Book Review: “Nightmare Fuel” by Nina Nesseth
Scary Stuff
I’ve had a bit of a love-hate relationship with horror films (if not the horror genre in general, books included though I love Stephen King). I will concede that a lot of horror movies are pure trash, but I did somewhat enjoy watching these types of movies in the homes of my friends some 15-ish years ago. And I have to admit that some horror films cause me to jump out of the seat of my pants. If you’ll allow me the indulgence, I can tell you a story about watching the first two Friday the 13th films when I was a teenager. It was late one night, and my parents were off somewhere — maybe on vacation — but it was a weekend and I watched these movies on HBO. (We had a satellite dish at the time, as I lived in small-town Canada.) In any event, the Friday the 13th movies are not great films any way you can slice them, but Jason Voorhees was kind of this boogeyman for the AIDS crisis in the ’80s (or, at least, that’s how I read things). I was fascinated. I wanted to see these films. Well, I got more than I bargained for. After I was done watching them, I heard some weird noises outside in the backyard. Stupidly, I went to investigate with a flashlight. No, I did not get slashed by an axe-welding maniac in a hockey mask — there was nothing out there at all. But, to this day, I still have ongoing nightmares about being trapped in any of the first four Friday the 13th movies (since they’re the serious ones, and don’t have the kitschy “zombie Jason” in them). Seriously, I was so scared that night I could have crapped my pants!
This is a long preamble to reviewing Nina Nesseth’s extensively researched (and how!) book on the horror movie genre, Nightmare Fuel. The book is a pop psychology look at why scary movies frighten people so much, and it would be best appreciated by those who have taken both a psychology course and a film studies course (at the very least) at university. While the book is not impenetrable, it does cover a lot of ground about how the brain processes images and sound — and poses the question: does movie violence incite real-life violence or not? The book is fascinating, and there’s an exhaustive list of movies to watch and sources to consult in the final 15 percent of the book’s contents. (I read this on a Kindle.) However, if you don’t know a lot about how the brain works and if this is a subject that you’re not interested in, you’re probably going to be a bit lost. Truthfully, I thought some of the best bits involved interview sections between the author and either academics or filmmakers and the sections that examined classic and recent horror films and what made them tick.
There’s not too much I can fault with this one. I was struck by the examinations of how horror movies have evolved over the past 100 years and found that particular chapter of the book to be especially eye-opening. Speaking of which, yes, there’s a section on violence to eyeballs in film, and I’ll have to admit that this part of the book made me squirm a little. All in all, Nightmare Fuel is fun for an academically inclined book. While I’m not kidding when I say that it is probably best appreciated by those who have a little bit of an understanding of brain chemistry, genetics, and film theory, it still has its accessible moments. The author is in love with the subject material and she has a deftly humourous touch. Incidentally, I also appreciate that the book has been written by a woman because I’m not too sure if the horror genre is appreciated by a lot of women — as Nesseth points out, you’re either a wallflower as a woman and are outright scared of horror movies (and thus don’t like them) or have become desensitized to them and aren’t frightened of them (which may be a bit of a turn off to some men).
In any event, and looking past that (though let me say it again that I’m impressed that a woman is this invested in what some may consider being grotesque material), Nightmare Fuel should be a volume that sits on any discerning horror buff’s shelf. If you don’t like horror movies at all, you’ll be taking a pass on this — but if you can appreciate even the cheesiest of horror films (Jack Frost, I’m looking at you) then there’ll be something for you to appreciate here. In the end, this book proves that horror films might not be all that bad and the best of them are certainly worth another glance. That said, I don’t think you’ll find me wanting to revisit my Friday the 13th experience anytime soon. But to each their own!
Nina Nesseth’s Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films was published by Tor Nightfire on July 26, 2022.
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