Fear Not!
A Christian Appreciation of Horror Movies
- Arts & Literature
- Publisher: Cascade Books (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2023
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Publisher's Description
Why would anyone want to watch horror movies? Why would Christians, in particular, bother with the genre? In Fear Not!, critic Josh Larsen makes the case that monster movies, creature features, slashers, and other fright films artfully reflect our deep worries in a way that resonates with the Christian experience. Combining critical observation and theological reflection, Larsen devotes each chapter to a different horror subgenre, connecting that subgenre to a commonly shared fear. In addition to considering how the Bible acknowledges and speaks to that fear, each chapter demonstrates how the related themes, narratives, and aesthetics of a handful of films can be viewed through a corresponding theological lens. Reading Fear Not!, movie fans will come to appreciate the artistry of the likes of Get Out, The Shining, The Blair Witch Project, The Babadook, Night of the Living Dead, and The Sixth Sense, while also seeing the ways these movies resonate with our fears and, in some cases, hint at God's redemptive comfort.
Endorsements (4)
“As a horror director, I admire and appreciate Josh Larsen’s new book and recommend it for anyone who loves wrestling with their fears in the darkness of a theater.”
“The strength of Josh Larsen’s commentary has always been its clarity of thought and purpose, and Fear Not! offers his most lucid criticism to date. Larsen finds the transcendent in a genre long mined by filmmakers to manifest our scariest earthly anxieties.”
“In Fear Not!, film critic and Filmspotting co-host Josh Larsen walks with zombies, exorcises demons, sprints from Blair witches to The Babadook to Jordan Peele—and reframes every kind of screen horror as a spiritual inquiry few of us have ever contemplated. It is an excellent addition to anyone’s bookshelf.”
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