Books reading recommendations Five Horror Books Featuring Child Protagonists What are your favorite stories about kids caught up in zombie outbreaks, hauntings, demonic possession, and the like? By Lorna Wallace | Published on July 13, 2026 Comment 0 Share New Share A few weeks ago, I published a list of horror books starring elderly protagonists, so I thought it would be fitting to go to the opposite end of the age spectrum with a list of scary books led by younger protagonists. And I’m not talking “younger” as in teenagers—for this list, I’ve gone with main characters who are 10 years old or below. Having to deal with life-threatening situations or, say, demon possession, would be a nightmarish experience at any age, but kids in these situations have it particularly rough. A lack of control and a lack of experience are major detriments in pretty much all horror scenarios, and young children are usually hindered by both. But kids are also surprisingly resilient and often display quite a lot of tenacity, and that can count for a lot, as the five horror books below prove… The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King (1999) Nine-year-old Trisha is hiking a small portion of the Appalachian Trail with her mom and older brother—who have been arguing all day—when she steps off the path to pee without them noticing. In an attempt to catch up with her family, she decides to take a shortcut, but she ends up plunging even further into the woods and pretty soon she’s completely lost. Although there is a supernatural element in the story—Trisha thinks she’s being followed by something sinister, but maybe it’s just a stress-induced figment of her imagination—the focus is far more on the grounded survival aspect of the situation. Instead of panicking like many kids (and adults!) understandably would, Trisha mostly keeps her cool. She’s resilient, resourceful, and smart—though, of course, she still makes a few mistakes along the way. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is terrifying in its simplicity. If Trisha isn’t found or able to find her way out of the woods soon, the beautiful natural surrounding her will be her death sentence. The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey (2014) The Girl with All the Gifts follows a few different characters, but we spend the most time with 10-year-old Melanie. Melanie is an incredibly intelligent child who just wants to impress her favorite teacher, Miss Justineau. What she doesn’t know is that she’s also a zombie (known as hungries in this story) who is part of a science experiment. In the 20 years since the outbreak of the fungal zombie plague, the few remaining scientists have been attempting to understand—and hopefully cure—the infection. While most hungries seem to lose all sense of self, Melanie and a few other infected children have retained their mental facilities (well… until they smell human flesh, that is). Tense action sequences filled with blood, guts, and gnashing teeth are pretty much a requirement of the zombie genre, but The Girl with All the Gifts also offers deeply poignant character moments and intriguing philosophical questions about the nature of humanity. A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay (2015) In A Head Full of Ghosts, Paul Tremblay gives the traditional demonic possession story a thoroughly modern update. When fourteen-year-old Marjorie Barrett starts to exhibit some worrying behavior, her parents try to get her psychiatric help, but when that fails, they consider the possibility that she’s been possessed by a demon. Backed into a financial corner, they agree to film her exorcism for a reality TV show called The Possession. The story is told via three threads, with the main narrative being a flashback to the filming of the show from the POV of Marjorie’s eight-year-old sister, Merry. The other two take place fifteen years later; in one Merry is being interviewed for a tell-all book about The Possession and the other is a series of blog posts deconstructing the show. The atmosphere in the Barrett household is one of constant unease and foreboding tension, which is cut by a few seriously creepy moments. Whether or not Marjorie is actually possessed is left up in the air, but this ambiguity doesn’t need to be resolved because Merry’s fear is palpable on the page regardless. The Devil Crept In by Ania Ahlborn (2017) Twelve-year-old Jude and ten-year-old Stevie aren’t just cousins, they’re also best friends. Jude has a bit of a reputation for causing trouble and when he goes missing, the residents of the little town of Deer Creek don’t seem all that interested in finding him. But Stevie isn’t going to let his best—and, really, only—friend go without a fight, and so decides to unravel the mystery of Jude’s disappearance on his own. The Devil Crept In starts off as a slow burn, giving the reader time to really get to know Stevie and his eccentricities before the horror comes to the forefront. As a young boy, he might not have the wisdom that comes with age, but he’s got plenty of heart (whether that’ll be enough to see him through remains to be seen…). As for what kind of horror is on offer, I think that’s best left as a surprise. All I’ll say is that it has something to do with whatever is living in the creepy old dilapidated house located deep in the woods surrounding Deer Creek. Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman (2024) A couple of the kids on this list are endearingly precocious, but the young protagonist of Incidents Around the House does not fall into that camp. Bela is eight years old, but she comes across as a good few years younger than that. The story is told in first person and being in Bela’s head can get a little bit tiring because her speech and thoughts are so short, choppy, and simplistic. But it’s hard not to feel sympathy for Bela given the fact that she’s being targeted by a supernatural entity she calls Other Mommy. Bela’s parents think that Other Mommy is just her imaginary friend, but when the haunting starts to manifest with increasing boldness, they realize that not only is she real, she’s also very dangerous. Although the writing style didn’t totally work for me, the horror absolutely did. Other Mommy is utterly terrifying and a few particularly scary scenes left me wishing that I was reading by daylight. There are, of course, plenty of other horror books out there featuring main characters who are kids, so if I’ve missed your favorite pint-sized protagonist, feel free to leave them in the comments below![end-mark] The post Five Horror Books Featuring Child Protagonists appeared first on Reactor.

News Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Wrath of Khan Director Nicholas Meyer Talks About How He Found His Way Into a Series He Didn’t Get at All Meyer looked elsewhere for his Star Trek inspirations By Molly Templeton | Published on July 10, 2026 Screenshot: Paramount Pictures Comment 0 Share New Share Screenshot: Paramount Pictures The Star Trek franchise is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, which means we’re seeing—and will likely continue to see—interviews and events celebrating six decades of boldly going. In the lead-up to the Italian Global Series Festival’s Trek-celebrating events, Variety spoke to director Nicholas Meyer, who was brought on to direct Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan after the first film was a hit. It was an expensive hit, though, and Paramount apparently didn’t want to spend so much money again. So, Meyer explains, they hired television producer Harve Bennett and asked, “Can you make a movie better than the first movie for half the money?” Bennett said he could make five movies for less money. The Khan budget, Meyer says, was around $11.2 million. Meyer himself was not a huge Star Trek fan. “I had seen Star Trek on TV, and I didn’t get it at all,” he says. “I missed everything that was interesting about the show, the idea that people of different races and genders and cultures could come together to do something good that blew right by me.” But Meyer liked Harve Bennett, so he apparently said yes to the job. And a few weeks later, he figured out his way in: via his younger self’s love for C.S. Forester’s novels about Captain Horatio Hornblower. “It’s obviously supposed to be Lord Nelson, but it’s a captain in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, and he has many adventures, and he has a girl in every port,” Meyer explains. “When you’re 13, this sounded pretty good, and I thought, ‘wait a minute, Kirk is Hornblower in outer space. I know how to do that.’” Meyer was also a writer on the film, though uncredited; by the time he joined the project, the movie had been through multiple rewrites. It is not entirely clear to this writer if he or one of the other screenwriters is to blame for my lifelong fear of ear bugs. [end-mark] The post <i>Wrath of Khan</i> Director Nicholas Meyer Talks About How He Found His Way Into a Series He Didn’t Get at All appeared first on Reactor.

Movies & TV Evil Dead Burn Evil Dead Burn Is an Extreme, Gruesome, Darkly Fun Addition to the Series It turns out there are a LOT of uses for fountain pens. By Leah Schnelbach | Published on July 10, 2026 Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures One of the most delightful things aspects of the Evil Dead franchise is how flexible it has turned out to be. It can be a classic teens in a haunted cabin in the woods movie, a slapstick comedy, a medieval Ray Harryhausen homage, a gritty look at addiction and recovery, a gory exploration of familial bonds—or, as in Evil Dead Burn, a slightly French extremity-tinged film about the complications of marrying into a troubled family. After restaurateur Will Price (George Pullar) dies in a car accident, his wife Alice (Souheila Yacoub) reluctantly joins the rest of his family for a funeral and memorial weekend at the family home, which has been handed off to Will’s younger brother, Joe (Hunter Doohan). Alice is close with Joe and his girlfriend, Thya (Luciane Buchanan), but her relationships with mother-in-law Susan (Tandi Wright) and father-in-law Edgar (Erroll Shand) are much more fraught. And Will’s grandmother, Polly (Maude Davey) seems to be in a stage of dementia where she only remembers the past, and has permanently confused Susan for her deceased sister, Bonnie. Susan is brittle and furious in a way that goes beyond her overpowering grief. She’s entirely martyred herself to the needs of her family, even saying she’s “nothing” without them, and obviously expects Alice to follow in her footsteps of caretaking, even in Will’s absence. Edgar is gruff, glaring, and starts off looking like some sort of paramilitary man who’s been dropped in by helicopter to merc everyone else in the movie. Polly openly hates and mistrusts everyone except Will. Both parents are angry with Joe for letting the house fall into disrepair, and needle him repeatedly about the writing career that still hasn’t gotten off the ground. Thya seems to be treated a little bit better than Alice, simply because Susan and Edgar are openly pissed that their son married a French girl. Susan plans to make Alice, her son’s widow, sleep on a shitty camp bed in the attic despite all the bedrooms downstairs, just to drive home that she still isn’t welcome. What I’m saying is that by the time everyone’s around a table having a post-funeral lunch, snarling at each other, insulting each other, berating Alice for saying that she might not want to keep running Will’s restaurant, this movie is already a full-blown horror. But of course there’s eerie Kandarian stuff in the attic, and of course Grandpa, long deceased, was up to some interesting work in the occult field. It also turns out some demons have already been targeting this family and are working their way in to destroy them. If you’ve seen the trailer, it’s one snippet of one scene from about halfway through Evil Dead Burn, and it’s a great taste of what the final two-third of the movie brings. Once the demons show up, the filmmakers barely give you a moment to breathe. The violence and gore are over-the-top, operatic, absolutely un-survivable by actual human beings. If you enjoy watching all the ways a human body can be ripped apart, you’ll probably dig this film. But there is more going on here than just splatter. The performances are all incredible horror movie performances, but I want to take a moment to especially highlight Souheila Yacoub’s work, as she embodies sorrow, regret, rage, numbness, bitterness, shock. She has to run through an entire grieving process, fend off her terrible in-laws, and be realistically terrified of demons, and I didn’t doubt her for a second. Especially rich is her relationship with Susan, and Tandi Wright is so good, all wounded, accusing eyes and long-suffering sighs. She even manages some stellar passive-aggression after the demon invasion is in full swing.   Director Sébastien Vaniček’s precious film, Infested, commented on xenophobia in Parisian culture via a terrifying spider invasion. Here he and co-screenwriter Florent Bernard aren’t doing a one-to-one “the demons equal grief” thing, but more fitting a story about an imploding family into the Evil Dead mythos. An absentee dad, a sister who falls terminally ill, a mother in the throes of dementia, the daughter who takes care of everyone—all of that is real, and difficult, but when the dad is absentee because he’s been researching demons that are real, it adds a whole new dimension. Bringing us into the story at the point where all the family trauma has been visited upon the next generation allows them to drop us into all the story just as the resentment and anger would have boiled over anyway, and then bringing the demons in to feast, is an inspired way to use supernatural horror to talk about real life. I do also want to make it clear, however, that this movie is a meat grinder. (Often a really blackly hilarious one.) A funeral is played for laughs. No pet or exposed limb or ear is safe. Basically every sharp or heavy object in the house gains Chekhovian significance at some point. (What the cheese grater was to Rise, an open dishwasher is to Burn. Delightful!) Weed-whackers, power drills, and serrated turkey carving knives, and, in one long set piece, pretty much the entire interior of a car, are all used to excellent effect. Fountain pens are used as weapons multiple times. There’s a surprising amount of supernaturally significant saliva. There is a gross, bloody, viscous kiss in this film that goes on for at least 30 seconds longer than it needs to—or at least, that’s what my audience’s reaction seemed to indicate. The film walks a fine line where most of the older members of the Price family are terrible, so it’s kind of fun to watch them get tortured, but also Alice, Joe, and Thya are decidedly not terrible, so I was still invested in them in a way that I’m really not with Evil Dead 2 or Army of Darkness. Evil Dead Burn links back to the Evil Dead Rise in the opening scene and in the de rigueur after-credits sequence, but aside from that it’s a standalone story taking place in the same universe as the others. The more you know about the franchise, the more fun it’ll be (there’s one particular moment with Alice and the Necronomicon that made me hoot with delight), but it also works on its own if you’re completely new to the films. This is also a dark story, much more in line with the tragedy of 2013’s Evil Dead reboot, I think, than the campy antics of Rise. But as I said up top, I’m incredibly impressed that these movies can encompass what ends up being a story of finding strength and moving on even when everything around you is telling you to give up and let the demons win. I’m not sure the deeper story always completely works, but I’m excited that Vaniček and Bernard took a big emotional swing with their Evil Dead movie, along with the big Grand Guignol one, and I’m excited to see where they, and the franchise, go next.[end-mark] The post <em>Evil Dead Burn</em> Is an Extreme, Gruesome, Darkly Fun Addition to the Series appeared first on Reactor.

News What to Watch What to Watch and Read This Weekend: Against My Better Judgment, Silo Plus: Come for the Hugo finalists, stay for the divisive reviews By Molly Templeton | Published on July 10, 2026 Photo: Apple TV Comment 0 Share New Share Photo: Apple TV I am constitutionally incapable of thinking about the month of July without getting The Decemberists’ “July, July!” stuck in my head. I am not even that huge of a Decemberists fan! It’s just stuck there! Perhaps this explains something about my mental state as we sit, here, halfway through the year already. I just can’t seem to accept that we’re that much closer to having to read the word Dunesday over and over again as the Dune Part 3/Avengers: Doomsday shared release date draws nearer. But there are so many things to read and watch before then. If you have not yet hung out in Widow’s Bay, now—now that the first season has not only wrapped up, but also earned a pile of Emmy nominations—is the time. Please: You need to meet Patricia. Patricia is the greatest character to turn up on TV in a hot minute, and what’s more, she’s only one of several incredible women on that show. Justice and fame for Dale Dickey, I say. Whether you are a go-out-and-greet-the-sun person or a stay-in-and-watch-TV person, I hope you have a lovely weekend. Hug your friends, call your reps, and don’t forget to hydrate, okay? Against My Better Judgment, I Am Watching Silo It’s very funny to me that Silo, a show about people living in an underground silo while the surface of the planet is uninhabitable, returned the day before July 4th. Some people these days seem to think bunkers-while-the-world-burns is a great idea! (I disagree.) It just seems timely in a very weird way. The show itself continues to be weirdly watchable while also nonsense. I quite liked the first season; the second season kept making Juliette go horror-swimming; the third has found a new horror for her: Medically induced amnesia. I hate amnesia plots, wherein we must re-do and re-learn things we have already learnt and done; they feel like the worst hamster wheels. And yet! I will keep enjoying Jessica Henwick in the show’s their-past-our-present-ish timeline! I will keep living for every glimpse of the legendary Harriet Walter! I will keep respecting Alexandria Riley’s Lady Macbeth Sims even though I kind of loathe her! What is it with this show? Silo is on Apple TV. Short Stories and Novelettes for All! Whether you’re a Hugo voter or not, you can, should you choose, read all of the short stories and novelettes that are finalists for this year’s awards in said categories. That’s right: They’re all online. And because I think we should probably all read more short fiction, I rounded up all the links for you. Voilà:  Best Short Story Finalists “10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days” by Samantha Mills (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 63) “In My Country” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld, Issue 223) “Laser Eyes Ain’t Everything” by Effie Seiberg (Diabolical Plots, May 16, 2025) “Missing Helen” by Tia Tashiro (Clarkesworld, Issue 226) “Six People to Revise You” by J.R. Dawson (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 62) “Wire Mother” by Isabel J. Kim (Clarkesworld, Issue 229) Best Novelette Finalists “Kaiju Agonistes” by Scott Lynch (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 62) “Never Eaten Vegetables” by H.H. Pak (Clarkesworld, Issue 220) “Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy” by Martha Wells (Reactor, July 10, 2025) “The Girl That My Mother Is Leaving Me For” by Cameron Reed (Reactor, April 2, 2025) “The Millay Illusion” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 67) “When He Calls Your Name” by Catherynne M. Valente (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 65) If you read this and have strong opinions, well, it’s not too late to register and vote for the Hugo winners! The deadline for voting is August 8, and I have a lot of reading to do. Sometimes Depressing Longreads Are Good Things This is actually what I read over the holiday weekend: A fantastic n+1 piece by Bathsheba Demuth about history, amnesia, the Trump family, and this country’s weird relationship with Greenland. Sorry to cough up a cliche, but these are not things I learned in history class. It’s also, as so many histories on this continent are, about the people already living in the places that colonizers consider theirs for the taking. I am terrible at describing anything to do with history, so I’m going to shut up and just repeat: this is really worth reading. Let People Not Like Things Occasionally, in bookish spaces, a debate crops up about negative reviews: do we need them, what are they for, how should they work, a whole bunch of questions to which my own personal answers remain the same. Yes, people should write negative reviews, though I understand why writers (and outlets) often prefer to focus on the positive. There are so many books; there is so little time. But! Every so often you come across a banger. In the latest Strange Horizons, Hugo-winning writer Abigail Nussbaum tackled Daniel Kraus’ Angel Down, which just won the Pulitzer Prize (a win claimed and enjoyed by both the SFF and horror communities). Nussbaum was not impressed. For several reasons, I have not read this book (see above re: so many books; a general disinclination toward stories involving WWII and/or angels), and so I’m not making any claims here about the “correctness” of Nussbaum’s take (there’s no such thing; all criticism is subjective). I’m just appreciating the art of the review itself.[end-mark] The post What to Watch and Read This Weekend: Against My Better Judgment, <i>Silo</i> appeared first on Reactor.

News The Hunger Games All Five Hunger Games Movies Will Be in Theaters in September I volunteer to be seated By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on July 9, 2026 Screenshot: Lionsgate Comment 0 Share New Share Screenshot: Lionsgate Have plans for early September? If you’re a Hunger Games fan, you sure do! Today, Fathom Entertainment and Lionsgate announced that all five Hunger Games films will show in theaters before the premiere of the newest movie, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, on November 20, 2026. “We’re kicking off the countdown to the 50th Hunger Games by inviting audiences back to the theaters to see these epic films on the big screen,” Kevin Grayson, President, Worldwide Distribution for the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group said in a statement. “Sunrise on the Reaping is the most highly anticipated Hunger Games film yet, and to get ready, we’re proud to partner with Fathom to give audiences the opportunity to experience all five original films together in theaters.” The five films heading to theaters (all of which, of course, are adaptations of Suzane Collins’ novels) are: The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2, and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.  The five movies will play in theaters from September 3 to 7, 2026. Where they’ll be playing depends on your location, but Fathom already has a website set up where you can get details. One thing to note is that it looks like one movie will be screening each day, in order of their theatrical release, NOT the in-universe timeline. That means that September 3 will see The Hunger Games in theaters, and the final day, September 7, will have The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. Fathom also released a short trailer to celebrate the event, which they are dubbing The Hunger Games: All Five Films. Happy watching! [end-mark] The post All Five Hunger Games Movies Will Be in Theaters in September appeared first on Reactor.