We all have that one friend who loves to brags about being able to watch scary movies with both eyes fully open. The friend who never gets nightmares. Who's totally immune to jump scares and thinks that all the on-screen blood looks "soooo fake." Pshh, girl, okay. Real ones know that horror books are a thousand times more terrifying than any movie ever could be.

I mean, a movie is essentially someone else's interpretation of a story and how they imagine it. The thrilling part about reading a book is that you get to use your own imagination. And imaginations have a tendency to run wild—when they aren't constrained, they conjure up the darkest, most twisted images ever. I don't know about you, but there's no telling what kinda horrifying sh*t my brain can come up with.

Books, unlike movies, you really have to sit with. The meticulously-detailed and suspenseful plots take up more mental space, not to mention time. So if you're ready to take your obsession with all things scary to the next level (or you just want to prove that you really do fear nothing), grab any one of these famous horror books and settle into the creepiest corner of your apartment.

By the way, if you need a palate cleanser to rid your mind of the darkness, why don't you line up one of 2020's best non-fiction books to read next?