Literary Horror discussion

So, I'm reading my recently acquired copy of Weird Tales 289, and there's a discussion about a group of horror writers meeting in the Musso & Frank Grill on Hollywood Boulevard. (This is apparently a famous site for Horror media creators and actors to meet and eat. Does it still exist?) They came up with a list of the "most chilling moments of Horror." I thought I'd share since many of these seem rather literary. Remember, this is as of 1985.

1. Pickman's Model - H. P. Lovecraft
2. Pigeons from Hell - Robert Howard
3. The Pit and the Pendulum - Edgar Allan Poe
4. Psycho - Robert Bloch
5. The Exorcist - William Peter Blatty
6. The Dunwich Horror - H. P. Lovecraft
7. The Fall of the House of Usher - Edgar Allan Poe
8. The Willows - Algernon Blackwood
9. The House on the Borderland - William Hope Hodgson
10. The Wendigo - Algernon Blackwood
11. The Upper Berth - F. Marion Crawford
12. The Shining - Stephen King
13. Salem's Lot - Stephen King
14. The Waxwork - A. M. Burrage
15. Burn Witch Burn - A. Merritt
16. The Small Assassin - Ray Bradbury
17. Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper - Robert Bloch
18. The Jar - Ray Bradbury
19. The Chicken Heart - Arch Oboler
20. Rosemary's Baby - Ira Levin

There was an interesting discussion from the publisher on these twenty works, but maybe we can have our own.

I personally have read only five of these works, and only one of these recently enough for me to review here on GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Edit: Oh, wait a minute. I reviewed one more on the list: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Dan wrote: "So, I'm reading my recently acquired copy of Weird Tales 289, and there's a discussion about a group of horror writers meeting in the Musso & Frank Grill on Hollywood Boulevard. (Th..."

Based on this list, I think I can say with a very high level of certainty what the members of this group looked like.

Intelligent?

I've read most of those, except for Psycho, and the Crawford, Burrage, Oboler (haven't heard of those last two authors) books, and the Levin. Don't have much interest in Rosemary's Baby or Psycho, but will be checking out those other ones. Your list also reminded me that I need to reread the Howard tale, because it has been so long that I can't recall a thing about it.

Was very happy to see the two classics by Blackwood, one of my favorite authors. also very happy to see Small Assassin, which is super creepy despite its potentially silly subject matter.

I think they should have traded out Salem's Lot for The Mist!

I remember picking up Dark Forces: New Stories of Suspense and Supernatural Horror the month it was first published, the drug store shelf it was on even, reading it as soon as I got home, and loving The Mist instantly. I was surprised how long it took for King's novella to catch on. It hadn't really by 1985. 'Salem's Lot was well regarded at first. They made a film based on it right away. Remember? It has gone down in reputation since. Not sure why. I remember enjoying it when I read it that once more than 40 years ago.

The two authors I had never heard of were A.M. Burrage and Arch Oboler. I have no idea what the deal with Oboler and "Chicken Heart" is. Looks like a cult favorite that didn't make it out of the 1980s.

The work that list most makes me want to check out is #15. I think of A. Merritt as mainly a fantasy author, lots of description, short on drama. Hard to see him writing horror.

Musso & Frank is still around.

This is a fun list; I've read quite a few (not all) of these titles. I don't know that I am going to rush to add "Chicken Heart" to my tbr pile, but Oboler's novel House on Fire was published by Valancourt a few years back. Burrage wrote a number of ghost stories, with "The Waxwork" being his most well known outside of "Smee," which is often included in Christmas ghost-story collections.

Dan wrote: "Intelligent?"

I'm sure they thought so.

I'd like to point out that we're organizing nominations for July's monthly read:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...