Book description
The panoramic story of how the horror genre transformed into one of the most incisive critiques of unchecked American imperial power
The American empire emerged from the shadows of World War II. As the nation’s influence swept the globe with near impunity, a host of evil forces followed—from racism, exploitation,…
Why read it?
1 author picked Dark Carnivals as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Poole builds off his remarkable 2018 Wasteland to explore the tangled relationship between the American horror film and the empire.
For Poole, the most dangerous films are those that imply that we can overcome any evil if we stick together, put our minds to it, and use a little American muscle and know-how.
Through this framework, a film like Jaws is convincingly read as a movie that makes us feel better about our role as dominators of the world, and the Nightmare on Elm Street sequels fit in perfectly with the callousness and cruelty of the 1980s. And rather than…
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December on 5C4
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
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