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Forays into the Dark Field of Evolutionary Horror Film Research: A Meagre Harvest

  • Mathias Clasen
Published/Copyright: February 13, 2021
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Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture
From the journal Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture Volume 3 Issue 2

Abstract

Evolutionary or biocultural theorizing about horror films has been slow to gain traction in film studies, but the field has seen two recent book publications, Mastering Fear by Rikke Schubart and Primal Roots of Horror Cinema by Carrol L. Fry. Unfortunately, neither book is poised to make a substantial impact on evolutionary horror film theory. Mastering Fear ultimately undermines its own engagement with evolutionary social science, and Primal Roots of Horror Cinema stops short of contributing substantially to the field beyond its compelling argument for the relevance of evolutionary social science to film studies. Plenty of work remains to be done at the fertile junction between evolutionary psychology and horror film.

Keywords: Horror films; horror fiction; evolutionary psychology; sociobiology; biocultural theory; film theory
Published Online: 2021-02-13
Published in Print: 2019-12-01

© 2020 by Academic Studies Press

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Title
  2. Table of Contents
  3. ARTICLES
  4. Disney’s Shifting Visions of Villainy from the 1990s to the 2010s: A Biocultural Analysis
  5. The Viking and the Farmer: Alternative Male Life Histories Portrayed in the Romantic Poetry of Erik Gustaf Geijer
  6. Adapting a Witch to Modern Beliefs and Values: Persecuting the Outsider through Trial, Stage, and Film
  7. Reflective Imagination via the Artistic Experience: Evolutionary Trajectory, Developmental Path, and Possible Functions
  8. REVIEW ESSAYS
  9. Six Recent Books on the Neuroscience of Creativity: Notes from the Underbelly
  10. Forays into the Dark Field of Evolutionary Horror Film Research: A Meagre Harvest
  11. BOOK REVIEWS
  12. Stephen T. Asma and Rami Gabriel. The Emotional Mind: The Affective Roots of Culture and Cognition
  13. Johannes Breuer, Daniel Pietschmann, Benny Liebold, and Bejamin P. Lange, eds. Evolutionary Psychology and Digital Games: Digital Hunter-Gatherers
  14. Jennifer Anna Gosetti-Ferencei. The Life of Imagination: Revealing and Making the World
  15. Henrik Høgh-Olesen. The Aesthetic Animal
  16. Julie J. Lesnik. Edible Insects and Human Evolution
  17. Debra Lieberman and Carlton Patrick. Objection: Disgust, Morality, and the Law
  18. Randolph M. Nesse. Good Reasons for Bad Feelings: Insights from the Frontier of Evolutionary Psychiatry
  19. Neema Parvini. Shakespeare’s Moral Compass
  20. David Reich. Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past
  21. Tali Sharot. The Influential Mind: What the Brain Reveals about Our Power to Change Others
  22. Carol Cronin Weisfeld, Glenn E. Weisfeld, and Lisa Dillon, eds. The Psychology of Marriage: An Evolutionary and Cross-Cultural View
  23. Wojciech Załuski. Law and Evil: The Evolutionary Perspective
  24. Contributors
https://doi.org/10.26613/esic.3.2.145
Keywords for this article
Horror films; horror fiction; evolutionary psychology; sociobiology; biocultural theory; film theory

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Title
  2. Table of Contents
  3. ARTICLES
  4. Disney’s Shifting Visions of Villainy from the 1990s to the 2010s: A Biocultural Analysis
  5. The Viking and the Farmer: Alternative Male Life Histories Portrayed in the Romantic Poetry of Erik Gustaf Geijer
  6. Adapting a Witch to Modern Beliefs and Values: Persecuting the Outsider through Trial, Stage, and Film
  7. Reflective Imagination via the Artistic Experience: Evolutionary Trajectory, Developmental Path, and Possible Functions
  8. REVIEW ESSAYS
  9. Six Recent Books on the Neuroscience of Creativity: Notes from the Underbelly
  10. Forays into the Dark Field of Evolutionary Horror Film Research: A Meagre Harvest
  11. BOOK REVIEWS
  12. Stephen T. Asma and Rami Gabriel. The Emotional Mind: The Affective Roots of Culture and Cognition
  13. Johannes Breuer, Daniel Pietschmann, Benny Liebold, and Bejamin P. Lange, eds. Evolutionary Psychology and Digital Games: Digital Hunter-Gatherers
  14. Jennifer Anna Gosetti-Ferencei. The Life of Imagination: Revealing and Making the World
  15. Henrik Høgh-Olesen. The Aesthetic Animal
  16. Julie J. Lesnik. Edible Insects and Human Evolution
  17. Debra Lieberman and Carlton Patrick. Objection: Disgust, Morality, and the Law
  18. Randolph M. Nesse. Good Reasons for Bad Feelings: Insights from the Frontier of Evolutionary Psychiatry
  19. Neema Parvini. Shakespeare’s Moral Compass
  20. David Reich. Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past
  21. Tali Sharot. The Influential Mind: What the Brain Reveals about Our Power to Change Others
  22. Carol Cronin Weisfeld, Glenn E. Weisfeld, and Lisa Dillon, eds. The Psychology of Marriage: An Evolutionary and Cross-Cultural View
  23. Wojciech Załuski. Law and Evil: The Evolutionary Perspective
  24. Contributors
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