, sleepy town of Preacher’s Corners. Charles will soon have to confront the secrets of his family’s history and fight to end the darkness.
What would you do on the last night of the world? Silent Night takes the cozy warmth of a holiday gathering and twists it into a nightmarish, apocalyptic reflection on morality, love, and survival. In the face of inevitable doom, the cold outside mirrors the chilling truths revealed within.
What to read after watching Silent Night: The Children of Men – by P. D. James. Told with P. D. James’s trademark suspense, insightful characterization, and riveting storytelling, The Children of Men is a story of a world with no children and no future. The human race has become infertile, and the last generation to be born is now adult. Civilization itself is crumbling as suicide and despair become commonplace. Oxford historian Theodore Faron, apathetic toward a future without a future, spends most of his time reminiscing. Then he is approached by Julian, a bright, attractive woman who wants him to help get her an audience with his cousin, the powerful Warden of England. She and her band of unlikely revolutionaries may just awaken his desire to live . . . and they may also hold the key to survival for the human race.
What to watch on TV after Silent Night: The Last of Us – After a global pandemic destroys civilization, a hardened survivor takes charge of a 14-year-old girl who may be humanity’s last hope.
What ancient horrors lie buried beneath the snow? Black Mountain Side follows a team of archaeologists as they uncover a mysterious structure in the Arctic wilderness. With no escape and a creeping, Lovecraftian presence taking hold, the icy isolation becomes the perfect stage for psychological unraveling and cosmic terror.
What to read after watching Black Mountain Side: Stolen Tongues by Felix Blackwell- A romantic cabin getaway doesn’t go exactly as planned. High up on the windswept cliffs of Pale Peak, Faye and Felix celebrate their new engagement. But soon, a chorus of ghastly noises erupts from the nearby the screams of animals, the cries of children, and the mad babble of a hundred mournful voices. A dark figure looms near the windows in the dead of night, whispering to Faye. As the weather turns deadly, Felix discovers that his terrified fiancée isn’t just mumbling in her sleep – she’s whispering back.
What to watch on TV after Black Mountain Side: The Head – A team of scientists continue their research during winter in the South Pole. Come spring, the commander returns to find his team in grave danger.
Can love exist in the coldest places? Let the Right One In weaves a haunting story of loneliness and connection, as a bullied boy befriends a mysterious girl with a dark secret. Against a backdrop of frosty streets and icy despair, this film explores the fragile line between innocence and monstrosity.
What to read after watching Let the Right One In: Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu – In an isolated castle deep in the Austrian forest, Laura leads a solitary life with only her ailing father for company. Until one moonlit night, a horse-drawn carriage crashes into view, carrying an unexpected guest – the beautiful Carmilla. So begins a feverish friendship between Laura and her mysterious, entrancing companion. But as Carmilla becomes increasingly strange and volatile, prone to eerie nocturnal wanderings, Laura finds herself tormented by nightmares and growing weaker by the day… Pre-dating Dracula by twenty-six years, Carmilla is the original vampire story, steeped in sexual tension and gothic romance.
What to watch on TV after Let the Right One In: Midnight Mass – An isolated island community experiences miraculous events – and frightening omens – after the arrival of a charismatic, mysterious young priest.
What happens when the ones you love turn on you? The Children transforms a family holiday into a living nightmare as an unexplained force causes the children to become violent killers. With the snowy countryside providing no refuge, the film explores the primal terror of betrayal in the most unexpected place.
What to read after watching The Children: We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver- Eva never really wanted to be a mother – and certainly not the mother of the unlovable boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and a much-adored teacher who tried to befriend him, all two days before his sixteenth birthday. Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with marriage, career, family, parenthood, and Kevin’s horrific rampage in a series of startlingly direct correspondences with her estranged husband, Franklin. Uneasy with the sacrifices and social demotion of motherhood from the start, Eva fears that her alarming dislike for her own son may be responsible for driving him so nihilistically off the rails.
What to watch on TV after The Children: The Strain – A mysterious viral outbreak with hallmarks of an ancient and evil strain of vampirism ravages the city of New York.
What secrets does the snow conceal? Inspired by the real-life Dyatlov Pass mystery, Devil’s Pass takes a found-footage approach to uncovering the chilling truth behind a group of students’ ill-fated expedition. Supernatural and interdimensional forces collide in a story where the freezing wilderness holds horrors beyond imagination.
What to read after watching Devil’s Pass: This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer – This is going to be Dylan’s big break. Her friend Clay, a geology student, has discovered an untouched cliff face in the Kentucky wilderness, and she is going to be the first person to climb it. Together with Clay, his research assistant Sylvia, and Dylan’s boyfriend Luke, she is going to document her achievement on Instagram and finally cement her place as the next rising star in rock climbing. Seven months later, three bodies are discovered in the trees just off the highway. All are in various states of decay: one body a stark, white skeleton; the second emptied of its organs; and the third a mutilated corpse with the tongue, eyes, ears, and fingers removed.
But Dylan is still missing. Followers of her Instagram account report seeing disturbing livestreams, and some even claim to have caught glimpses of her vanishing into the thick woods, but no trace of her—dead or alive—has been discovered.
Were the climbers murdered? Did they succumb to cannibalism? Or are their impossible bodies the work of an even more sinister force? Is Dylan still alive, and does she hold the answers?
What to watch on TV after Devil’s Pass: True Detective: Night Country, Season 4 – True Detective: Night Country takes viewers to the frigid, desolate town of Ennis, Alaska, where eight men mysteriously vanish from a remote Arctic research station without a trace. Detectives Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) are thrust into an investigation that unravels a web of buried secrets, icy tensions, and eerie phenomena lurking in the endless Alaskan night. As the detectives confront their own haunted pasts, the line between the natural and the supernatural begins to blur, delivering a chilling exploration of isolation, survival, and the darkness within.
Winter horror has a way of getting under your skin, mixing freezing landscapes, eerie isolation, and supernatural chills into stories that stick with you. These films—and the books and shows we’ve paired with them—explore what happens when the cold isn’t the only thing creeping in. From battling ancient creatures to facing off against loved ones turned deadly, they show how winter’s unforgiving grip can push people to the edge. So, as the snow piles up and the nights get longer, settle in and lose yourself in these frosty, bone-chilling tales. Just don’t forget the blanket—it’s about to get cold.
NightTide Magazine 
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