Niche question perhaps… I used to love Point Horror when I was a kid. Me and the Mrs both thought it was weird that we never ever see these in charity shops.. we’ve both been actively looking for a few months.. is this just bad luck on our part? They’re the sort of thing I would expect to see in abundance.

I know I can find them online, but just seems weird these aren’t a staple of the charity shop book shelf (in the same way that you see hundreds of copies of the Dragon Tattoo trilogy and Dan Brown and the like).

Particular favourites of mine were The Cheerleader, The Fever and The Snowman

by AceZeppelin81

42 comments

  1. I think I’ve read The Train from the image.
    I liked The Window, a Rear Window rip-off.

  2. Because they are all buried in the garden along with the worry dolls and the photo of  that two-faced cow, Sharon, from Home Ec, in a voodoo ritual you got from a genuine shaman you met in an AOL chat room? 

    …Or, I dunno, still in your wee cousin’s house? They were always stealing mine.

    (I loved the Catdogs one, or the Masque of Red Death rip off)

    Edit: I think I’ve found a website that has the stories and some reviews!

    https://www.pointhorror.com/1210/

    This is my favourite story!

  3. I almost exclusively buy books from charity shops unless it’s something I am desperate to get my hands on and I do find that horror in general, regardless of subgenre, are really lacking and hard to get your hands on compared to other genres. I get its niche but I do wonder if they don’t get put out as often compared to the more lighthearted stuff. I’ve found this up and down the country so maybe not even a geographical thing?

  4. hahaha my wife and I got a bit nostalgic for these a few months ago and I bought about 10 off ebay and from online second hand bookshops.

    They appear to have held their value fairly well, but…well, lets just say the writing is better when you are still in puberty.

  7. I bloody loved point horror! So much better than goosebumps!

  8. I sadly got rid of most of mine but I kept my forbidden game trilogy. Wish I had kept the rest too. I think they are hard to find now because they stopped being printed a long time ago. My collection was all from charity shops, but that was not far off 30 years ago now.

    Also loved point horror unleashed

  9. I used to absolutely inhale these as a teenager. Haven’t read one in over twenty years though and I think I’ll keep it as a fond memory. Fun to see some of the covers again tho.

  10. Oh wow core memories unlocked! It was my favourite thing every sat to WH Smith to buy one of these. Im going to have to try find them again now.

  11. We were very into Christopher Pike books which were similar reading I think. It was often a murder mystery with some awful backstory. Loved them!

  12. I volunteer in a charity shop and have never come across any either. I adored these as a teen even venturing into the other point series which were not as fun at all. I am still haunted by the description of the ‘vampire ‘ in I think ‘The Cheerleader ‘. He’s described at one point as having grey spongey skin. No idea why that one stuck with me. Haven’t read them since but I know a friend who still has some of them.

  13. I have a soft spot for the short story anthologies, because although the main series was American, the short stories were EXTREMELY British. One was by Philip Pullman!

  14. I remember walking into town on a Saturday and heading to WH Smith to buy these every few weeks. I was just talking to my local librarian about them and she hadn’t come across any for a while and said she would search other libraries to see what was available. My kids would love these as much as I did.

  15. The dead girlfriend left me with childhood trauma thanks to the part involving a cat and a pot of spaghetti.

    Was listening to the book on tape on the way to the caravan as a child and had to stop listening at that point and what made things worst was we had spaghetti that night.

  16. I’ve only ever found a couple. I kept some of my favourites from when I was a kid, they were SO good!

  17. Because they are there lurking on 20 year old black dusty bookshelves in rooms and cave rooms

  18. I loved these. Goosebumps was first but I moved on to Point Horror.

  19. I loved these books. My sister used to get one a week at the local bookshop and got angry when I would read them. I still have a few and recently bought the Forbidden Game, which was my favourite. I remember crying reading book 2, and I was desperate to name my first born Julian. Thankfully, I didn’t!

  20. Omg I forgot all about these books!! I had a few of them when I was about 14. Seeing these has brought back memories

  21. Wow I loved those but haven’t seen them for years. Thank you! I wonder what happened to mine.

    I remember one with a fairground picture on the front? I preferred them to goosebumps.

  23. I loved Point Horror! The first that I ever read was The Cheerleader when I was 9. I loved that book so much, along with April Fools though my favourite was The Stranger.

  24. I just noticed The Forbidden Games trilogy. I had such a crush on Julian even though he was terrible.

  25. I used to borrow these from the library when I was younger. There are a few on kindle unlimited for anyone who has it.

  26. Had these as a kid. There was a collection of stories – point horror 13 I think.
    The babysitter was one of the first i read , was good but the sequels were shit. R L stine!

  28. I loved these! I think I still have a copy of The Forbidden Game but I’m not sure if I never read the sequel….

  29. I collect these! I also rarely see them in charity shops, and I volunteer in a charity bookshop. We almost never get them in, it’s odd.

    Even harder to find are the Unleashed and Mutant Point Horror books.

  30. Does anyone remember they also did a ‘scarier’ series called Point Horron Unleashed?

    I seem to recall they had another brand as well for all the stuff that didn’t fit Horror or Crime, which was just called ‘Point’

  31. Freeze Tag was one of my top ones.

    The Boyfriend has given me a fear of holding hands in a pocket for a lifetime (99% sure it was The Boyfriend and not The Girlfriend).

    I like seeing how many charity shops in one trip has either 50 Shades or 50 Sheds…. There’s not much difference in numbers

  32. You reminded me of another series of books. In the Vein of Darren Shan. They were like set in Australia I think.

  33. Used to love this series, especially the RL Stine books! Still have a couple around but think I threw most out sadly. I don’t remember any of the stories particularly but I remember a lot of the book covers artworks!

  34. Julian from Forbidden Game. I cried at the end of the third book. I was so in love with him.

  35. Make sure you read the forbidden game and get hold of the third one.

  36. I’ll stick my neck out and say that the three Point Horror anthologies *Thirteen: 13 Tales of Horror* are genuinely excellent. The shorter format always works better with spooky stories, and they got a lot of different, very good British authors to contribute short stories that didn’t normally write for Point horror, including Philip Pullman.

  37. Absolutely loved these, I loved horror from an early age and these where a god send to the younger me!

  38. Oh wow, I used to love these. I now want to read them again. Dream Date (I think it was called!) was my favourite.

  39. Loved Point Horror. Perfect sized books, simple but fun stories. I graduated to Stephen King thanks to Point Horror. 👍

  40. I just had the most epic flashback to my childhood 🥹

    Also the forbidden game was ridiculous, who the fuck would choose the whiny human bf over Julian!? Its been 30 years and I’m still salty.

  41. I found The Snowman and Beach Party in a charity shop last year!

  42. *
    Here’s my collection- all charity shop finds but from about 5 years ago. You just don’t see them around any more so I’m glad I picked them up when I could!

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