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A Very Nervous Person's Guide to Horror Movies
Why your worst nightmares about watching horror movies are unfounded
Films about chainsaw killers, demonic possession, and ghostly intruders make some of us scream with joy. But while horror fans are attracted to movies designed to scare us, others shudder already at the thought of the sweat-drenched nightmares that terrifying movies often trigger. The fear of sleepless nights and the widespread beliefs that horror movies can have negative psychological effects and display immorality make some of us very, very nervous about them. But should we be concerned?
In this book, horror-expert Mathias Clasen delves into the psychological science of horror cinema to bust some of the worst myths and correct the biggest misunderstandings surrounding the genre. In short and highly readable chapters peppered with vivid anecdotes and examples, he addresses the nervous person's most pressing questions: What are the effects of horror films on our mental and physical health? Why do they often cause nightmares? Aren't horror movies immoral and a bad influence on children and adolescents? Shouldn't we be concerned about what the current popularity of horror movies says about society and its values? While media psychologists have demonstrated that horror films indeed have the potential to harm us, Clasen reveals that the scientific evidence also contains a second story that is often overlooked: horror movies can also help us confront and manage fear and often foster prosocial values.
Films about chainsaw killers, demonic possession, and ghostly intruders make some of us scream with joy. But while horror fans are attracted to movies designed to scare us, others shudder already at the thought of the sweat-drenched nightmares that terrifying movies often trigger. The fear of sleepless nights and the widespread beliefs that horror movies can have negative psychological effects and display immorality make some of us very, very nervous about them. But should we be concerned?
In this book, horror-expert Mathias Clasen delves into the psychological science of horror cinema to bust some of the worst myths and correct the biggest misunderstandings surrounding the genre. In short and highly readable chapters peppered with vivid anecdotes and examples, he addresses the nervous person's most pressing questions: What are the effects of horror films on our mental and physical health? Why do they often cause nightmares? Aren't horror movies immoral and a bad influence on children and adolescents? Shouldn't we be concerned about what the current popularity of horror movies says about society and its values? While media psychologists have demonstrated that horror films indeed have the potential to harm us, Clasen reveals that the scientific evidence also contains a second story that is often overlooked: horror movies can also help us confront and manage fear and often foster prosocial values.
- GenresNonfictionHorrorFilm
208 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 22, 2023
Very interesting and scientifically backed.
I just wanted to read it for fun but know had an excuse to use it as material for an upcoming oral exam.
Wish me luck!
I just wanted to read it for fun but know had an excuse to use it as material for an upcoming oral exam.
Wish me luck!
December 20, 2021
Mathias Clasen has an enviable position where he gets to study horror movies and get paid for it. He’s written on horror films before, as I mention in my blog post on this book (Sects and Violence in the Ancient World) but this one is part of a series of “Very Nervous Person’s” guides. In keeping with the series remit, Clasen provides instructions and information on handling horror films for those who are nervous about doing so.
In the process the book outlines current research about horror movies—who watches them and why, asking whether they are bad for children or just plain immoral, and even addressing the question of whether they are good for you. There’s nothing really scary in this book, but it does have some good suggestions if that is the direction you’d like to go.
The book is non-technical and reader-friendly. Even those of us who openly enjoy horror and really aren’t nervous about it, can enjoy reading it. It would be especially helpful if you have friends who want you to watch horror with them, but you have no coping techniques to do so. This book may help in that regard. Otherwise it is an insightful and fun read.
In the process the book outlines current research about horror movies—who watches them and why, asking whether they are bad for children or just plain immoral, and even addressing the question of whether they are good for you. There’s nothing really scary in this book, but it does have some good suggestions if that is the direction you’d like to go.
The book is non-technical and reader-friendly. Even those of us who openly enjoy horror and really aren’t nervous about it, can enjoy reading it. It would be especially helpful if you have friends who want you to watch horror with them, but you have no coping techniques to do so. This book may help in that regard. Otherwise it is an insightful and fun read.
April 3, 2023
Picked it up because I thought one of the chapters would be useful for my MA, but ended up liking it so much that I had to read it cover to cover. Very interesting read, and even though I already love the horror genre, this gave me a new perspective on it.
February 18, 2022
The only thing that bothers me about this book is that it wasn’t released through a mainstream publisher. This book is absolutely amazing, and every horror fan or person (like me) who was/is afraid of horror movies will love this book. I’ve read a few books on the psychology of horror because I only recently got into horror movies in the last few years because of my girlfriend, and it’s just super interesting to me. Mathias Clasen has written one of the best books I’ve read on the topic and dives into so much fascinating research about why we love or hate horror, what makes good horror, why horror movies don’t get enough respect, and even introducing kids to horror to increase their resilience. Top-to-bottom, this book is fantastic, and it should be on some big best seller lists because I know a ton of people would appreciate it in the horror communities.
July 2, 2023
Clasen offers a lighthearted introduction into the inner workings of the horror genre, both in terms of how the genre work, and is reworked, to illicit feelings from its audience, but also how we physically respond - and why.
As a Very Nervous Person, at least when it comes to engaging with horror movies, I am not more inclined to sit down and watch them now than I was before. Still, I found peace in the evolutionary reasons, that I apparently have, for choosing not to engage with the genre.
Clasen's book dances on the balance between academia and tongue-in-cheek commentary about horror research, and it makes it an interesting and easily consumed book on a grey dreary July day.
As a Very Nervous Person, at least when it comes to engaging with horror movies, I am not more inclined to sit down and watch them now than I was before. Still, I found peace in the evolutionary reasons, that I apparently have, for choosing not to engage with the genre.
Clasen's book dances on the balance between academia and tongue-in-cheek commentary about horror research, and it makes it an interesting and easily consumed book on a grey dreary July day.
December 11, 2022
As a horror scholar, I cannot help but find Clasen reductive in his analysis, a fact that is worsened by occasional oversights in the horror history he incorporates into A Very Nervous Person's Guide's to Horror Movies--for example, he attributes the standardization of the jump scare to 1945's Cat People event though Haxan from 1922 used a jump scare prior. The oversights present here makes this book questionable for academic research but it does provide a general primer to the psychology of horror that is interesting, even if more than once Clasen seems to stretch the premise of a "Guide to Horror Movies" thin by incorporating other horror media, such as "haunted houses."
July 4, 2025
I consider myself a horror fan, but I have never read a book like this before. Clasen uses scientific data to counter objections some people make to horror movies. He cites a number of scientific studies about how people respond to various stimuli associated with horror movies, and he does it in a very readable, friendly way.
If I have any objection to the book, it is that it is a book without history. The world seems to have been invented around 1968, and known history started around 1980. That sounds snide, and I apologize, because I do like this book, but there is no historical perspective beyond the Sixties. How and why did the Production Code affect horror? If we are worried about the social implication of the popularity of horror movies, what about "From Caligari to Hitler," which one would assume to be the 800-pound gorilla in the room? Clasen has nothing to say.
On the other hand, I have to admit that to most horror fans today, pre-1968 horror films are antiques rarely watched. Clasen's book is a reader-friendly, open-minded examination of and refutation of a number of truisms about the horror genre and can certainly help a lot of people.
If I have any objection to the book, it is that it is a book without history. The world seems to have been invented around 1968, and known history started around 1980. That sounds snide, and I apologize, because I do like this book, but there is no historical perspective beyond the Sixties. How and why did the Production Code affect horror? If we are worried about the social implication of the popularity of horror movies, what about "From Caligari to Hitler," which one would assume to be the 800-pound gorilla in the room? Clasen has nothing to say.
On the other hand, I have to admit that to most horror fans today, pre-1968 horror films are antiques rarely watched. Clasen's book is a reader-friendly, open-minded examination of and refutation of a number of truisms about the horror genre and can certainly help a lot of people.
November 1, 2021
Mathias Clasen offers up a seriously non-serious psychosocial examination of the horror genre in his new book, A Very Nervous Person’s Guide to Horror Movies.
Clasen - who is the Director of the Recreational Fear Lab at Aarhus University - is most effective when he keeps his analysis within the domain of experimental psychology. Once he ventures out into more speculative and philosophical territory, I found that his arguments were significantly weaker.
This book will appeal to a broad range of readers with a general interest in the cross-cultural significance of horror films, as well as those who wish to sift through a little evidence-based research with everyday relevance. Sections discussing topics like “the uncanny valley phenomenon” were highly captivating.
Clasen - who is the Director of the Recreational Fear Lab at Aarhus University - is most effective when he keeps his analysis within the domain of experimental psychology. Once he ventures out into more speculative and philosophical territory, I found that his arguments were significantly weaker.
This book will appeal to a broad range of readers with a general interest in the cross-cultural significance of horror films, as well as those who wish to sift through a little evidence-based research with everyday relevance. Sections discussing topics like “the uncanny valley phenomenon” were highly captivating.
January 29, 2022
Fun read. Horror fans will appreciate the many films discussed but as a nervous person, I learned a lot because I hadn't seem most of them. Maybe I'll get brave and try to enjoy a Stephen King film. Who knows??
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June 10, 2022I only read the sections that interested me, so I'm leaving this unrated. However, I did enjoy a good chunk of this novel and can tell it was well researched and funny. It brought up many interesting points and gives me an interest in horror literature, since movies aren't my style.
May 20, 2022
A little more academic than I was expecting, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews