I just discovered Stephen Graham Jones last year with his book Only Good Indians. I loved it and was excited when he came out with Night of the Mannequins came out a few months later. It’s a real quick read and just over 100 pages. It follows Sawyer and his friends as they begin to grow up and potentially grow apart. They decide to get together for a big prank, but things go horribly wrong. Sawyer will do anything to protect the ones he loves even if it means doing the hard thing. His misguided attempt to to become a hero is both funny and disturbing. I have never read anything quite like this and I have not been able to get it out of my head. Jones is one of the most unique horror voices we have today.
Attack the Block is one I saw a few years back and is now one of my favorite horror films. It stars a pre-Star Wars John Boyega who starts off as a troublesome teen who is part of a street gang. But he ultimately has to rise up and protect his neighborhood from an extraterrestrial invasion. This is a great example of the societal nuances only horror can tell. Boyega is incredible in this film and with the recent announcement of a sequel there is plenty for horror fans to get excited about.
These two both struck me in how they give us a main character that we have many preconceived notions about and attempts to flip them by the end of the story. Both are successful in very different ways making them an interesting contrast to one another.
The Neon Banshee 