Nightmare Fuel by Nina Nesseth (Tor Nightfire, 2022)

Review by Warner Holme: Nina Nesseth’s Nightmare Fuel has the tagline “The Science of Horror Films” and it is a very appropriate title. It is a chapter-by-chapter look at the genre indicated from a sociological, psychological, psychiatric, and biological point of view.

Structured very carefully, the book takes eight chapters, in addition to an introduction and afterward, to go from discussing the history of the genre and its effects on the brain in a strictly moment-by-moment way, through visual and audio cues that affect a reader, all the way to sociological arguments related to the genre and beyond. Each chapter makes its argument fairly clearly, although anyone not familiar with or used to reading from the most scientific point of view would do well to take their time.

The chapters are subdivided with segments that include reviews of specific films, discussing their influence on the genre as a whole and connection to the subject matter of that chapter in particular.  This serves as a nice way to zero in on individual films without changing the structure of the book away from the scientific neurological approach that was chosen. Each of these sections tends to be called a “Scare Spotlight” and features among others 2018’s Hereditary, 1974’s Black Christmas, and 1991’s Child’s Play 3 and incorporates them well into the subject matter of each chapter. While genre aficionados are likely to name other films they might find preferable in each chapter as an example, they are not likely to be disappointed with what is discussed about each.  

For the most part this works quite well as a way to separate out long discussions of particular films, ensuring a chapter doesn’t become about them. However verification is where films, even ones that are not horror such as Reservoir Dogs, can be referenced repeatedly in a chapter. This is somewhat justified early in chapter 8, when the author notes that “my main gateway into horror was crime procedurals… and psychological thrillers” helping to explain the references a little, as well as once again reinforcing the personal aspect in an overall somewhat technical book.

Another aspect to that helps to personalize the content of the book comes in the form of occasional back and forth “In Conversation With” sections. These are multipage brief interviews with individuals associated with the genre. Some of them are enthusiastic fans and critics such as Mary Beth McAndrews and Terry Messnard, others are academics and analysts like Alexandra West, and still others are professionals within the industry like Ronen Landa. The interview is very in quality, but managed to stay pretty well on topic and often illuminate the particular subject matter of a chapter further.

There is a very nice list of “Movies Watched” for the book at the end, as well as a detailed bibliography in the form of a “Further Reading” section. Both are very useful to anyone who wishes to dive deeper into the genre, or understand better the ideas that the author puts forth.

Nina Nesseth’s Nightmare Fuel is a fascinating read for the fan of horror films, or a student of the genre as a whole. At times a little technical for those not interested in neuroscience, it remains a consistently interesting examination of the phenomenon. While probably not the only book one should read when studying horror films, it is easy to recommend.