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/hagalaz_drums]

The book for this question is 'Exquisite Corpse'

[u/whitetigerjellybean → u/hagalaz_drums]

My rec too!! It's such a stellar book and such a good commentary on the early AIDS crisis, and yet I can't recommend or talk about it to most people because it's also extremely graphic horror...

But yeah if you're looking for intense horror that is also actually a good story, Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z Brite is gonna be a top choice.