Scream with Me

Horror Films and the Rise of American Feminism (1968-1980)

Eleanor Johnson

• Publisher: Atria Books
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN:
  9781668087657
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Film & Video

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
“An indispensable work of feminist criticism.” —Elle
“Convincing and illuminating.” —The Atlantic

A compelling, intelligent, and timely exploration of the horror genre from one of Columbia University’s most popular professors, shedding light on how classic horror films demonstrate larger cultural attitudes about women’s rights, bodily autonomy, and more.

When the Supreme Court decided to reverse Roe v. Wade in the spring of 2022, Dr. Eleanor Johnson and her class were in the middle of studying the 1968 horror classic Rosemary’s Baby, a film that understands reproductive coercion as the soul of horror. Teaching this film to her distraught students led Johnson to an epiphany: horror cinema engages directly with the combustive politics of women’s rights and the despotic atmosphere in America, both in the 1970s and today.

In ten “riveting, enlightening, and occasionally scream-inducing” (Shelf Awareness) essays, Johnson reveals with intellect and empathy how classics like Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, and The Shining expose and critique issues of reproductive control, domestic violence, and patriarchal oppression. By weaving these iconic films into the fabric of American feminism, Johnson reveals that true horror often lies not in the supernatural but in the familiar (and all too often, lethal) confines of the home. “With wit and relish” (BookPage), Scream with Me is an accessible and “thought-provoking” (Library Journal) recognition of the power of the horror genre to shape and reflect cultural dialogues about gender and power.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: This Is No Dream; This Is Really Happening: ‘Rosemary’s Baby’
• Chapter 2: There’s a Demon in My House: Domestic Violence in ‘The Exorcist’
• Chapter 3: Trad Wives Forever: ‘The Stepford Wives’ and the Equal Rights Amendment
• Chapter 4: Benign Patriarchy Turns Malignant: ‘The Omen’
• Chapter 5: Reproductive Violence in Outer Space: ‘Alien’
• Chapter 6: ‘The Shining’: Only Just Fiction
• Chapter 7: Bad Men Making Good Films: An Interlude
• Chapter 8: Domestic Horror After ‘Dobbs’
• Epilogue: ‘Women Talking’, Women Screaming, Women Writing, Women Directing
• Appendix A: Brief Synopses of the Terrible Remakes of the Original Six Horror Films
• Appendix B: Further Reading for Victims and Survivors of Domestic and Reproductive Violence, and for Their Friends and Families
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Notes
• Index
• Copyright