What Sleeps Beneath is an online magazine that explores the horror genre as one of the most important cultural vehicles of our time. It is a home for all horror-loving nerds, and a space to investigate what the genre tells us about ourselves. We write book and movie reviews, conduct interviews, and write original academic research.
Browse the full archive, or search for a specific article. Not sure where to start? Use the drop-down to browse by topic, format, or subgenre.
Archive
- B-Movies & Cult Classics
- Body Horror
- Books & Literature
- Classic Horror Films
- Cosmic Horror
- Cults & Religious Horror
- Essays
- Events
- Folk Horror
- Found Footage & Mockumentary
- Gendered & Queer Horror
- Ghosts & Hauntings
- Holiday Horror
- Independent Films
- International Horror
- Interviews
- Lists
- Possession & Exorcism
- Recipes
- Sci-Fi Horror
- Slashers
- Survival & Environmental Horror
- TV
- Thrillers
- True Crime
- Vampires
- Werewolves & Transformations
- Women in Horror
- Zombies
How YouTube Became the New Home of Horror
Films with a running time of fifteen minutes or less have racked up millions of views since premiering on YouTube through channels like ALTER, a channel exclusively for horror short films. This (often) low-budget filmmaking mirrors the immediacy of urban legends that play on fears of stranger danger or uncanny worries that something terrible can happen to an ordinary person like you.
WSB x Moving Picture Review: Weapons
Weapons stars Julia Garner (Apartment 7A, Wolfman) as Justine, a 3rd grade teacher whose entire class suddenly goes missing in the night—each student, of their own accord, having woken at 2:17 a.m., walked out their front doors, and ran off into the dark, arms spread like an eerie “Naruto run.”
WSB x Moving Picture Review: Together
Dave Franco and Alison Brie star in Together, a body-horror-tinged warning against codependent relationships and a PSA to always bring water purification tablets on your hikes.
‘Jaws’ 50th Anniversary: There’s Still Blood in the Water
“You’re going to need a bigger boat,” Chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) trembles, having seen the great white shark Quint (Robert Shaw) and Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) have been collectively searching for—hunting for—for the first time since the people of Amity Island started being consumed by the eating machine.
‘Sweet Relief’ Leans into its Mumblegore Influences
As a masked figure called the “Sweet Angel” goes viral in a social media challenge, three teens play the game as a joke, each nominating someone they’d like to see die. But when they are unexpectedly chosen by the Angel, they’re forced to follow through on their nominations, or risk death themselves.
[Book Review] ‘Weird Sisters; Tales From The Queens of the Pulp Era’
[…] with Weird Sisters, Ashley once again delves into that class of weird tale which, despite their narrative power, have often been unfairly overlooked purely because their authors happened to be women. Overlooked, it has to be clarified, especially in the sense of being writers of weird fiction.
30 Weeks And Counting: A Continuation of Pregnancy Horror
A kick, a push, a hiccup—all strange and new and wild—and admittedly pretty freaky. But what I’m finding in pregnancy horror is that directors rarely explore those natural phenomena. No, there always has to be a sinister monster baby to test our faith and sanity. If only they knew…
Adrian Țofei: Director of ‘We Put the World to Sleep’ and ‘Be My Cat: A Film for Anne’
Continuing our discussion with filmmaker Adrian Țofei, we look at his upcoming feature, We Put the World to Sleep and the toll it takes to live in character, even only partially, for years.
An Interview with Adrian Țofei, Director of ‘Be My Cat: A Film for Anne’
To celebrate its 10-year anniversary, I sat down with the director and star of Be My Cat: A Film for Anne, Adrian Țofei, to talk about his approach to filmmaking, what makes found footage work, and misconceptions people sometimes have about the genre.
Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey [Movie Review]
It’s hard to imagine that Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey could be any further from the vision A.A. Milne had for his characters in the Hundred Acre Wood when he created them in 1926. Now that the characters are in the public domain, however, it didn’t take long for writer/director Rhys Frake-Waterfield to bring the children’s tale to its inevitable, horrifying conclusion.
WSB x Moving Picture Review: Bring Her Back
In Bring Her Back, Andy and his visually impaired stepsister Piper are thrust into the foster care system following the unexpected death of their father. After Andy convinces their social worker not to split the pair up until he turns 18 when he can file for guardianship, Andy and Piper find themselves at the door of Laura, an ex-counselor who became a foster parent after her own daughter’s drowning, and Oliver, her eerily mute ward.
Vigilance Theater Presents: Mac Beth
Vigilance Theater Group presents Mac Beth, adapted by Erica Schmidt and directed by Ingrid Sonnichsen in a modern, immersive Shakespeare experience.
Macabre Spirits and the “RFL”: A Cocktail Recipe
Recently, I was able to get my hands on a bottle of Macabre Spirits, a new limited release sotol (we will discuss this soon) sourced by Matthew Lillard and Mike Flanagan. Included with the bottle of sotol is a novella, written by Mike Flanagan. The book details the consequences of greed, all for the sake of enjoying the finest beverage one’s hands (and money) can get ahold of.
WSB x Moving Picture Review: Clown in a Cornfield
Directed by Eli Craig and based on the novel by Adam Cesare, Clown in a Cornfield stars Katie Douglas as Quinn, a teen forced to move to Kettle Springs with her father Glenn played by Aaron Abrams following the death of her mother. After finding herself in detention on her first day of school, Quinn falls in with the local gang of amateur YouTubers who’ve built their following on a web series that turns the town’s de facto mascot into a crazed masked killer.
Mothers Who Hate Their Daughters
This Mother’s Day, honor the moms who haunt your nightmares. From Carrie’s fanatical matriarch to the chilling mothers of Pearl, Run Rabbit Run, Orphan, and more, these films dive deep into the horrors of maternal control, neglect, and obsession. Because sometimes, the scariest place to be is in your own family.
Presence (2025) [Movie Review]
Presence follows the Payne family as they settle into their new suburban home, and almost immediately, cracks begin to show in the family dynamics. When Chloe senses the presence in her bedroom, Rebekah and Tyler dismiss her as attention-seeking and disruptive, but soon enough, they all witness the poltergeist-like activities firsthand.
Shudder Original: Frewaka (2025) [Movie Review]
Fréwaka stars Clare Monnelly as Shoo (short for Siubhán), a primary care worker tasked with looking after Peig (Bríd Ní Neachtain), a recovering stroke survivor who exhibits signs of dementia and delusions, and who finds herself mixed up in a supernatural struggle between realms.
WSB x Moving Picture Review: Sinners
The newly released film Sinners by Ryan Coogler takes center stage on vampire lore. Building on the decades long tale, Coogler reimagines this classic monster in a timely and creative new light.
[Movie Review] Dead Mail (2024)
Dead Mail, an eerie new thriller on Shudder, blends lo-fi '80s aesthetics, haunting synths, and a story of obsession into a truly unforgettable descent into loneliness and delusion.
Looking Fear in the Eye: The Psychology and Symbolism of Eyes in Horror Films
Beyond taking place in terrifying environments like ghost towns and haunted houses, horror films can strike fear and terror into audiences by featuring the human body, often in distorted or modified forms.