In this guide to horror movies for the very nervous, author Mathias Clasen delves into the psychological science of horror movies to bust some of the worst myths about the genre and its supposed harms as he shows that horror movies can, in fact, have beneficial effects on their viewers.

Mathias Clasen is Associate Professor of Literature and Media Studies at Aarhus University. He is interested in the paradox of horror and researches the psychological underpinnings of horror from an evolutionary perspective. He has also conducted empirical studies on the psychology and physiology of haunted house visitors. Clasen is the author of Why Horror Seduces (OUP, 2017) and associate editor of the journal Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture.

• Preface: A Nervous Horror Researcher's Confessions


• Chapter 1: Introduction--"What's the Big Deal about Horror Cinema?"


• Chapter 2: "I'm Nervous about the Jump Scares"


• Chapter 3: "I'm Nervous about Horror Films and Nightmares"


• Chapter 4: "I'm Nervous about Horror Films and My Mental Health"


• Chapter 5: "I'm Nervous about Horror Films and My Physical Health"


• Chapter 6: "I'm Nervous that Horror Films Are Immoral"


• Chapter 7: "I'm Nervous that Watching Horror Makes Me Look Stupid"


• Chapter 8: "I'm Nervous about Kids Watching Horror"


• Chapter 9: "I'm Nervous about What the Popularity of Horror Says about Society"


• Chapter 10: "So. . . I Shouldn't Be Nervous at All?"


• Chapter 11: "Okay, I'm about Ready to Watch a Horror Film. What Now?"


• Notes


• Works Cited