Reviews

The Horror Film by Isabel Cristina Pinedo, Casper Tybjerg, Mary Beth Oliver, Ian Conrich, Stephen Prince, Meghan Sanders, Steven Jay Schneider, David J. Skal, Jonathan Crane, Mikita Brottman, Caroline J. S. Picart, Cynthia A. Freeland, Joanne Cantor, David A. Frank, Carlos Clarens

sistermagpie's review

4.0

Interesting collection of essays about horror movies. I especially liked the ones that tried to look at things that a lot of writing on the subject ignores, like the question of exactly what makes a horror film effective. Unfortunately, the essay on that subject didn't have a lot of data, so it was more about how somebody should really look at the handful of horror films since 1960 that seem to genuinely have lasting power to scare people and see what makes them work. But the author couldn't do it themselves because they didn't have that study.

The final essay was also really interesting, looking at studies of why people like horror movies. There were times when I was a little wary of it because I was of course worried about the usual idea that people watch horror movies because they're men who lack empathy and like watching bad people (i.e., women who have sex etc.) get what's coming to them or just like gore. Or that girls go to horror movies with guys so guys can be strong and protect them. But the essay made a point to talk about "thrillers"--movies that are basically about terror and suspense but lack gore, and pointed out that women are often big fans of horror that's less violent like "The Sixth Sense" and "The Others," two movies that had recently come out when the book was written.

I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who likes horror and likes reading about horror.