Tracing Trends in Horror's History

Dark Carnivals: Modern Horror and the Origins of American Empire by W. Scott Poole

Dark Carnivals book cover

W. Scott Poole is one of the greatest writers and scholars of horror film and literature today. I’ve read a few of his other books—Wasteland, Vampira, and In the Mountains of Madness. I always appreciate the scholarship and analysis he brings to the topics. I was actually surprised that he could write more about horror since he has books on diffeferent historical aspects of horror film and literature. However, this was a really interesting subject to explore and one that deals with many of the same themes from his other books—in particular, the consequences of American exceptionalism and how we reckon (or fail to) with the sins of America. Dark Carnivals specifically examines how war is treated in horror films as well as how wars have shaped the direction that horror has taken over the past 75 years or so. While the book starts out looking at two significant films from the 70s (Jaws and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), the rest of the book follows a historical trajectory examining trends and themes from horror films during the 1950s through the 2010s. It was fascinating to look at horror from this perspective. While there are some great documentaries and books that examine some of these eras in horror (American Nightmare), this was the first book that I can remember that really focused on modern horror and exploring how wars and the imperialism of the 20^th century (and early 21^st century) has helped to shape the genre. Poole’s book Wasteland also examines how WWI shaped horror, but it looked more at the expressionist horror coming from Germany. This one mostly focuses on American horror and American wars, and how the two are related. Like other books by Poole, this one delves into analysis, where he develops unique perspectives and interpretations of the films and how wars have shaped horror, whether it is a reflection or a kind of warning image or critique. I always appreciate his perspective and ability to make these connections between films and events/history. A strength of this book is the thematic approach and how he examines the trends in films—whether it’s sci fi, zombies, or gore—Poole brings examples to analyze and explore. I have a few other books from Poole on my shelf that I am looking forward to reading soon.