5 Winter Horror Stories That Chilled Me to the Bone

Welcome back to Scare Me! a weekly horror newsletter. Today, we’re talking about the seasonal delights of winter horror.

It’s Thanksgiving today in the US! Whether you’re celebrating or merely enduring the holiday season, I hope that wherever you are, there’s at least some pie. I’m off work for the week, cozied up with my partner, our cats, and a big stack of horror novels.

Before I return to the couch, I’ve collected some of my favorite winter horror stories to ring in the season. Writing this made me appreciate just how many multifaceted winter can be, from snow drifts muffling city streets to glitzy parties where attendees shuck off winter coats to the eerie quiet of empty boarding school hallways.

There is no singular way to experience the season.

In no particular order, here are a few of the cold weather horror stories that strike a special chill in my heart.

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For Cocktail Party Season

Eyes Wide Shut captures the bewilderment of glamorous holiday parties better than any other movie I’ve seen. In its opening scene, cocktails flow from bartenders’ quick hands, lights sparkle on every opulent surface, and hushed catastrophes unfold just beyond the guests’ view.

Tom Cruise famously plays a husband whose world is upended by the realization that his wife (played by Nicole Kidman) is an independent being with sexual fantasies and desires of her own. Rocked by this embarrassingly obvious realization, he does the only logical thing: He avoids any conversation with her and instead crashes a masquerade where New York City’s wealthy elite have gathered to indulge in their own private deviances.

I love this weird movie for so many reasons, but I’m especially fond of the many sequences that portray New York City nightlife during the holiday season. Jazz bars packed with humid crowds…taxis splashing through icy puddles…barred grates guarding a closed costume shop…Nicole Kidman dressed head to toe in velvet…it’s truly a feast for the eyes.

If you’re looking for a literary equivalent to Eyes Wide Shut, my pick would be The Magus by John Fowles. A bizarre and twisty mystery, the story follows a British teacher working on a Greek island as he’s drawn into a wealthy expat’s elaborate manipulations.

For Winter in the City

Confession: I avoided watching the Luca Guadagnino’s 2018 remake of Suspiria for years. That finally changed last week, and I’m happy to report that I loved it.

Screenwriter David Kajganich clearly counts on most viewers’ familiarity with Dario Argento’s 1977 classic. His script expands the original movie’s world and lore, offering a fresh and intriguing glimpse of the dance academy coven’s rituals and inner workings.

It’s also a deeply wintery movie. As the plot unfolds, the original film’s torrential rainstorms give way to drifts of city snow. There are no evergreen-swagged Christmas markets selling glühwein in Suspiria’s Berlin. Instead, there are striking scenes in which characters traipse through urban, concrete landscapes, casting worried looks over their shoulders as snowflakes sift down through the streetlights’ yellow glow.

Thom Yorke’s lush, contemplative soundtrack has been on a loop in my headphones, too—a fitting score as the days grow shorter here in Washington, where the sun begins to set as early as 3:00pm.

For Fireside Evenings

“It was nine-thirty on Christmas Eve. As I crossed the long entrance hall of Monk’s Piece on my way from the dining room, where we had just enjoyed the first of the happy, festive meals, toward the drawing room and the fire around which my family were now assembled, I paused and then, as I often do in the course of an evening, went to the front door, opened it and stepped outside.”

So begins Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black. Though it was first published in 1983, The Woman in Black has the eternal feel of a much older classic. Its frame narrative finds a multigenerational family gathered around the fire at Christmas, where they indulge in a tradition of entertaining each other with stories.

But as the fire crackles, our narrator divulges the most harrowing experience of his life. When he was still a young lawyer, Arthur Kipps was dispatched to the lonely salt marshes of Crythin Gifford, where he was tasked with handling the estate of a recently deceased client. When he sees a black-clad figure at her funeral, Arthur has no idea that his life has been put on a new and dangerous track.

Soon, he’s hearing empty rocking chairs creak and the haunting screams of invisible figures drowning in the treacherous marshes. The woman in black has become attached to Arthur, and she’s relentless in her pursuit of his ruin.

This both a genuinely unnerving ghost story and a fast, easy read. I also want to see the made for TV movie that came out in 1989!

For Getting Stuck in a Snowstorm

“What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?”

That’s the sickening question Peter Straub’s characters desperately try to avoid in Ghost Story, his 1979 bestseller. Four elderly men have spent their lives harboring a dark secret, about their encounter with a powerful femme fatale during their youth—and her untimely death.

Now, as a vicious snowstorm threatens to isolate the upstate New York town of Milburn, the past is coming back to haunt them. Through just over 500 pages, we unravel the decades-long series of events that bonded these men together.

But it’s Milburn itself, with its hidden affairs and isolated fields and errant teenagers and troubled outcasts, that really shines. Ghost Story is a precise and memorable portrait of an entire community, deftly weaving stories together into a greater, more harrowing whole.

I read this in the heat of summer, and I wish I’d known just how many snowy scenes awaited me. Upstate New York has towering snow banks that almost exceed imagination, transforming streets into tunnels of ice and whipping up icy winds that cut to the bone. Even if you read it somewhere sunny, you’ll feel a shiver of cold radiate from its pages.

For Deserted Campuses During the Holidays

There is almost nothing scarier than an empty building—except an empty building that isn’t as empty as it’s supposed to be. That’s the primal fear Osgood Perkins explores in his debut film, The Blackcoat’s Daughter.

I’ve seen a lot of disappointment with Perkins’ most recent films, including Longlegs, The Monkey, and Keeper. But The Blackcoat’s Daughter highlights his best qualities as a storyteller, with its opaque yet evocative story, striking imagery, and uneasy tension. Perkins doesn’t tell as much as he hints, offering cryptic scenes that loosely present an occult story.

The movie’s trio of protagonists—played by Emma Roberts, Kiernan Shipka, and Lucy Boynton—are drawn together on a deserted Catholic boarding school campus after the other students have departed for the holidays. Snow-covered grounds, echoing hallways, squealing pipes, and a sinister boiler room are gradually transformed by violence and a horned shadow that’s always slipping just out of frame.

If you’re in the market for a quiet, subdued horror movie that rewards patience, I think The Blackcoat’s Daughter perfectly fits the bill.

Up Next: Reflecting on The Ghosties with Inigo Mort

When I encountered The Ghosties on TikTok, I immediately knew I wanted to reach out to the new short story competition’s founder, Inigo Mort. We hopped on a call a few weeks ago, and next week I’ll share our conversation!

Inigo is exactly as friendly and engaging in real life as he is on social media, where he frequently shares horror book recommendations and reflections on horror’s political underpinnings and opportunities. We talked about how he designed The Ghosties, how the competition’s anonymity empowered new horror writers, and his own creative pursuits.

Meanwhile: After four weeks of reading, I finally came to the end of House of Leaves—and the weekly vlog series I’ve been posting over on TikTok. My handle is the same as IG (@scare.me.reads) so come join me if you’re so inclined! I plan to keep posting odds and ends about horror books I’m reading. It’s been really fun chatting with other readers in the comments.

Scare Me! is a free weekly horror newsletter published every Thursday morning. It’s written by Michelle Delgado, featuring original illustrations by Sam Pugh. You can find the archive of past issues here. If you were sent this by a friend, subscribe to receive more spooky interviews, essays—and maybe even a ghost story or two.