If you don’t know your Freddy Krueger from your Michael Myers or you haven’t watched Stranger Things yet, it might be difficult to shop for the horror movie fan or spooky person in your life. Fear not: we’re here to help you with a list of must-haves for the discerning fright fiend you’ve been dying to impress.
Elvira Mistress of the Dark
Elvira has a spooky coffee table book bursting with over 350 images, featuring the Queen of Halloween in many never-before-published photos. Get a signed copy for the hardcore fan. $45 – $90
Black Christmas
Waxwork Records, everyone’s favorite fiendish vinyl mavens, have released a deluxe version of the original motion picture soundtrack to Bob Clark’s sinister slasher film classic Black Christmas — widely considered the first slasher in genre cinema history. $27
Stranger Things
Have you seen Barb? She’s a lovely soft enamel pin. $10
Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters
Did you miss the incredible Guillermo del Toro exhibit at LACMA? Pick up the book companion, which features details on the director’s creative process (obsessive journaling galore) and images from Del Toro’s “Bleak House.” It’s a collection of horror, fantasy, and science-fiction ephemera you can’t live without. $20
The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast
Arrow Video has compiled a 17-disc, limited-edition box set featuring the work of Herschell Gordon Lewis, known as the “Godfather of Gore.” From the label:
In 1963, director Herschell Gordon Lewis pulled a cow’s tongue out of an actress’ mouth on camera, and in doing so, changed the landscape of horror cinema forever. That sequence was just one of numerous gruesome gags featured in Blood Feast, the film credited as being the world s first gore movie. It’s no exaggeration to say that the modern gross-out movies of today owe their very existence to the pioneering efforts of H.G. Lewis.
My Pet Monster
Children of the ’80s and ’90s remember My Pet Monster, which started life as an adorably ugly doll and eventually grew into a direct-to-video film. This fuzzy chenille patch is just one part of an epic My Pet Monster collection from Creepy Company. $12
Carrie
Shout Factory has done it again with a new Carrie Blu-ray that will make you want to unleash your secret powers of telekinesis for the sheer fun of it. This collector’s edition comes with special interviews and other goodies. $25
Cat People
Jacques Tourneur’s shadowy masterpiece Cat People received a 2k digital restoration from the almighty Criterion. $32
Ed Wood and the Lost Lugosi Screenplays
Low-budget maestro Ed Wood, of Plan 9 from Outer Space fame, created several unproduced scripts for Bela Lugosi, Universal Pictures’ Dracula icon. This is the story of Vampire’s Tomb and The Ghoul Goes West. $30
The Shining
Pay homage to every horror fan’s favorite Stanley Kubrick film with a Room 237 holiday ornament. $15