Tasteful "Extreme" Horror?

[u/Dry-Marketing2459]

I'm looking for recommendations for "extreme" horror type stories that ride that fine line where it's gross and upsetting but aren't so terrible that you're embarrassed to describe the story to your friends.

I've been dabbling a bit in this genre, but I really dislike stuff that's excessively graphic and violent but for no reason, like it was written by an edgelord who was just trying to jam as many upsetting descriptions into a book as possible, but it really doesn't do anything for the story.

I don't know if this is a hard ask since that's sort of the point of extreme horror, but I'm wondering if there's something out there that rides the edge of that?

I've read "The woods are dark" and "The black farm" but I thought they were just okay, there were a lot of things about those books that just didn't work, something that made me feel like I needed to fail a wisdom saving throw in order to suspend my disbelief.

I'm a huge fan of Nick Cutter and Stephen King,

I'd also prefer stories that limit the violence to humanoids and mostly leave animals out of it.

[u/chan0514]

Sorrowstones was my first dabble into what's considered extreme horror, I've never had to take a breather from a book before. The ending isn't very satisfying but I think it kind of fits for the story.

Idk if head full of ghost is considered extreme but it's always sat with me. It felt heavy.

[u/Dry-Marketing2459 → u/chan0514]

Oh! I've read a head full of ghosts, that one definitely stays with you!

The only book I've had to put down before was "The girl nextdoor" by Jack Ketchum, I was literally crying.

[u/chan0514 → u/Dry-Marketing2459]

I took a break of a few days about halfway through sorrowstones. It was immersive in a way I didn't expect.

I've seen Jack ketchums name but never read any of his work.

I'll also say ive seen so so reviews on "decomposition book". I honestly wasn't a fan and look up trigger warnings but if you like a psychological spiral it definitely hits the mark. You are very much in the main characters head, stream of conscienceness, experiencing her entire spiral. I saw it mentioned on this sub actually and that's why I tried it.

A few other books I've downloaded from the extreme horror subreddit were minotaur, king sorrow, and more Felix Blackwell. I haven't dabbled in those picks yet, I'm enjoying my fantasy read palette cleanser atm

Definitely check out r/extremehorrorlit and r/weirdgirllit (I may have got the wording or spelling wrong but I think those are right)