Feeding the Monster: Why horror has a hold on us

A must-read for anyone seeking a refreshed perspective on the genre ... A worthy successor to Stephen King's Danse Macabre -- Neil McRobert ― Esquire Published On: 2024-08-20

Personal in tone and omnivorous in its frame of reference, it's timely and deeply empathetic. -- Hephzibah Anderson ― Observer Published On: 2024-07-28

A handy guide to the screen life of horror . . . Bogutskaya's passion for her subject beats like a heart through the pages. -- Catriona Ward ― The Times

Wonderfully written and highly detailed, Feeding the Monster is both a deeply personal love letter to horror movies and a thorough feminist analysis of them, and I fiercely love it. The cannibal chapter is chef's kiss. -- Chelsea G. Summers

Deliciously witty and astute. Anna Bogutskaya takes a microscope to horror and then flips it back on us and our deepest, darkest turmoil. -- Prano Bailey-Bond

Anna Bogutskaya takes us beyond bad dreams and beasts, the monsters, vampires, ghosts and ghouls, into the human heart pounding deep inside horror. Once more proving why her voice is so needed in the regrettably dick-heavy genre landscape. -- Terri White

Feeding the Monster brilliantly excavates why horror holds such fascination for some of us and reveals that in an horrific world, horror can keep us safe - and ultimately, that horror is a genre of radical empathy. -- Heidi James

I follow Anna Bogutskaya wherever she takes me. If your heart belongs to the dark side (and you're sick of having to apologise for it), you need this book. Spooky Girls Club 4 Eva. -- Kirsty Logan

Bogutskaya reclaims horror as the "genre of empathy". It is not only a love affair from which we cannot escape but also one that we should embrace, wholeheartedly. ― Irish Times

It's always scary to walk into a dark room - and the world of horror film theory represents just such unknown territory for me. So it's good to have a hand to hold. Anna Bogutskaya's Feeding the Monster offers that reassurance. If you'd like to feel the pulse of this vital genre - through familiar recent classics such as Midsommar, Titane, Get Out and The Menu, but also many more you'll want to watch - then this rich collection of short, cleverly themed essays, written in an intimate yet authoritative first-person voice, is definitely the place to start. The world may still wonder "What's wrong with you?" for liking horror, but there's nothing wrong. Horror makes you feel less alone; this book does too. -- Wesley Stace ― Times Literary Supplement (Book of the Year)

Achieves that most rare and exciting blend of the academic and the accessible. Feeding the Monster offers fascinating insights into our relationships with fear in the modern world and why we weirdos love scary movies so much . . . A must-read for both horror fanatics and newbies alike. -- Mike Muncer ― Evolution of Horror