Description
Book SynopsisHaunted Homes is a short but groundbreaking study of homes in horror film and television. While haunted houses can be fun and thrilling, Hollywood horror tends to focus on haunted homes, places where the suburban American dream of safety and comfort has turned into a nightmare. From classic movies like
The Old Dark House to contemporary works like
Hereditary and the Netflix series
The Haunting of Hill House, Dahlia Schweitzer explores why haunted homes have become a prime stage for dramatizing anxieties about family, gender, race, and economic collapse. She traces how the haunted home film was intertwined with the expansion of American suburbia, but also explores works like
The Witch and
The Babadook, which transport the genre to different times and places. This lively and readable study reveals how and why an increasing number of films imagine that home is where the horror is.
Watch a video of the author discussing the topic
Haunted Homes (https://youtu.be/_irTEfvtZfQ).
Trade Review"Dahlia Schweitzer's brilliantly-crafted book provides a perfect autopsy of the haunted house genre.
Haunted Homes is not just a useful dissection of a popular subgenre of horror, it provides the perfect re-watch list for fans seeking to confront their inner fears."
— Chris Gore, co-founder of Film Threat
Dahlia Schweitzer’s “Haunted Homes” A Little Nerd News— The Mo'Kelly Show
"Dahlia Schweitzer’s book
Haunted Homes is a fascinating exploration of our culture's nearly insatiable desire for films that explore this genre. It is as hard to put down as it is to avert your eyes from the screen, even as you know you’re going to cower in fear."
— Michael Grais, co-writer of Poltergeist
New Books Network: New Books in Popular Culture interview with Dahlia Schweitzer — New Books Network: New Books in Popular Culture
"Exclusive Excerpt from Dahlia Scweitzer's
Haunted Homes"— Film Threat
"In this highly entertaining book Dahlia Schweitzer takes readers on a tour of the American middle-class suburbs where true evil lurks, from
The Cat and the Canary (1927) to
The Haunting of Hill House (Netflix, 2018). The American dream to own one’s home has a flipside, namely to be stuck in a place that can be economically draining and literally the entrance to hell.
Haunted Homes is one of those rare finds where state-of-the-art research and excellent prose go hand in hand and make you finish this book faster than a thriller.”
— Rikke Schubart, author of Mastering Fear: Women, Emotions, and Contemporary Horror
"
Haunted Homes is a book for anyone who has ever awoken in the depths of the night, convinced that they heard someone–or something–lurking beyond their bedroom door. Through engaging analyses of
American Horror Story (2011–) and
Get Out (2017), amongst many others, Schweitzer proves that home ownership really is ‘a literal nightmare’."— Alison Peirse, editor of Women Make Horror
SKYLIT: Dahlia Schweitzer, “HAUNTED HOMES”— Skylit: Skylight Books Podcast Series
Table of ContentsIntroduction
1 The Suburbs
2 The Suburban Gothic
3 Gender, Horror, and the Family
4 Race, Horror, and the Family
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Further Reading
Works Cited
Index
