TV Horror: Investigating the Darker Side of the Small Screen (Investigating Cult TV) - Softcover

'[TV Horror] is a fascinating and indepth look at TV horror, a genre often considered inferior to its cinematic older sibling in most writing, and it has been fairly neglected in academic evaluation until now. Some of the examples here will bring joy to fans of television as well as chilling reminders of some of the more difficult and nostalgic shows, with Dark Shadows, Twin Peaks, Stephen King's It, Kingdom Hospital, The Outer Limits, Boris Karloff's Thriller, Night Gallery, The Quatermass Experiment and Blood Ties all getting a thorough analysis... Jowett and Abbott have covered considerable ground here, proving that the genre is ready for reassessment.'
Cinema Retro

'From Twin Peaks to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Dark Shadows to The Simpsons, check the index with the lights on, because your favourite show is probably lurking in here somewhere. This thorough, thoughtful and entertaining look at horror on television deserves to be devoured by writers, analysts and fans. You will definitely find something in here to make your pulse jump and your eyes open wide.'
Jane Espenson, writer/producer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Battlestar Galactica, Game of Thrones, Once Upon a Time

'Alert to horror's histories and hybridities on TV, Lorna Jowett and Stacey Abbott cast a forensic gaze over this previously dark continent. From aesthetics to kitchen sink gothic to monster fans, TV Horror bristles with brilliant ideas and analyses a wealth of examples. Then: horror on TV was often dismissed as all sizzle and no steak. Now: challenging old debates over authenticity, Jowett and Abbott prove themselves to be the new (scholarly) masters of horror.'
--Matt Hills, author of The Pleasures of Horror and Triumph of a Time Lord

Horror is a universally popular, pervasive TV genre, with shows like True Blood, Being Human, The Walking Dead and American Horror Story making a bloody splash across our television screens. This complete, utterly accessible, sometimes scary new book is the definitive work on TV horror. It shows how this most adaptable of genres has continued to be a part of the broadcast landscape, unsettling audiences and pushing the boundaries of acceptability. The authors demonstrate how TV Horror continues to provoke and terrify audiences by bringing the monstrous and the supernatural into the home, whether through adaptations of Stephen King and classic horror novels, or by reworking the gothic and surrealism in Twin Peaks and Carnivale. They uncover horror in mainstream television from procedural dramas to children's television and, through close analysis of landmark TV auteurs including Rod Serling, Nigel Kneale, Dan Curtis and Stephen Moffat, together with case studies of such shows as Dark Shadows, Dexter, Pushing Daisies, Torchwood, and Supernatural, they explore its evolution on television. This book is a must-have for those studying TV Genre as well as for anyone with a taste for the gruesome and the macabre.