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!

“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.

In May of 2022, Columbia University’s Dr. Eleanor Johnson watched along with her students as the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade. At the same time, her class was studying the 1968 horror film Rosemary’s Baby and Johnson had a sudden epiphany: horror cinema engages directly with the combustive politics of women’s rights and offer a light through the darkness and an outlet to scream.

With a voice as persuasive as it is insightful, Johnson reveals how classics like Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, and The Shining expose and critique issues of reproductive control, domestic violence, and patriarchal oppression. Scream with Me weaves these iconic films into the fabric of American feminism, revealing that true horror often lies not in the supernatural, but in the familiar confines of the home, exposing the deep-seated fears and realities of women’s lives.

While on the one hand a joyful celebration of seminal and beloved horror films, Scream with Me is also an unflinching and timely recognition of the power of this 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