Horror: A Biography Horror Book Review

There’s more to horror than cheap thrills. Beginning with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, tales of horror have consistently drawn a connection between transgressive sex and violent death. In this captivating history from the French Revolution to modern Hollywood, E. Michael Jones reveals the origins of horror in the lives of its creators. 

Tormented by her husband’s spectacular debauchery, Mary Shelley created a powerful and unforgettable avenging monster. Rising in repudiation of the very way of life that produced it, Frankenstein’s monster, Jones shows, became the model for all others. 

Turning next to Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Jones follows the progress of horror from the syphilitic underworld of Victorian England to Weimar Germany and the classic film Nosferatu. Bringing his account to the end of the twentieth century, he shows how the Western imagination has responded to the explosive force of the sexual revolution with horror of unprecedented intensity. In the Alien series and other contemporary films, the culture of abortion and [**]ography has spawned a new and terrifying breed of avenging monster. 

Jones’s provocative book: 

Shows fans of Steven King, Anne Rice, and Wes Craven “what lies beneath.” 

Explores the chaotic lives and haunted consciences of the men and women who created horror  

Reveals the connection between sex and horror  

Explains our need for horror—and why we don’t understand it