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Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films by Nina Nesseth


 Title: Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Movies

Author: Nina Nesseth

Genre: Nonfiction

Published: July 26, 2022 by Tor Nightfire

I received a copy for review through Netgalley.

How do people respond to fear? Why do people like watching horror movies? How do film makers use their skills to make movies more affecting? All of these questions and more are answered in this nonfiction book exploring the science of horror films. 

The book is heavy on the science and references many scientific studies. All of the resources and further reading on the subjects can be found in the back of the book. I really appreciated that the scientific answers given in this book were so well researched. 

Nightmare Fuel is also written in a fun way with a lot of the authors voice coming through. It is not a dry read at all. It also references and huge list of horror movies. All of the films referenced can be found listed in the back as well. I would make sure that you have seen a lot of the major most popular horror movies before reading this book, because it does give away major scares and plot points to make the points in the book.  You can probably skip over any parts the reference a movie you haven't seen yet. 

If you don't like reading about anything science related this may be one to skip. If you love horror films. If you would like to know more about methods to make them scarier and how they affect us physically than I would highly recommend Nightmare Fuel for you.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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