What actually makes a story scary? From Stephen King and Jordan Peele to The Blair Witch Project, Final Destination and The Babadook, this anatomy of horror pulls fear apart to see how structure, psychology, anticipation and emotional stakes make it work.

Smile turns trauma into something that follows you. Smile 2 puts that trauma onstage. From Skye Riley’s public unraveling to the way we consume famous women in crisis, this essay looks at what changed when the curse gained an audience, and where the franchise should go next.

Why do toxic characters become irresistible in fiction, and what happens when the same fascination follows us into real life? From Edward Cullen and Villanelle to Ted Bundy, Wade Wilson and Pamela Rogers Turner, this essay looks at beauty, charisma and the stories we build around dangerous people.

Netflix’s Monster increasingly blurs the boundary between dramatisation and true crime fanfiction. But when real names, victims and unresolved histories are involved, how much creative freedom should writers actually have?

Sydney Sweeney’s Novig campaign has sparked backlash from female athletes, but the bigger question is what happens when controversy itself becomes the marketing strategy. If outrage drives reach, shares and headlines, are we criticising the advert — or helping to distribute it?

The Great Gatsby is remembered as a tragic love story. But somewhere between losing Daisy and finding her again, Gatsby stops loving a woman and starts loving everything he has made her represent.

Somewhere along the way, a good plot twist became synonymous with one nobody could possibly predict. But if a reveal only works because the story hid the pieces from us, is that really clever—or just surprising?

We’ve never had more ways to reach one another, yet surprisingly little of what we say feels worth keeping. Perhaps the inefficiency of writing a letter was never really a flaw at all.

Writers can now edit, design, publish and sell a book without waiting for anybody’s permission. So if publishing is more accessible than ever, what exactly is a traditional publisher still bringing to the table?

Christopher Nolan has built an ancient world with extraordinary physical weight. The problem is that his adaptation sometimes seems less willing to trust the gods, monsters and strange mythology already living inside it.

Bear wishes for Nikki to love him more than anyone else in the world. What if the horror of Obsession isn’t that the wish becomes corrupted—but that it gives him exactly what he asked for?

Taylor Swift promised us a glimpse behind the curtain. But for an album supposedly about the woman beneath the spectacle, The Life of a Showgirl often leaves the performance more visible than the person performing it.