About

Scared Sacred is the first anthology in a small series exploring the complex relationship between religion and the cinematic church of horror.

Featuring a foreword from Hellraiser's Pinhead, Doug Bradley, each first-edition paperback (limited to 500 copies) comes with a numbered certificate and reversible page marker.

The collection's sixteen chapters dissect your favourite films through a critical lens, with subjects ranging from:

—the Medieval witch (Häxan) to Korean Shamanism (Whispering Corridors);

—gender politics in Buddhism (Onibaba) to race politics in 1970s America (Ganja & Hess);

—and demonic warfare (The Amityville Horror;The Conjuring) to the horror of faith (The Exorcist III).

Along with sixteen original chapter illustrations in a woodcut style (by John Sowder), the stunning cover art (by Jeremy Thompson) is embellished in classic silver foiling.

If you would an electronic version of Scared Sacred, the eBook is available on the Kindle store.

Contents

Foreword
by Doug Bradley

Introduction
Reading Religion in the Dead of Night
by Douglas E Cowan

Section One: Christianity

Onward, Christian Soldiers: Eyes of Believers in The Conjuring (2013) and The Conjuring 2 (2016)
by Alexandra West

“I don’t know if we’ve got the heir to the Thorn millions here or Jesus Christ himself”: Catholicism, Satanism and the Role of Predestination in The Omen (1976)
by LMK Sheppard

As God Is My Witness: Martyrdom in Modern-Day Horror
by Andrea Subissati

The Last Sin Eater: The Purgatorial Testament and Redemption of the Hell Priest in the Hellraiser Mythology
by Rebecca Booth

Section Two: Mysticism

Needful Things: Buddhism and Gender in Onibaba (1964) and Nang Nak (1999)
by Erin Thompson

Between Two Worlds: Regression, Restitution and Soul Transmigration in The Dybbuk (1937) and Demon (2015)
by Rebecca Booth

From the Stake to the Sanitarium: Taming the Disruptive Feminine in Häxan (1922) and Antichrist (2009)
by Valeska Griffiths

Monstrous Realism: Irreligious Religion in Lovecraft’s Cosmic Horror
by Anya Stanley

Section Three: Occultism

“Not everything that moves, breathes and talks is alive”: Christianity, Korean Shamanism and Reincarnation in Whispering Corridors (1998) and The Wailing (2016)
by Frazer Lee

Deprogramming the Program: The Image and Anxiety of the Religious Cult in the Made-for-Television Film
by Amanda Reyes

I Believe in Death: William Peter Blatty and the Horror of Faith in The Ninth Configuration (1980) and The Exorcist III (1990)
by Samm Deighan

The Last Temptation: Demonic Warfare and Supernatural Sacrifice in The Amityville Horror (1979) and When the Lights Went Out (2012)
by Erin Thompson

Section Four: Beyond Belief

A Taste for Blood and Truth: Bill Gunn’s Ganja & Hess (1973)
by John Cussans

Zoolatry and the Feline Fatale: Obsession, Femininity and Revenge in Cat People (1942) and Kuroneko (1968)
by Joseph Dwyer

Faith and Idolatry in the Abrahamic Religions: Security Through Symbols in Şeytan (1974) and Jinn (2014)
by Neil Gravino

Prophetic Voices and the Lethal Hand of God: The Religious Zealotry of Frailty (2001)
by Chris Hallock

About

Filtered Reality is our love letter to found footage horror.

Featuring a foreword from Stephen Volk (Ghostwatch) and an introduction by Aislínn Clarke (The Devil’s Doorway), the book's sixteen chapters are divided into two sections — Progenitors and Evolution — to chart the genesis of the contemporary found footage horror film.

The first section includes influences such as epistolary Victorian horror novels (Dracula), radio hoaxes (The War of the Worlds), and the mondo film (Cannibal Holocaust), before the second explores subjects ranging from digital folklore (The Blair Witch Project), to video games (Resident Evil), to post-cinematic horror (Host) — and what lies beyond...

The first-edition paperback is limited to 500 copies (complete with a numbered certificate) and features original section illustrations and detailed monochrome cover art complete with UV spotting. Each order comes with a reversible bookmark.

If you would prefer an electronic version of Filtered Reality, the eBook is available on the Kindle store.

Contents

Foreword
by Stephen Volk

Introduction
Hex, Lies and Videotape: The Magic of Found Footage Film
by Aislínn Clarke

Part One: Progenitors

“Your Letters Are Sacred to Me”: Dracula (1897) and the Epistolary Horror Novel
by Samm Deighan

Irony Is a Dead Scene: Audience Position and the Pursuit of Dramatic Irony in La Compagnia del Grand-Guignol, the Giallo Film and Found Footage Horror
by Matt Rogerson

The Spirit at One’s Elbow: Denis Johnston, Orson Welles and Interrupted Radio
by Reggie Chamberlain-King

Forbidden Files and Ghostwatching: Television, Truth and Transgression
by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

“See Hangings and Electrocutions”: Early ‘Execution’ Films as Progenitors of Found Footage Horror
by Jon Towlson

Cannibalizing Ethnographic Film: Anthropology’s Complicated Relationship with Found Footage Horror
by Gavin Weston, Ricardo Leizaola, and Justin Woodman

You’ll Only Believe Your Eyes if the Camera Work is Lousy: A Survey of Found Footage Bigfoot
by John Kenneth Muir

Infopocalypse Now: Hoaxing as Social Disruption in The McPherson Tapes and Beyond
by Rob Skvarla

Part Two: Evolution

“The Medium Is the Message”: The Evolution of American Folklore Through Found Footage in The Last Broadcast (1998) and The Blair Witch Project (1999)
by Jessica Rose

Emblazoned Eve: Embodied Spectatorship, Material Feminism and Monstrous Religiosity in REC (2007) and The Devil’s Doorway (2018)
by Rebecca Booth

Fact or Fiction: Layering Media to Construct the Illusion of ‘True’ Crime in The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007) and Lake Mungo (2008)
by Mary Beth McAndrews

Behind Every “Marked” Man Is a Great Coven: Hauntology, Matrilineality and the Accelerationist Specter of Becoming in the Paranormal Activity Series
by Rebecca Booth and Valeska Griffiths

The Mechanical Uncanny: Social Media and Digital Doubles in Unfriended (2014) and Cam (2018)
by Dawn Keetley

Welcome to Hell (House): Haunted Attractions and the Culture of Excess in The Houses October Built (2014) and Hell House LLC (2015)
by Peter Turner

Fear and the Ludic Subject: Phenomenology, the Body and Horror Video Games
by Daniel Vella

Screaming Services: The Audience, the Egregore and Post-Cinematic Horror in “Dear David” (2017-2018) and Host (2020)
by Valeska Griffiths