5 Horror Books I Knew Would Be Masterpieces From the First Chapter

Claes Bang as Count Dracula in BBC One's 'Dracula'

Published Sep 30, 2026, 12:27 AM EDT

Dyah (pronounced Dee-yah) is a Senior Author at Collider, responsible for both writing and transcription duties. She joined the website in 2022 as a Resource Writer before stepping into her current role in April 2023. As a Senior Author, she writes Features and Lists covering TV, music, and movies, making her a true Jill of all trades. In addition to her writing, Dyah also serves as an interview transcriber, primarily for events such as San Diego Comic-Con, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Sundance Film Festival.

Dyah graduated from Satya Wacana Christian University in October 2019 with a Bachelor's degree in English Literature, concentrating on Creative Writing. On March 2026, Dyah graduated with Master's degree in English Literature Studies, with a thesis on intersectionality in postcolonial-feminist studies in Asian literary works.

Born and raised between Indonesia and Singapore, Dyah is no stranger to different cultures. She now resides in the small town of Kendal with her husband and four cats, where she spends her free time cooking or cycling.

It takes more than cheap scares to turn a horror book into a masterpiece. No matter the century, horror remains timeless. Whether these stories are real or not is ultimately a matter of belief, but their core is simple: They warn us about what happens when we attempt to mess with things beyond our understanding.

The best horror stories don't just give personality to the paranormal; they show that humans can be just as horrifying, with their darkest instincts manifesting in the ugliness that defines the genre. From a classic haunted house to a bloodthirsty count with fangs, here are five horror books I knew would be masterpieces from the first chapter.

1 'Dracula' (1897)

The original cover of the 'Dracula' novel by Bram Stoker

Bram Stoker's Dracula set the standard for future vampire literature, influencing works like Interview with the Vampire and Salem's Lot while also paving the way for lighter takes on the genre, such as Twilight. Told through journal entries and other documents, the novel immediately feels like an intimate, firsthand account. Chapter 1, written from Jonathan Harker's perspective, follows his journey toward Count Dracula's estate, beginning with his arrival in Bistritz, in present-day Romania, where he makes several stops before reaching his destination. In today's terms, the chapter almost feels like "a day in my life" scenario, with Harker documenting his journey as it unfolds.

Part of the novel's appeal is the diary-like format, which gives Harker's narration a distinct personality while making readers feel as though they are experiencing his journey alongside him. More importantly, Chapter 1 cleverly avoids explicitly describing Dracula himself. Instead, Harker learns about him through the reactions of the villagers he encounters along the way. When Harker tells them where he is headed, they cross themselves, warn him against continuing, and even urge him to cancel the trip. When he refuses, one villager gives him a crucifix for protection, despite Harker's skepticism. The horror is already brewing, not because Dracula has appeared, but because everyone around Harker seems terrified of him.

2 'The Haunting of Hill House' (1959)

The Haunting of Hill House - 1959 - book cover

Apparently, there's a lot of logistics involved before anyone can conduct research on a haunted house, and Shirley Jackson captures that experience perfectly in Chapter 1 of The Haunting of Hill House. As an anthropologist with a passion for the supernatural, Dr. John Montague is determined to prove the existence of the paranormal by going straight to the source: a supposedly haunted house. The problem is that his research has neither the credibility nor the proper resources to support his claims, leaving him ridiculed by other scholars. Still, that doesn't stop him from pursuing his work, and Jackson wastes no time establishing just how seriously Montague takes his research, even when everyone else seems to think it's ridiculous.

Chapter 1 is less about the actual haunting and more about everything that has to happen before Montague can even begin his investigation. From finding the right property to securing permission to stay there and selecting the people who will accompany him, there is an almost absurd amount of preparation involved. Montague even carefully considers the personalities and backgrounds of his potential assistants, because apparently studying ghosts requires good team chemistry, too. It's an amusingly mundane setup for what is supposed to be a supernatural investigation, but that's exactly why it's interesting.

Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes What Is Your Biggest Horror Nightmare? Elm Street · Chucky · Scream · The Conjuring

Four horror franchises. Four completely different ways of scaring you. One waits until you fall asleep. One makes sure nobody believes you. One is already in your group of friends. And one is in the house with your family. Answer eight quick questions about how you actually watch horror, and find out which nightmare was built for you.

😴Elm Street(Freddy Krueger)

🧸Chucky(Child's Play)

📞Scream(Ghostface)

🕯️The Conjuring(The Warren Files)

FIND YOUR NIGHTMARE →

Which horror scene makes you cover your eyes? Four classic images. One of them is worse than the others for you.

ASomebody falling asleep when they really should not. BA toy that has moved, and nobody touched it. CA phone ringing in an empty house. DA child talking to somebody who is not there.

NEXT QUESTION →

You are home alone and you hear a noise. First thought? Everybody has one. It arrives before you have decided anything.

AI am exhausted and my mind is playing tricks on me. BSomething in this room is not where I left it. CSomebody is in here with me. DThis house has never felt entirely right.

NEXT QUESTION →

Which horror movie rule would you break first? Everybody thinks they would survive. Almost nobody actually does.

ANever fall asleep. BNever leave it out of your sight. CNever answer the phone. DNever go down to the basement.

NEXT QUESTION →

Something genuinely frightening happens. What do you do? Not in a film. In your actual living room, tonight.

AConvince myself I imagined the whole thing. BTell someone, and brace for them not believing me. CWork out which person I know could be behind it. DGet everybody in the house into one room.

NEXT QUESTION →

How do you actually watch a horror film? Be honest about this one. Nobody is checking.

AFine during. Wide awake at two in the morning. BShouting at the screen that nobody is listening. CCalling the twist out loud before it lands. DThrough my fingers, holding on to something.

NEXT QUESTION →

Somebody offers you serious money. Which do you still refuse? The amount does not matter. There is one on this list you are not doing.

AFall asleep in a room I have never been in before. BKeep an old doll on the shelf facing my bed. CAnswer every unknown number that calls after midnight. DSpend one night alone in a house with a history.

NEXT QUESTION →

Which feeling stays with you a week after the film? Good horror does not stop when the credits do.

ANot wanting to turn the bedroom light off. BNot trusting one particular object in my house. CLooking twice at people I have known for years. DFeeling like something came home with me.

NEXT QUESTION →

Something wakes you at 3am. What is the worst possibility? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides your nightmare.

AThat I am still asleep, and it knows it. BThat the thing nobody believed me about is here. CThat somebody with a key is downstairs. DThat something is in the doorway, watching us sleep.

REVEAL MY NIGHTMARE →

The Lights Just Went Out Your Nightmare Is…

Four franchises, four completely different ways of getting underneath your skin. This is the one built out of your particular fear, why it works so well on you, and what it would leave behind.

Elm Street

Your nightmare does not wait outside the door. It waits for you to close your eyes, which you are going to have to do eventually, because nobody has ever won that particular argument.

Freddy is horror's cruellest idea: a threat that lives in the one place you cannot guard, cannot lock, and cannot avoid forever.
You are the one who is fine during the film and wide awake at two in the morning. Your own head is where this does its damage.
These films understood exhaustion as a horror engine. The kids on Elm Street do not lose because they are weak. They lose because they are tired.
You can lock every door in the house. You still have to sleep.

Chucky

Your nightmare is not really the doll. It is the face of the person you tell, and the way they decide, very kindly, that you have imagined all of it.

Chucky works precisely because he is absurd. That is the trap: the more accurately you describe him, the less anybody is going to believe you.
You are the one shouting at the screen because the characters are not listening. You know that feeling from real life too.
The franchise is at its best when the adults in the room are the real obstacle, and you have met those adults.
By the time somebody finally believes you, you will have handled most of it on your own.

Scream

Your nightmare has your number, knows your name, and has almost certainly been inside your house before. The worst part is that you already know them.

Scream is the only one of these where the killer takes the mask off and turns out to be somebody who was at the party.
You are the person who calls the twist out loud before it lands. You watch people the same way you watch films.
The franchise made the rules of horror part of the plot, which means the survivors are the ones paying attention. You would be paying attention.
Everybody is a suspect, including the person who just offered to walk you home.

The Conjuring

Your nightmare is not really about you. It is about the people asleep down the hall, and the feeling that whatever is here is not interested in leaving.

The Conjuring films are domestic horror. The house, the family, the perfectly ordinary room that quietly stops feeling ordinary.
Your instinct is to get everybody into one room. Your fear is protective rather than personal, which is rarer than it sounds.
This is the one franchise where belief is the weapon. The people who come through it are the ones who are not alone and refuse to be.
Whatever is here did not come for you. It came for the household, and you are the one standing in the hallway.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

3 'Pet Sematary' (1983)

Pet Sematary begins in very Stephen King fashion: by picking apart the everyday flaws of ordinary people. Chapter 1 is only two pages long, but that's all King needs to establish just how chaotic the Creed family already is. Louis Creed has essentially gambled 12 years of his life by moving to Maine to work as a physician at the University of Maine. His career is respectable, but his family life is another story. His wife is anxious, his daughter is sulking, his infant son is fussy, and, to top it all off, their cat is yowling nonstop in the back of the car. Before anything supernatural happens, King makes it clear that Louis is already dealing with a family dynamic that is anything but peaceful.

Told through Louis' inner thoughts, Chapter 1 also has a darkly comedic tone, particularly when he considers abandoning his family in some random town and heading to Florida instead to become a medic at Disney World. It's obviously an absurd thought, but the joke reveals something important about Louis as a father. He loves his family, yet his first instinct when things become overwhelming is to fantasize about escaping them. Even in just two pages, King establishes the flawed, relatable man whose choices will ultimately drive the story's supernatural horror.

4 'Frankenstein' (1818)

The cover of 'Frankenstein' by Mary Shelley

It is truly remarkable that Mary Shelley was only 18 years old when she first conceived Frankenstein. Despite her relatively young age, the novel feels as though it was written by someone far beyond her years, with beautiful prose that almost masks the horror surrounding the arrival of the titular monster. Before readers even reach Chapter 1, Frankenstein begins in an epistolary fashion, with four letters written by Robert Walton to his sister, Margaret Saville. The first recounts Walton's journey toward the North Pole in pursuit of scientific discovery, immediately establishing his pompous nature.

Walton explains that he wants to make sense of the North Pole, determine whether there is a passage connecting it to other countries, and uncover the origins of its magnetism. On the surface, it sounds like a noble scientific endeavor, but Walton quickly comes across as aggressively entitled and self-centered, convinced that he is destined to make one great contribution to humanity. His ambition is admirable in theory, yet something is unsettling about how desperately he wants to prove himself. That hubris becomes crucial to Frankenstein, as Walton's pursuit of knowledge mirrors the grit that ultimately drives Victor Frankenstein to create his monster. In fact, it takes only one letter for Shelley to establish that Walton is dangerously convinced his pursuit of greatness justifies everything.

5 'The Exorcist' (1971)

Despite William Peter Blatty's book being published in the '70s, The Exorcist remains the stuff of urban legends. Although it is fiction, its realistic quality has kept horror enthusiasts debating whether the story is entirely fictional or contains a shred of truth. The novel is allegedly inspired by an actual case of demonic possession from the 1940s, adding to its disturbing reputation. Before Chapter 1 begins, the prologue introduces Father Lankester Merrin, a priest and archaeologist who encounters a strange amulet associated with the demon Pazuzu. Although this happens hundreds of miles away from the United States, Pazuzu is about to become the source of someone else's nightmares in Georgetown.

Chapter 1 then shifts to actress Chris MacNeil and her 11-year-old daughter, Regan, who are staying in a large rented house with their Swiss housekeepers. The chapter wastes no time establishing that something is off, with strange tapping and scratching sounds and furniture mysteriously being moved. What really stands out, though, is how the chapter establishes Chris herself before the horror fully takes over. She is an actress working in an industry that can be demanding, competitive, and filled with difficult people, yet she remains grounded in her role as a mother. That makes the strange occurrences around the house feel even more intrusive because Chris initially has no reason to suspect anything supernatural.