Zombies want brains. Vampires want blood. Cannibals want human flesh. All monsters need feeding. Horror has been embraced by mainstream pop culture more than ever before, with horror characters and aesthetics infecting TV, music videos and even TikTok trends. Yet even with the commercial and critical success of The Babadook, Hereditary, Get Out, The Haunting of Hill House, Yellowjackets and countless other horror films and TV series over the last few years, loving the genre still prompts the what's wrong with you? Implying, of course, that there is something not quite right about the people who make and consume it. In Feeding the Monster, Anna Bogutskaya dispels this notion once and for all by examining how horror responds to and fuels our feelings of fear, anxiety, pain, hunger and power.
This is a collection of essays which focuses on our idea of horror media and looks at a bunch of different horror films through four distinct lenses. I would have liked this collection to be a little more diverse in its type of media like looking more at books and literature rather than film, as it can sometimes feel like discussions in horror movies are oversaturated. But this collection had some really fresh and exciting takes on horror that I was really enthralled to read about and the book really held my attention.
I particularly enjoyed the section called ‘Hunger’ which focused on cannibalism in horror. It mostly talks about Hannibal, Yellowjackets and Bones and All but I felt a bit let down it didn’t have the space to explore further and look into cannibalism’s literary history. It suggests the binary between male cannibalism and class, and female cannibalism and desire, which I absolutely loved. But how do you discuss cannibalism and sex without mentioning Marquis de Sade, and how do you discuss cannibalism and class without mentioning Jonathan Swift? Just feels strange to me to leave them out as they are the glaringly obvious roots of cannibal media. Also not mentioning Tender is the Flesh, even in passing, seemed really odd as this book started the rebirth of the obsession with cannibal books on TikTok. The focus on cannibalism in visual media rather than the books they first came from just wasn’t it for me - cannibalism in horror is first and foremost a literary phenomenon (you could argue all horror is, but cannibalism most prominently). Maybe I was just expecting too much from the chapter but I felt there was more to explore here rather than the movies and tv shows the author did focus on.
The chapter ‘Pain’ was also really striking when it talked about dance horror movies, namely Black Swan, Suspiria and Climax. Climax is one of my favourite films of all time and so was happy to see it mentioned, as well as discussing some non-English speaking media in the collection. It was fascinating to read about the relationship between dancing and body horror, and how the contortion of the body easily moves from the beautiful to the grotesque. The use of Kristeva critical theory here was excellent in marrying the idea of the ‘abject’ not just to the motionless body, but the body with almost too much motion.
This is a collection that is really useful to bringing new ideas to horror and gothic studies and I’ve really enjoyed being able to read some new and fresh takes on horror which I haven’t seen even in the academic sphere before.
my favourite read of the year so far! this is an essential read for every horror/film fan. such a well researched, put together exploration of the way horror-based media reflects our society and the reasons which we are drawn towards it.
thank you faber for sending me a copy of one of my most anticipated releases <3
This was such an engaging and interesting overview into the history and development of horror (mostly film).
However…
Anna thinking Bedelia cut off her own leg and presented it to Hannibal (signifying a marriage proposal) kind of coloured the rest of the book for me because I haven’t seen most of the movies she was discussing, and I felt like I couldn’t necessarily trust her interpretations anymore 😭
This was decent, but not what I was expecting considering the title. This was more film summaries (with A LOT of spoilers, fair warning) that briefly explain the themes featured and how they connect to social and political points, rather than a psychological analysis of why people love horror and what keeps people coming back to it. I should’ve figured by the author’s career projects that it would be more casual and ‘pop culture’ but as said, I was mainly going off of the title. While the writing is very conversational, which makes for easy reading, I found the way the author veered into different points rather abrupt and random. That is particularly seen in the ‘Hunger’ chapter, where she starts off explaining how the cannibalism theme is highly connected to loneliness and the need for connection, then all of a sudden we are talking about eating disorders, then all of a sudden back to sealing the chapter off with the loneliness aspect but without any further thought added on.
I think this would be a good read for anyone new to horror (though once again watch out for the spoilers) or for someone who fails to see anything positive about the genre. If you’re looking for something more analytic or even historical, it’s probably best to seek out another book though.
"horror, more than any other, is a genre of empathy. [...] horror is not about simple voyeurism, about looking at someone being butchered or haunted; it's about feeling what they're feeling. our fears are constantly in flux, and horror is uniquely positioned to extract and transform them into something fantastical and awesome, but also something that, ultimately, potentially, we can conquer. horror keeps us safe."
Im honestly a little disappointed with this book. I was so excited to read it and learn why horror has a hold on us, just as the title promised. But while the author included some sentences on why we like horror and monsters, it wasn’t nearly enough! Honestly, most of the book was just summaries and lists of horror movies instead of actual research. Which I found confusing since she did some research but she just didn’t include enough of it and instead jumped from topic to topic 🤷🏻♀️ I’m currently writing my thesis on why/how eroticism is monstrous and horror and the abject is a huge part of it so I was really let down by the book. Maybe it’s more useful for people new to horror/the monstrous but for horror veterans it’s truly not it. The main plus side for me is that I now have a long list of new horror movies and series to watch and that it was a quick read lol
In 'Feeding the Monster: Why Horror Has a Hold on Us', Anna Bogutskaya presents, not a comprehensive look at the history of horror television and cinema (who made and starred in what etc, so don't get annoyed if a film or tv series you love isn't mentioned) or an academic analysis, but, as the title implies, something that always gets missed from discussion of horror cinema and that fans have always been aware of: the emotionality of horror.
Divided into five chapters - fear, hunger, anxiety, pain, and power - Bogustkaya (mainly focusing on the current era of horror, the 2010s onwards, but classic horror is by no means neglected) explores how horror reflects our fears and anxieties -our 'monsters' - and through that how we're able to face/dispel them; dispelling the myth that there's anything 'wrong' with those who like horror ( we're just as likely to be wearing bright colours emblazoned with rainbows and unicorns than to be goths) torpedoing that loathsome question "what is wrong with you?"
If you're already a horror fan -whether you're a hardcore fan or, like me, a more magpie-like fan who only for the shiny things that interest them (after all, the 'horror' genre is a vast umbrella, with many other sub-genres sheltering underneath it) - you will have so many "oh my god, yes!" moments when the book articulates something you've always wanted to say in response when someone questions why you like horror. If you're not a fan, I'd still reccomend giving this a read - it might not change your mind or tastes but you'll definitely learn some things.
Either way, you're also likely to come away with some new films/tv shows and one or two podcasts to listen to. 😄
Horror is emotion and I think connection. It's about how we identify ourselves and relate to others. In this me and Anna Bogutskaya agree. She might never exciting talk about the way we connect to other people, but by talking about power exchanges, our understanding of the villain (who is no longer a monster) - I can't help but think this underlies her thesis.
Discussing the horror films (and sometimes books and tv shows) of the last decade (since 2014), she defines modern horror by its emotions not its tropes or aesthetics. She paints a picture of a genre that reflects the complex morality of our time. There's no clear sense of right or wrong, we're all willing to understand the villain (lots of interesting thoughts about trauma causing villains in here) and horror reflects our uncertainty.
It's no longer jump scares, big iconic monsters, or the final girl; now it's something less tangible, it's fear, dread and anxiety.
With great chapters comparing cannibalism to loneliness, the monster to modern power dynamics and the haunted house to the decline of stable housing; I could talk about this book for hours and hours.
I was reading this while thinking about a phd, and yep, it feels more and more like a direction I want to go in.
I really did not enjoy this book, which is a shame as I liked “unlikeable female characters”
The title just seems so misleading, it felt like each chapter was just a spoiler filled compilation of different film synopses, the contents of each chapter had virtually nothing to do with the titles of each chapter, and I really just didn’t get the point. It felt like a university dissertation that had been done the night before. Very disappointing.
interesting and enjoyable read which I struggled to out down at times. But I don’t think I learned much more about “why horror had a hold on us” as the title suggests. This feels more of an exploration into the female horror experience, and I feel I would like it more had it been marketed that way.
also how does Tender Is The Flesh not get a mention in the cannibalism chapter?
So why do you like Horror films, hmm? Is it all the blood and gore? The violence, the scares, the chills? If you've ever had these questions posed to you, always accompanied with some judgement, then Feeding the Monster might be as useful to you as it was to me. Anna Bogutskaya may not be able to provide all the answers, but she will help you take multiple steps towards answering those questions. Thanks to Faber and Faber and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I am a Horror fan, something I frequently have to explain to others, but also occasionally to myself. Why am I, someone who has solidly identified as a Feminist since she learned what that is, so obsessed with a genre which seems to thrive on violence against women? Well, I am very glad to report that Anna Bogutskaya has had similar thoughts and explains them better than I can in Feeding the Monster. In this book, Bogutskaya dives into Horror from a Feminist perspective, asking not just why women, or people in general, might enjoy the genre, but also what it can do for us. Bogutskaya focuses specifically on Horror films from 2014 on, films which have been considered part of the "elevated horror"-genre, a label Bogutskaya criticises. I agree that the idea of "elevated horror" diminishes the genre overall, but I did also enjoy how Bogutskaya traced the trends of the last decade of Horror. While I think most people by now accept that Horror has a place in our culture, there is still a certain stigma attached to it, but books such as Feeding the Monster, which so thoughtfully and intimately dissect our obsession with it, will hopefull change that.
Feeding the Monster is divided into five chapters on fear, hunger, anxiety, pain, and power. In the Introduction, as mentioned above, she explores her own love for Horror and what a Feminist Horror might mean. Each of the chapters then explores the theme through various films, and the occasional TV show, linking, for example, the haunted house and its changing forms in cinema to the housing crisis, or motherhood as an ever-changing focal point for Horror. The chapter on 'Pain' was very intriguing, considering aspects of body horror, which I have always found fascinating. It is Horror, yes, but it also the body made something different, new, and other, which can be a form of freedom. It also looks at dance, especially the Suspiria remake, which I adore, and Black Swan. This chapter also used Julia Kristeva's concept of the abject, which I am quite fond of myself as well, despite not being very into psychoanalysis as a theoretical framework. But it worked here, looking at all those things that disturb us and our boundaries as a form of grotesque and painful beauty. The chapter on 'Hunger' explores, as I had hoped, cannibalism. I have become more and more intrigued by cannibalism, even in my work on medieval literature, and how it can be seen as a form of (quite obsessive, sure) love. Bogutskaya explores the decadence and romance of the Hannibal show (a favourite of mine) and women devouring one another and the world in the likes of Yellowjackets and Raw. My favourite, however, was the final chapter on 'Power', where Bogutskaya questions why we no longer create capital-M monsters, like Freddy Krueger or Leatherface. A fascinating conclusion she draws is that we have come to a point where it might be easier to join the system than fight it, become one of the monsters that drains others, exploits others, than fully resist it. It's not the most optimistic of conclusions, but it gives a whole lot of food for thought.
Feeding the Monster is as much a depiction of Bogutskaya's personal journey with Horror as a book of analysis. It is definitely angled more towards popular audiences than academic ones and this is reflected in the tone. Bogutskaya includes not just personal anecdotes about her own life, but also has delightful little footnotes which made me feel like I was in a direct conversation with a funny and knowledgable friend, rather than sitting in class. However, Bogutskaya does bring in scholarship and history, reaching beyond modern Anglophone cinema to explore French and occasional classic films, etc. She will bring in monster theory, gender and queer theory, and talk about cinema, meaning you will walk away from this book with new insights into the films she discusses. I appreciated the strong focus on Feminism throughout, especially as a woman still wondering why she likes Horror at times. It is worth saying here that Feeding the Monster goes into plot details extensively, which makes sense. So if you want to keep a film unspoiled for yourself, you might need to skip certain sections. Overall, Feeding the Monster is a great insight into Horror films of the last decade, with insightful takes and, surprisingly, quite a few laughs!
Feeding the Monster was exactly what I wanted it to be: an insightful and personal take on Horror, which leaves room for further thought. I picked up some film recommendations and even new favourite podcasts (shout out to Academy of Horror!). I look forward to reading more by Anna Bogutskaya in the future.
it's given me a million things to add to my watchlist/reading, always a win. i liked the focus on the emotionality of horror rather than the nitty-gritty oft hypercritical cinematographic analysis of horror movies that so often (but not ALWAYS) completely kills the fun. 4 stars not because it was bad, but because it approached areas of horror the author was clearly familiar with but not sufficiently confident to speak on (queer, trans and POC horror) with a bit too much trepidation. i know for a FACT this lady has more thoughts on the topic than she dared voice, and her nervousness at getting it wrong was noticeable, making the BRIEF touches on the topic feel unfinished and uncertain. otherwise though genuinely really fun
It just feels like a list of all horror movies ever made, split into categories. There is no real psychological or sociological insight into why horror "has a hold on us". Bogutskaya just goes from one film to another, often just summarising the plotline and offering a weak theory in relation to it (mostly involving feminist tropes).
I learned nothing new here which is disappointing, especially given the recent intelligence and nuance in horror films such as Ari Aster's Midsommar and Hereditary, or Ben Wheatley's In the Earth. I don't particularly like shlock horror or splatter fests but the subtleties shown in these above mentioned films makes me want to watch them, and Bogutskaya's derision towards the "elevated" horrors is short sighted.
As much as I liked Anna Bogutskaya’s previous book, and as much as I enjoy her podcast content, this ended up being quite a big disappointment. I didn’t actually feel as if it came close to approaching the main thesis of the book, the writing style was too similar to being a podcast transcription, and the only thing I really kept thinking about was how much Bogutskaya clearly loves Mike Flanagan, Julie Ducournau, the film Nanny, and the people championed by A24. It also doesn’t help that Bogustkaya seems to be starting from an incorrect/flawed initial premise, deliberately ignoring many other movies and film-makers that would repeatedly undermine her arguments. There’s still a lot to enjoy here though, specifically when it addresses the different way horror films are presented or viewed through the female experience. But it may have been better to just call this The Final Girls Podcast Book Of Modern Horror.
ehhh this was decent but didn’t bang as hard as it could have done, and didn’t actually say why horror has a hold on us :-( guess we’re just freaks afterall :-(
This book covered many areas of horror and film theory by analysing a wide range of different films and TV shows. It was well written with a solid opening and conclusion, and divided nicely into chapters which related the media to different feelings. Probably my favourite was the 'Hunger' section, though the 'Pain' section did explore some interesting aspects of body horror. There were definitely some intriguing points made throughout, especially regarding women's experiences both within and of horror media. I also liked how it focused on contemporary films through a modern lens, incorporating the views of established theorists to build on their ideas. However I felt the author didn't go into much depth on each film or series mentioned, instead listing examples or sticking to commentary on plots, bringing up broader ideas and comparisons. Sometimes it was hard to keep track of discussion when it jumped quickly between thoughts on different media, especially things I hadn't watched. Not a bad book by any means, but as it gives a wide tour of the genre and current topics with mostly surface level criticism, it might be more enjoyable for new horror fans. Beware of lots of spoilers though!
Really entertaining!!! Loved how non-pretentious the author's writing was, and I got so many recommendations for movies, books, articles and podcasts. (I do think the pandemic was overly mentioned though...... I don't think every piece of art post 2020 is necessarily impacted by the pandemic, even if unconsciously. It can be, of course, but I really felt like the author went a bit overboard with it)
Anyways, some parts I liked:
Horror may have always had women at its beating heart, but while our fears remain, it's our names that get forgotten. --- Trauma is a trapped memory, experienced over and over again as if it were happening right now. What is a haunting, if not a trapped memory? --- This is contemporary horror's fracture: the absence of a home. Our home isn't ours; it is a poisonous space, inflecting us with nightmares, it is the monster that swallows us whole. --- Hunger is everywhere in horror [...] the protagonists we find on screen are either devouring or being devoured. --- The entry fee of being embodied is the certainty - not the risk, the certainty - that eventually, something will go wrong with it.
Tole bi si zaslužilo višjo oceno, ampak me razburi, ko ima knjiga zavajajoč naslov. No, v tem primeru podnaslov. Nikakor ne gre za analizo tega, zakaj nas groza tako fascinira, ampak za tematske, deloma personalne eseje o sodobnih grozljivkah. Zelo zanimive in dobre preglede filmografije zadnjih 20 let, s katerimi se zelo strinjam, ampak čemu potem dati tak podnaslov in opis knjige, ki ni nič drugega kot resno zavajajoč? Anna Bogutskaya je super avtorica, ki je zelo zaslužna za novo "popularizacijo" groze v neakademskem, podkasterskem, a še vedno tudi strokovnem okolju v zadnjih letih, ampak je res škoda za tole marketinško potezo. Zlasti odličen je zadnji esej (zato se naslov tudi nanaša nanj), v katerem premišljuje o tem, kako smo odpustili pošastim, kako jih danes razumemo kot rezultat okolja in kako so pošasti, ki nas strašijo in fascinirajo danes, v resnici ljudje. Skratka, če bi radi razumeli kulturno in filozofsko, tudi politično ozadje groze zadnjih 20 let, je to super knjiga za vas.
Really enjoyed this! Found the parts about the use of body horror to discuss feminist/queer messaging super interesting, as well as the cultural shift away from ‘traditional’ monsters like vampires and ghosts to more ‘human’ villains Would recommend but a word of caution you’ll double your want to watch list
An interesting take on horror with a focus on and from the perspective of women - and other long ignored people. Notable is the absences of any indicaton of that focus in the marketing for the book. As with many progressive texts focused on discriminated groups one is conspicuously abscent... but maybe... allusions to current genocide and oversimplifed capitalism bashing with influential evil monsters "cosplaying as people"... well... I dunno?
I really wanted to love this. I'm not, usually, a big consumer of horror. I hate jumpscares, I have some pretty severe emetophobia and when a lot of modern horror relies on those tropes, I just can't engage with it. But I feel I should, because to write off a whole genre is actually somehow worse to me. I grew up watching films that probably were way too scary for a kid (Poltergeist, Child's Play, the original series of Dark Shadows, which my mum was a huge fan of) and some of those scenes just linger in my brain. I grew up afraid of the dark, afraid to look in dark corners in case something looked back. I watched the original Ringu as a teenager and although there weren't as many jumpscares, it still terrified me, to the point where for a long while I just couldn't cope with more horror.
Then, I watched The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and I think something in my brain changed: aware of when the jumpscares (two, there are two of them) would happen, I could instead focus on the film. The tension, the dread, the, well, horror of it all, it was something I could actually sit through and enjoy, for lack of a better word. It opened me up to the possibility that I could actually learn to enjoy horror, that I could sit through something scary and not immediately feel like I want to crawl out of my skin. My partner, a huge fan of horror, has also been a great champion for the genre, showing me its breadth and depth, and always warning me about the jump scares.
So, I figured that Bogutskaya's book would be a really interesting exploration of horror, of why it's still a genre that draws people to the cinemas and the streaming services, to the point where now, in 2025, a horror film has been nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. However, it instead turned out to be more a retrospective of recent horror films, and very little on what actually got us here. Split into chapters themed around anxiety, hunger, pain and so on, Bogutskaya does make a valiant effort to try and categorise the films she talks about and to find common ground between them. I wouldn't mind that so much if it felt like it was really going somewhere though.
And this is really my biggest issue here: that for all the spoilers and analysis, I wasn't really entirely sure what the overall thesis of the book even was. I was also disappointed in the enormous focus on Western horror (with of course the requisite mentions of Ringu and Ju-on), and the fact that the entire chapter on pain seemed way more interested in childbirth than horror as a way of exploring other facets of pain (the pain of chronic illness, or mental illness, for example) - and the lack of any kind of mention of Rosemary's Baby in a chapter on pregnancy feels weird, regardless of your feelings on Roman Polanski as a person. The structure feels disjointed at times, and although it's very clear that Bogutskaya is writing this from a place of love and passion for horror, I didn't really come away feeling I had learned that much about the genre itself.
I'll also say it: the footnotes, at times, felt like these essays were written for Tumblr or Twitter, for the sake of being quoted and going viral (yes we get it, the Vecnussy memes made the monster completely toothless) rather than because they really had something cutting to say about the genre. I also fundamentally disagree with the idea that comedy makes horror completely pointless, when some of the best comedy horror films damn near give me whiplash when they go from a funny, cheerful number to the realisation that no, we're still in a horror film here. And I think at times she takes any criticism of horror as almost a personal affront, as though we should / could consider some of the utter drivel in the genre (Amityville Vibrator anyone?) alongside The Lighthouse. It's fine for the genre to have some duds, every genre does! To pretend that everything is worthy of the same consideration is to be blinkered at best.
Ultimately, it clearly resonated more with other readers than it did me, so maybe it is my fault here. But I will say, to write a whole chapter on pain and body horror, and not mention Tetsuo: The Iron Man really makes me think that at the end of it, Bogutskaya is a fan of a very certain genre of horror. Which might be fine for her, but if I never gave horror another try, I wouldn't find that opportunity to learn what truly frightens me.
I practically inhaled this book. It's a breeze to get through and still offers very thoughtful takes on the emotional significance of contemporary horror fiction (primarily movies and TV). It's not a full-blown academic treatise and I appreciated that, though I'm sure the book would be too basic for serious film nerds. As it stands, I think it's an entry-level must read for horror fans.
I especially enjoyed the discussion of how (recent) horror cinema often reflects the fears and anxieties of women and queer people (for example through body horror). Of course, there were also points where the author kind of lost me (like in a convoluted bit about "dance horror" or in the book's take on monsters), but I still had a great time.
If you're into recent horror films and enjoy the occasional essay on them, absolutely grab a copy of this. It makes for a great casual read
I knew Feeding the Monster from my youngest sister. She is fans of horror movies. When I read its premise, I get more interested since it also explain about feminism and gender in horror genre.
Anna is a good researcher. She is not only drop the name, movie title, and novel, but also elaborate it with her experience in broadcasting and as horror hand herself.
She explained that our craving to enjoy horror is because human sometimes can not express the uncomfortable feeling. We only address it as “fear” but can not put it into detailed words. Through horror, it makes us easier to share our vulnerability towards something creepy.
Along her book, Anna didn’t forget to put feminism lens as one of her approach to explain this horror phenomenon. Again and again, women and LGBTQ+ community always being objectify by male. That they are always monstrous and so on.
Anna also said that the evolution (or growing?) horror genre both in movies and novels also a sign about what kind of “monster” that being inhabit in society. Is it greed? Is it loneliness? Is it social pressures?
So, anyway, Feeding the Monster is recommended for you who keep asking “why do i love horror movies? is it wrong?” You will get to know what kind of “addiction” you have and the correlation with our society.