9 eerie photo books to sink your teeth into this Halloween

Daido Moriyama’s atmospheric Tales of Tono propels a narrative of history, place and lore. Inspired by Kunio Yanagita’s collection of folktales compiled in 1910, the great Japanese photographer transposes the spirit demons of yesteryear to the haunted hinterlands of contemporary Tono, the traces of which are found in vending machines and graves. In this updated edition, the sweeping diptychs, set against murky black pages, make for a lyrical, illusive and elliptical viewing. It’s perfect for a Halloween-themed bedtime story hour.

Tales of Tonois published by Akio Nagasawa Publishing.

Hot off the press is this reissue of Ken Werner’s wild and feverish chronicle of San Francisco’s flamboyant late-1970s Halloween celebrations. Kooky, queer and cartoon characters go “boo” in the night, parading costumes of furs and rhinestones and feathers. We recommend this book with a big bowl of candy on the side. 

Halloweenis published by Anthology. 

The prodigiously talented Carlijn Jacobs never seems to miss, and her now hard-to-get book of eyes embodies everything that we adore about the Dutch surrealist. Elaborate, beguiling, theatrical and strange, these makeup designs offer portals to interior worlds – brimming with memories, dreams, fears and desires – not to mention ample inspiration for your All Hallows’ Eve looks. 

Eyesis published by Note Note Éditions.

David Lynch makes snowmen sinister in this literally chilling volume, set in his hometown of Boise, Idaho, and featuring petrifying penmanship on the cover and inside. Mixing real suburban front lawns with fictionalised villains (think Jack Frost), Lynch invokes feelings of something at once ominous, disturbing and uncanny – in a way that only he does. 

Snowmenis published by Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain.

This luxurious, XL book by Camille Vivier is set in the fantastical house and garden of HR Giger, the Swiss artist known for designing the creature in Ridley Scott’s Alien. Vivier’s female models are let loose in Giger’s world, transforming into protagonists as they perform their bare bodies against steampunky, biomechanical sculptures and furniture. It’s a phantasmagorical journey of a book, mixing sci-fi, horror and girl power!

HR Gigeris published by Scheidegger & Spiess.

Slip the leash and escape into the parallel universe of Lieko Shiga with this scintillating classic. Describing Canary is indeed like describing a dream – it never sounds as good as when you’re dreaming it. It’s edge of the seat stuff, taking you through a wild series of supernatural scenes and trippy visions. Spine-tingling all round. 

Canaryis published by Akaaka.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the scariest of them all? Zombies, skeletons and mythical fox spirits are amongst the many characters the Japanese artist Tokyo Rumando embodies in this brilliant and badass book. The enchanted looking glass transforms her self-portraits from a story into a play, performed at her own stage theatre which traverses a magical dream-nightmare land. It’s pure fantasy – both hers and yours. 

Orphéeis published by Zen Foto Gallery.

Lamentably, Kamaitachi by the late Eikoh Hosoe fetches giddying prices online, but the Aperture reprint is very much worth the trip to the second-hand bookshop. This masterful body of work from 1969 is a performance piece produced with avant-garde ankoku butō dancer Tatsumi Hijikata, who plays a dancing demon, haunting the rice fields of northern Japan and slashing villagers with a sickle, with Hosoe always on his tail. It’s arguably the greatest collaboration in the history of photography – an unforgettable tale of guts, ghosts and simmering doom. 

Kamaitachiis published by Aperture.