Leanne Olson

by Nina Nesseth

Releasing July 26, 2022 from Tor Nightfire

This book is so much fun.  Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films is chatty and scientific examination of what makes horror films scary and interesting.  

It combines neuroscience and psychology with media criticism and a history of horror movies.  

I love that the scientific aspect was discussed in detail (I felt like I was actually learning something about how my brain works) and mixed so cleverly with horror movie trivia.

There are chapters about why monsters and masks scare us, what in our brains causes fear and disgust, why horror films cycle through different topics in response to politics and society, the sound design of horror films, transformation and body horror, and much more.

Nesseth has a conversational way of writing that made the book a breeze to read.

In addition to her own observations and research, I loved Nesseth’s  “In Conversation” segments with different horror movie creators.  My favourites were interviews with Jamie Kirkpatrick, a film editor, who explains how editing makes The Shining terrifying, Alexandra West, a writer who discusses body horror and sense of place in Canadian horror, and director John Fawcett who made my favourite film, Ginger Snaps. (As a Canadian I adored the CanCon in this book!!)

Beyond the science aspects, I loved how many horror references Nesseth discusses.  There were so many of my favourite films referenced, and also new-to-me movies, websites, and podcasts.  It’s packed full of horror goodness.  

Although I received this one as an e-book advance review copy, I’m planning to buy a paperback copy because I need to read through it again, making notes and highlighting media and further resources I need to check out.  

I’ve already recommended it to so many of my horror-loving friends.  Seriously, you want to read this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for my review copy of this book.