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Anna Bogutskaya is one of the UK’s most prominent film critics, with a penchant for horror. She knows her scary onions. And in her new book, Feeding the Monster, she asks an important question (well, important to the likes of you and me) – Why does horror have a hold on us?

In concise but free-ranging essays, she looks at the prominent themes that sets the horror oft the last decade apart, peeling back the skin of the genre to see how it’s muscle flex and grip, and also give you tons of films to watch in the process.

We have a similarly freewheeling conversation in this episode, talking about everything from our primal horror movie experiences, to the meme-ification of monsters and why Mike Flanagan is both outlier and heart of the genre.

Also… Anna introduces me to the concept of Vecnussy, which may ruin Stranger Things for you, like it has for me.

Enjoy

Other books mentioned:

• Death of a Bookseller (2023), by Alice Slater
• Penance (2023), by Eliza Clark
• Danse Macabre (1981), by Stephen King
• Red Dragon (1981), by Thomas Harris
• Coup de Grace (2024), by Sofia Ajram

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