The Evolution of Horror in the Twenty-First Century examines the intimate connections between the horror genre and its audience's experience of being in the world at a particular historical and cultural moment. This book not only provides frameworks with which to understand contemporary horror, but it also speaks to the changes wrought by technological development in creation, production, and distribution, as well as the ways in which those who are traditionally underrepresented positively within the genre- women, LGBTQ+, indigenous, and BAME communities - are finally being seen and finding space to speak.
Simon Bacon is an independent scholar and film critic based in Poznan, Poland.
Part I: Frameworks and Classics of 21st Century Horror Chapter 1. Horror Theory Now: Thinking About Horror Kevin Corstophine Chapter 2. Decadent Feasts: Aesthetics, Ethics, and Twenty-First-Century Prestige Horror Television Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock Chapter 3. Horror Cinema and Censorship in the Twenty-first Century Neil Jackson CHAPTER 4. The Recurrence and Evolution of Universal's Classic Monsters in Twenty-first Century Horror M. Keith Booker Chapter 5. The Remixing (and Ransacking) of Hill House: Surveying the Spectral Presence of Shirley Jackson in Contemporary Gothic Fiction Joan Passey Part II: Media and Consumption Chapter 6. Further Notes Towards a Monster Pedagogy John Edgar Browning Chapter 7. Sounding Horror: Ballads, Ring Shouts, and the Power of Music in Black Horror Erik Steinskog Chapter 8. The Evolution of Horror on Stage Kevin J. Wetmore Jr. Chapter 9. Hauntify the World: New Directions in Video Game Horror Gwyneth Peaty Chapter 10. The Evolution of Horror and New Media Carlos Littles Frontispiece to Part III Mother [Figure 5] Gemma Files Part III: Recognition and Evolution Chapter 11. The Future of Horror: Evolution or Revolution? Carina Bissett Chapter 12. Black Lives Matter Horror Maisha Wester Chapter 13. Indigenous Horror in the Twenty-First Century Jacob Floyd Chapter 14. "Stepping out of the Closet": The Evolution of Queer Representation and Tropes in Twenty-first Century Horror TV Natasha C. Marchini Chapter 15. Involution, Adaptation, Mutation: Horror's Disability Dynamics Angela M. Smith Chapter 16. Sympathy for the Candyman: The Politics of the Past in Supernatural Horror Brandon Grafius Part IV: Evolving Themes Chapter 17. The Future Promise for Folk Horror Mikel J. Koven Chapter 18. The Rise in Ecohorror and Ecogothic Criticism Teresa Fitzpatrick Chapter 19. Undying Earth: Extinction Romances in the Age of Anthropocene Ian Fetters Chapter 20. Fear of Infection: Negotiating between Community and Isolation in Gothic Contagion Narratives Laura R. Kremmel Chapter 21. The Metal and the Flesh: Techno-liminalities, Bio-subversion, and the Enhanced Super-Body as a Horror Space Lorna Piatti-Farnell
