A useful compilation of academic essays on classic works of horror (mainly film). I will note that the collection was published in 2000, meaning it does not contain anything from the last two decades of literary criticism of the horror genre. There are some classic pieces in here I was especially interested in having (e.g., ones on body horror and the final girl trope). I would say this is a collection geared almost entirely to those with an academic interest in the genre, and who are primarily oriented toward films. If one is a non-academic, or primarily interested in non-film literature, there's probably much less of interest here. It's not comprehensive--how could it be?--but it does provide a clear sense of what could be done in serious horror studies. If nothing else, it makes clear that this is a genre to be taken seriously. ( )

The Horror Reader brings together 29 key articles to examine the enduring resonance of horror across culture:

The Fantastic.
1. Definition of the Fantastic – Tzvetan Todorov.
2. 1848: The Assault on Reason – Jose B. Monleon.
3. Phantasmagoria and the Metaphysics of Modern Reverie – Terry Castle.

Horror and Psychoanalysis.
4. Vampires, Breast-feeding and Anxiety – Jsan Copjec.
5. Kristeva, Femininity, Abjection – Barbara Creed.
6. “In His Bold Gaze My Ruin Is Writ Large” – Slavoj Zizek.

Monstrosities.
7. Introduction to Monstrous Imagination – Marie-Helene Huet.
8. FREAKS – Mary Russo.
9. The Serial Killer as a Type of Person – Mark Seltzer.

Many Frankensteins.
10. Production and Reproduction: the Case of FRANKENSTEIN – Paul O’Flinn
11. Here Comes the Bride: Wedding, Gender and Race in THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN.

Reading the King Vampire.
12. Dialectic of Fear – Franco Moretti.
13. The Occidental Tourist: Dracula and the Anxiety of Reverse Colonisation – Stephen D. Arata.
14. Vampyric Typewriting: Dracula and its Media – Jennifer Wicke.

Queer Horror.
15. Dr Jekyll’s Closet – Elaine Showlater.
16. Tracking the Vampire – Sue-Ellen Case.
17. Female Spectator, Lesbian Spectre: THE HAUNTING – Patricia White.

Ethnic Monsters.
18. Vampires in Greece – Ken Gelder.
19. KING KONG and the Monster in Ethnographic Cinema – Fatimah Tobing Rony.

American Gothic.
20. Introduction to American Horrors – Gregory A. Waller.
21. Introduction to American Gothic – Teresa A. Goddu.

Reading Splatter/Slasher Cinema.
22. Horrality – The Textuality of Contemporary Horror Films – Philip Brophy.
23. The Terror of Pleasure: the Contemporary Horror film and Postmodern Theory – Tania Modleski.
24. Her body, Himself – Carol J. Clover.

Low Brow/Low Budget Horror.
25. The Horror Film Fanzine – David Sanjek.
26. A (Sadistic) Night at the Opera: Notes on the Italian Horror Film – Leon Hunt.
27. Revenge of the LEECH WOMAN: On the Dread of Ageing in a Low Budget Horror film.

New Regional Horror.
28. Ghost Stories, Bone Flutes, Cannibal Countermemory – Graham Huggan.
29. Preposterous Hong Kong Horror: ROUGE’s (Be)hindsight and A (Sodomical) CHINESE GHOST STORY – Audrey Yue.