Copyright © 2019 by Meg Hafdahl & Kelly Florence
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.
Cover design by Peter Donahue
Cover photograph by gettyimages
Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-4715-9
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-4718-0
Printed in the United States of America
We dedicate this book to our parents, who let us watch horror movies.
CONTENTS
Introduction
SECTION ONE: SLASHERS
Chapter One: Halloween
Chapter Two: Child’s Play
Chapter Three: A Nightmare on Elm Street
SECTION TWO: SERIAL KILLERS
Chapter Four: Psycho
Chapter Five: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Chapter Six: The Silence of the Lambs
SECTION THREE: VAMPIRES
Chapter Seven: Dracula
Chapter Eight: Nosferatu
Chapter Nine: Jennifer’s Body
SECTION FOUR: REANIMATED CORPSES
Chapter Ten: Night of the Living Dead
Chapter Eleven: Frankenstein
Chapter Twelve: The Mummy
SECTION FIVE: THE POSSESSED
Chapter Thirteen: The Exorcist
Chapter Fourteen: The Tingler
Chapter Fifteen: Get Out
SECTION SIX: DEADLY ANIMALS
Chapter Sixteen: Cujo
Chapter Seventeen: Arachnophobia
Chapter Eighteen: The Birds
SECTION SEVEN: GHOSTS
Chapter Nineteen: Poltergeist
Chapter Twenty: The Shining
Chapter Twenty-One: The Ring
SECTION EIGHT: FROM THE DEPTHS
Chapter Twenty-Two: Creature from the Black Lagoon
Chapter Twenty-Three: Jaws
Chapter Twenty-Four: Alien
SECTION NINE: WITCHES
Chapter Twenty-Five: The Witch
Chapter Twenty-Six: Carrie
Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Blair Witch Project
SECTION TEN: CREATURES
Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Descent
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Tremors
Chapter Thirty: The Wolf Man
A Final Note
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Endnotes
Index
INTRODUCTION
It was nearly twenty years ago when we met because of a T-shirt. I (Meg) was working in a gift shop when Kelly strolled in, The X-Files emblazoned across her chest. An immediate connection was made, the special kind that forms when two people are thrilled to share in their fandom. Before that day, I had spent countless afternoons screening The Shining for my friends, none of whom cared for it or understood my horror obsession. As our friendship grew, Kelly and I eagerly shared movies with each other, from the silly, low-budget Invasion of the Blood Farmers to the truly terrifying The Ring. (We spent that night wide awake, convinced every gust of wind was Samara preparing to crawl inside and eat us whole!) Our affection for horror became a touchstone in our lives, a catalyst that has brought us to create, consume, and better comprehend the complexities of the horror genre.
This book is a fun and approachable way to understand the science behind the monsters of our favorite horror films, the ones we came back to again and again, whether we were renting from Blockbuster, or watching our own scratchy VHS copies. We’ve devoted our lives to the study of film, literature, communication, and true crime, and so we relished this chance to delve deeper into the world of science and to then connect it to the world of horror. We had the opportunity to conduct research and visit with experts at the top of their fields; from scientists at the Mayo Clinic to creatives such as Simon Barrett, the screenwriter behind Blair Witch and V/H/S. Come with us on this journey to unveil the thrilling and sometimes disturbing truths behind the creation of horror’s greatest monsters.
SECTION ONE
SLASHERS
CHAPTER ONE
HALLOWEEN
Year of Release: 1978
Director: John Carpenter
Writer: John Carpenter, Debra Hill
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence
Budget: $300,000
Box Office: $60 million
Like most children growing up in the 1980s, we saw many horror movies on VHS for the first time. The nostalgia of visiting a video store, perusing the covers, and choosing the weekend’s haul holds countless fond memories for us. (In fact, it’s the experience that inspired us to create our Horror Rewind podcast.) Halloween was no exception. The plot of this 1978 horror movie begins with a six-year-old boy named Michael Myers. Dressed as a clown, Michael murders his sister by stabbing her with a knife that looks terrifyingly large in his tiny hands. This shock of a child, ready for trick-or-treating, brutally subverting our expectations of innocence is at the heart of Halloween’s appeal. Actor and comedian Jody Kujawa reflects on his experience seeing the movie for the first time: