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Shock Value: How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror

Jason Zinoman

3.85 · Rating details · 2,190 ratings · 261 reviews

An enormously entertaining account of the gifted and eccentric directors who gave us the golden age of modern horror in the 1970s, bringing a new brand of politics and gritty realism to the genre.

Much has been written about the storied New Hollywood of the 1970s, but at the same time as Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Francis Ford Coppola were making their first An enormously entertaining account of the gifted and eccentric directors who gave us the golden age of modern horror in the 1970s, bringing a new brand of politics and gritty realism to the genre.

Much has been written about the storied New Hollywood of the 1970s, but at the same time as Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Francis Ford Coppola were making their first classic movies, a parallel universe of directors gave birth to the modern horror film-aggressive, raw, and utterly original. Based on unprecedented access to the genre's major players, The New York Times's critic Jason Zinoman's Shock Value delivers the first definitive account of horror's golden age.

By the late 1960s, horror was stuck in the past, confined mostly to drive-in theaters and exploitation houses, and shunned by critics. Shock Value tells the unlikely story of how the much-disparaged horror film became an ambitious art form while also conquering the multiplex. Directors such as Wes Craven, Roman Polanski, John Carpenter, and Brian De Palma- counterculture types operating largely outside the confines of Hollywood-revolutionized the genre, exploding taboos and bringing a gritty aesthetic, confrontational style, and political edge to horror. Zinoman recounts how these directors produced such classics as Rosemary's Baby, Carrie, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Halloween, creating a template for horror that has been imitated relentlessly but whose originality has rarely been matched.

This new kind of film dispensed with the old vampires and werewolves and instead assaulted audiences with portraits of serial killers, the dark side of suburbia, and a brand of nihilistic violence that had never been seen before. Shock Value tells the improbable stories behind the making of these movies, which were often directed by obsessive and insecure young men working on shoestring budgets, were funded by sketchy investors, and starred porn stars. But once The Exorcist became the highest grossing film in America, Hollywood took notice.

The classic horror films of the 1970s have now spawned a billion-dollar industry, but they have also penetrated deep into the American consciousness. Quite literally, Zinoman reveals, these movies have taught us what to be afraid of. Drawing on interviews with hundreds of the most important artists in horror, Shock Value is an enthralling and personality-driven account of an overlooked but hugely influential golden age in American film. ...more

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Hardcover, 274 pages

Published July 7th 2011 by Penguin Press (first published July 1st 2011)

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Nov 21, 2018 Wil Wheaton rated it it was amazing

Shelves: horror

This book is a fantastic examination of the people and movies that created horror as we know it. If you want to understand why we had so many slasher films in the 80s, or why horror seemed to be completely subverted into weird satire that wasn't particularly scary in the 90s, you should read this book.
...more

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Jul 10, 2011 David rated it really liked it

John Carpenter's Halloween has without question been one of the most influential films of my life. In particular, I think a great deal of my neurotic development over the past twenty-five years has been aptly summarized by the scene wherein Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) breathes an ill-advised sigh of relief against a bedroom door jamb after she has finally 'defeated' her tormentor Michael Myers. Despite being chased relentlessly by this knife-wielding psychopath in a modified William Shatner ...more

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Jul 25, 2011 brian rated it liked it

best to worst

brian depalma
dressed to kill
carrie
blow out
femme fatale
snake eyes
hi mom!
body double
scarface
the fury
phantom of the paradise
greetings
sisters
carlito's way
raising cain
mission impossible
untouchables
wise guys
casualties of war
obsession
bonfire of the vanities
mission to mars
black dahlia

roman polanski
chinatown
bitter moon
rosemary's baby
death and the maiden
the tenant
repulsion
knife in the water
cul-de-sac
frantic
macbeth
the ghost writer
the pianist
tess
the ninth gate

david cronenberg
dead ringers
the fly ...more

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Apr 05, 2017 Carla Remy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: horror-and-gothic

This was so good. The era of "New Horror" it covers goes from 1968 (with the demise of the studio system) to 1980 (the rise of special effects and endless horror sequels). Very interesting and full of new facts. The fact that I've seen the vast majority of the movies covered made it fun to read. (As far as the couple things I haven't seen, I will find a way to watch Dark Star and, despite liking Wes Craven, I just have no interest in seeing The Last House on the Left). I loved that the influence ...more

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Oct 31, 2013 Mike McPadden rated it it was ok

The late 90s/early 2000s reeked of academics and pretentious media tastemakers attempting to glom on to yet another "bad kid" underworld (as they did with rock, punk, metal, zines, and anything and everything else) in the form of blank-brained boors chanting memorized blather about how, "THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE is actually about the Vietnam war, man."

Go sit on a Black & Decker.

George Romero, most prominently, has forged a decades-long, NPR-blessed professional run out of claiming that he cre The late 90s/early 2000s reeked of academics and pretentious media tastemakers attempting to glom on to yet another "bad kid" underworld (as they did with rock, punk, metal, zines, and anything and everything else) in the form of blank-brained boors chanting memorized blather about how, "THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE is actually about the Vietnam war, man."

Go sit on a Black & Decker.

George Romero, most prominently, has forged a decades-long, NPR-blessed professional run out of claiming that he created DAWN OF THE DEAD with intentions beyond showing how awesome it would be if flesh-eating ghouls trashed everything inside a shopping mall.

I love DAWN OF THE DEAD. Romero is a charmer. But I don't now, nor have I ever, bought that con.

SHOCK VALUE author Jason Zinoman may or may not swallow it either, but the book comes off as his attempt to finally format all such nonsense into a handy checklist for the sort of gasbags who'd never actually watch horror movies to reference when befouling their surroundings by talking about horror movies.

If that was his intention: bullseye. And then I'd add another word that starts with the same five letters.

The nonsense about "New Horror" in the mold of EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS' historical re-education pollutes every page., and Zinoman's mission to force the existing high-culture narrative regarding 70s cinema into that boilerplate includes factual bone-ups (intentional or otherwise) on the order of claiming that in LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, lead villain Krug carves the word "LOVE" onto a victim's body.

He doesn't. He carves the word "Krug." But it would be so much heavier if he'd chosen "LOVE", man, so let's just report it as that.

In addition, Zinoman swiped John Waters' book title, and I guarantee he didn't even know he was doing it.

All that bloviated, reading the book itself ain't a half-terrible experience. It moves, it communicates interesting information (although clearly not 100% trustworthy), and it's not dry.

Faint praise, to be sure, but it's something to hold onto until the upcoming septic wave of tomes declaring, "SAW and HOSTEL are really about Halliburton and Guantanamo, man."

...more

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Aug 23, 2011 Paul rated it it was amazing

SHOCK VALUE is one of my favorite books published this year.

Zinoman details the move away from the goofy, safe horror films of the 50s and 60s to the mix of exploitation, confrontation, and art of the late 60s and 70s. Horror movies where the source of the horror is murky, or cannot be easily explained or rationalized away. Exhaustively researched, the main arc of the book’s argument/definition of the modern horror film are: Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, The Last House on the Left, The Texas Ch ...more

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Sep 12, 2019 Baal Of rated it it was amazing

Shelves: blood-sausage

Given how much I love a lot of the horror movies covered in this book it was inevitable that I would like it, but this book went beyond my expectations. The thoughtfulness with which the author approached the subject hit the right tone for me, and I thought he did a good job contrasting the artistic intentions of the film makers against the desires to just make something cool. As is often the case, I was struck by just how much contingency affected the outcomes of many of the films I love, and h ...more

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Apr 18, 2015 Bridget H rated it it was ok

Shelves: film

While only slightly more elucidating than perusing IMDb's trivia section, I did enjoy certain parts of Shock Value. The author clearly loves horror and his detailed accounts of behind the scenes negotiations and creative spats are entertaining. However Zinoman is wildly irregular in his approach. He melds history with theory but gravely does a disservice to the latter. For instance, he dismisses gendered readings of slasher films as "sex-obsessed" but occasionally points to Freud as an explanati ...more

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Mar 25, 2015 Jill Hutchinson rated it really liked it

Shelves: film-music-history

I have to admit that one of my guilty pleasures used to be horror films and when I saw this book at the library it interested me in that it explained how the Dracula/Frankenstein movies which were the horror movies of another era, morphed into the explicit gut wrenching films which began in the late 1960/70s. It all started with the basement budget "Night of the Living Dead" directed by George Romero. I remember the first time I saw it......at a midnight movie which was packed to the rafters and ...more

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Jul 24, 2011 Chris rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2011, horror, movies

I should preface this by saying that one of my favorite books about movies is Peter Biskind's Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n Roll Generation Saved Hollywood. I read that book when I was a teenager and I clearly remember thinking, as I got to the end, "Biskind didn't really write about Halloween or Alien!" Two of my favorite movies from the '70's are given passing mention in his book but, by and large, Biskind stayed away from the horror genre (The Exorcist notwithstan ...more

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Jul 13, 2011 Sistermagpie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction

My least favorite thing about this book was that it was too short. I love horror movies and I love reading about horror movies. This book focuses on that really golden age when low budget independent directors were changing the genre and making it mainstream by seeming to be anything but.

Even if I didn't like the genre it's always exciting reading about people getting together and making things that are going to turn out to be really special since they couldn't have known it at the time. Most o ...more

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Sep 13, 2017 Luke McCarthy rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Too light on information/meaningful analysis to be revelatory to anyone who's actually interested in 1970's New Horror, and yet too niche to appeal to anyone else. Some vaguely interesting connections made between the different landmark films Zinoman chooses to write about, but nothing that reads as overly astute or groundbreaking (also a lot of questionable leaps in logic here for anyone well-versed in the films he's writing about).
Not really sure who this was written for. ...more

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Dec 15, 2020 Becky marked it as to-read

Another one I'm shelving for now. I need to read it rather than listen because so much of it is new information to me. Although if I read it next year for Halloween, I think it will hit different as I spent quarantine catching up on all the Halloween classics I had never watched! ...more

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Jul 11, 2011 Robert rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: film-music-television, the-70s, scary-monsters, kindle-edition, horror

The subject of this fascinating book is the cycle of really exciting horror films that began in the late 60’s and continued until the end of 70’s. The author dubs these movies “New Horror,” as they broke with the conventions of the past, introducing adult themes, moral ambiguity and auteur-driven, seat-of-the-pants filmmaking that continue to influence filmmakers even today. Some of the titles discussed are among my all-time favorites, horror or no: Night of the Living Dead, Rosemary’s Baby, The ...more

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Dec 28, 2011 molly rated it liked it

the subject is really interesting, but the writing is weak. i was interested to learn more about people like dan o'bannon, a man largely responsible for getting "alien" off the ground, but surprised by the short shrift granted directors like cronenberg and raimi.

ETA - i think zinoman's take on feminism and the figure of the woman in horror films was kind of glib. like he knew he had to address it, but wasn't up for or interested in the task of really taking it apart in a critical way. mostly he ...more

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Aug 21, 2011 Autumn rated it it was amazing

I devoured this book like a zombie at an organ donor center. It was so exciting to think about the differences between old and new horror and to get a historical perspective on how the split happened. Like everything else awesome, it was apparently invented by a bunch of geeks who read Lovecraft at a tender age. But really, Zinoman combines research, interviews, contemporary reviews and close viewing to figure out why these movies happened and why they are still regarded as the basis of modern h ...more

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Jan 08, 2019 Josh Lafollette added it

Just over a year ago, I wrote my senior research on the development of exploitation films in America. My enduring interest in this little slice of pop culture history inevitably drew me to this book. In retrospect, I wish I had used it as a resource for my project. Nevertheless, Shock Value turned out to be a worthwhile read. Perhaps it should go without saying, but I would only recommend this book to readers with at least a passing knowledge of the subject matter.

Shock Value is a portrait of a Just over a year ago, I wrote my senior research on the development of exploitation films in America. My enduring interest in this little slice of pop culture history inevitably drew me to this book. In retrospect, I wish I had used it as a resource for my project. Nevertheless, Shock Value turned out to be a worthwhile read. Perhaps it should go without saying, but I would only recommend this book to readers with at least a passing knowledge of the subject matter.

Shock Value is a portrait of a select group of writers, directors, and producers who stumbled into film history. This book is Zinoman's love letter to filmmakers like George Romero, John Carpenter, and Wes Craven. To his credit, he confronts the humanity of his heroes, never slipping into hagiography. He recounts their failures alongside their successes, noting their shortcomings as he sings their praises. Though Zinoman weaves multiple perspectives together, often allowing the filmmakers to speak for themselves. This engaging mix of personalities drew me even deeper into the story.

Readers hoping for a comprehensive history of horror should look elsewhere. Shock Value touches on developments like the growth of independent cinema and the collapse of the studio system, but only as background to the story at hand. I don't agree with all of Zinoman's conclusions, but it's a testament to his writing ability that I enjoyed the book even when I though it was wrong. The book contains a wealth of behind-the-scenes stories and intriguing anecdotes, but its true strength lies in its organization. Even as it jumps from year to year and references countless films, Shock Value is anchored by a coherent narrative thread from beginning to end.

Through in-depth research and numerous interviews with his subjects, Zinoman unearths a compelling story about a cluster of brilliant weirdos who rewrote the rules of filmmaking. Shock Value's limited focus is more of an asset than a weakness, offering an in-depth look at a brief moment in history rather than a surface reading of a whole genre. Even the most obsessive horror fans will find a surprise or two in these pages. ...more

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Nov 15, 2018 John rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: film-television

This book explores what the author calls "New Horror," referring to a select group of low-budget, take-no-prisoners horror movies from the 60's and 70's whose important innovation was to successfully mix grindhouse with arthouse.
The book explains how we went from Boris Karloff and Vincent Price to Wes Craven and George Romero, all within the span of a single generation. The author credits Hitchcock for launching "New Horror" back in 1960 with his ground- and rule-breaking PSYCHO, which effective This book explores what the author calls "New Horror," referring to a select group of low-budget, take-no-prisoners horror movies from the 60's and 70's whose important innovation was to successfully mix grindhouse with arthouse.
The book explains how we went from Boris Karloff and Vincent Price to Wes Craven and George Romero, all within the span of a single generation. The author credits Hitchcock for launching "New Horror" back in 1960 with his ground- and rule-breaking PSYCHO, which effectively re-invented the whole horror genre. In 1968, the films NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and TARGETS further cemented the notion of a new type of horror, paving the way for a host of hard-to-categorize horror films throughout the 1970's. Movies like THE EXORCIST, CARRIE, LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, ALIEN, JAWS, and ROMEMARY'S BABY. Such films defied the usual horror conventions and earned the genre a begrudging new respectability among critics. Meanwhile, carefully crafted shockers like HALLOWEEN and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE became huge hits and, in doing so, pushed grindhouse cinema out into the mainstream, where bigger budgets resulted in safer, glossier projects, thereby effectively nipping "New Horror" in the bud.
SHOCK VALUE also has a great chapter on why such unpleasant and hard-to-justify horror films as THE HILLS HAVE EYES and DAWN OF THE DEAD have such rabid fanbases, and why the directors of those films had such a strong distaste for the later "torture porn" films that their work inspired. (Wes Craven walked out in disgust halfway through Tarantino's RESERVOIR DOGS, and George Romero seems genuinely appalled at the violence depicted in movies like HOSTEL.) The author of this book really seems to know his stuff, and his analysis of New Horror films enhanced my admiration for the craftsmanship and innovative ideas that went into their creation, despite the fact that John Carpenter is the only one of these New Horror filmmakers I'm actually a fan of.
Still, a fun and informative read from cover to cover. ...more

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Jun 21, 2020 Loser's Club Book Reviews rated it really liked it

A great read. This is the best book I have found so far on the subject of Horror Cinema. The book paints an excellent backdrop to the birth of the modern Horror flick. Helping the reader to understand the social and political influences of the time and how these birthed directors such as Wes Craven, John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper.

If you are a fan of Horror then reading this book is a must. You won’t be disappointed. There are a couple of small errors in matching actors to films they did not act ...more

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Aug 26, 2020 Brian Cohen rated it really liked it

I can’t say I learned a lot between film school and my own personal education on horror films, which is pretty extensive, but there was some great background I didn’t know about the filmmakers and I liked and agreed with a lot of the analysis. It definitely made me want to revisit the classics. I also appreciated the acknowledgment that none of the filmmakers really lived up to their early promise.

And man, Pauline Kael really knew how to make snobbery sound like intelligence.

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May 15, 2014 Aussiescribbler Aussiescribbler rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: movie-books

Overwhelming terror may be the closest we ever get to the feeling of being born.

Jason Zinoman knows how to tell a compelling story, and he has some great ones to tell, about the lives of the men behind the iconic horror movies of the 1970s and how those movies came into being.

Zinoman is a journalist specialising in theatre. One of the most interest aspects of the book is the way he explains the influence of the theatre of Harold Pinter, Edward Albee and Samuel Beckett on some of the writers and ...more

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Feb 01, 2020 Sarospice rated it really liked it

Wes Craven. John Carpenter. Tobe Hooper. George Romero. Dan O'Bannon. If those names mean anything to you without having to google them, you'll love this book. An interesting plunge into artist who changed the world of horror because they were simply trying to survive. Makes you want to watch every movie mentioned. again. ...more

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Mar 08, 2017 Brian Joynt rated it really liked it

Well-researched history of some of the great horror films, and how they affected and/or changed the game at various points in time. If you're a serious horror movie fan you're going to already know a lot of these stories, but there's some interesting facts and info surrounding the inception of these films that the author brings to light in a clear, readable tome. ...more

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May 04, 2019 Cool Papa rated it really liked it

Charles Champlin of the LA Times said of these early horror films: "(They) seem a singularly appropriate symbol of an age which, believing in nothing, will believe anything." ...more

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Mar 28, 2020 James Oxyer rated it it was amazing

Fantastic!

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Oct 16, 2019 Mike rated it liked it · review of another edition

Informative and fun read into the history of the major horror movies from the 70's. ...more

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Nov 08, 2019 Nerita rated it really liked it

A great exploration of horror genre and the people who created it and made it mainstream. Cool read for fans of the genre.

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Apr 10, 2012 Frank Maccormack rated it really liked it

As someone who is both an avid fan of the horror genre and a sucker for movie trivia, I was very excited about this book when I saw it on a book table at a local book store one day. I had already known a bit about the behind-the-scenes workings of a few of my favorite horror movies, but was still fascinated to hear about how often the great horror movies of our time were troubled with complicated business negotiations, low-budget concessions, interpersonal conflicts, and poor expectations. In fa As someone who is both an avid fan of the horror genre and a sucker for movie trivia, I was very excited about this book when I saw it on a book table at a local book store one day. I had already known a bit about the behind-the-scenes workings of a few of my favorite horror movies, but was still fascinated to hear about how often the great horror movies of our time were troubled with complicated business negotiations, low-budget concessions, interpersonal conflicts, and poor expectations. In fact, the book argues, and argues well, that the truly influential horror movies of the 70's, in their final products, were much better off because of these obstacles (as evidenced by how bland, unoriginal, and sterile most horror movies became once big Hollywood budgets made production a smooth sailing). I completely agree, and Zinoman does a great job of telling these stories with enthusiasm and just enough detail to keep them from feeling bogged down. Between matter-of-fact style accounts of the production cycles for many of the great horror films of the 70's, Zinoman tangents off into some very interesting discussions of the nature of the horror genre, expertly weaving back to the documentarian format after explaining why you are reading this book in the first place. It's obvious this book was written by someone with a personal, powerful connection to the realm of scary movies, and as a reader of the same sentiment, I very much enjoyed his style.

All in all, I can see this book being terribly boring to anyone who either 1) does not care for horror movies, or 2) does not care for "demystifying" the movie experience by knowing where it all came from. For me, however, the horror genre is relatively unique in that the emotional investment required to enjoy the movie is not fully contained within the movie itself; it extends out to the world itself, and the individual's experience there. Knowing that a motiveless, brutal murderer in a film is nothing more than an exhausted, sweating actor in a silly mask can change the way you view the movie, but that does not change the fact that a motiveless, brutal murderer in real life is terrifying on our most primal level. Horror movies are of course just movies, but the greats are inspired by the deepest, darkest, often collective fears of the human experience. It opens up a good deal of philosophical implications, and for me, this book offered a great discussion.

P.S. This book added about 10 movies to my "must eventually see" list. ...more

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Aug 22, 2011 Nicole rated it really liked it

As soon as I read the review in Entertainment Weekly (and a few other locations) I knew I had to pick up this book. Shock Value: How a few eccentric outsiders gave us nightmares, conquered Hollywood, and invented modern horror by Jason Zinoman is a fantastic retrospective of the horror movie genre of New Horror and the geniuses that came out of this era.

The 1970's saw some of the greatest horror movies released: Rosemary's Baby, Halloween, Alien, The Hills Have Eyes, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre As soon as I read the review in Entertainment Weekly (and a few other locations) I knew I had to pick up this book. Shock Value: How a few eccentric outsiders gave us nightmares, conquered Hollywood, and invented modern horror by Jason Zinoman is a fantastic retrospective of the horror movie genre of New Horror and the geniuses that came out of this era.

The 1970's saw some of the greatest horror movies released: Rosemary's Baby, Halloween, Alien, The Hills Have Eyes, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and Carrie to name just a smattering (yes, yes, yes, there are many more--this is just a smattering). These movies bucked convention of Old Horror, which was made up primarily of vampire and monster movies. These new films frightened their audience with the unknown; they took a page from the great dramatists of the time (such as Pinter) and played into the fears of what will never go away: a fear of what you can't see and can't ever truly know.

I agree with Zinoman's conclusion that few if any modern horror films can come close to what the geniuses of the generation established: John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Dan O'Bannon, Brian DePalma, and Roman Polanski. They created the rules because the rules did not exist before (hell, they were making up New Horror as they went along!), and they followed the rules very closely because the rules were belonged to them in the first place.

I was fascinated by Zinoman's detailed history because Halloween is still one of my favorite movies. Very few films have scared me like this one has, consistently, since I first saw it as a college student (I know, really two decades plus after it was released in 1978, but I can't help my childhood fear of fear...or when I was born). To be able to put it into historical context was meaningful and insightful for me, and I loved that I took away from this book a strong sense of artistry from the Masters of Horror.

Zinoman gives us a proper history of this niche genre, and the book is well worth a read if you are a movie fan. The book is a must if you are a horror fan. And if you love history of film--well, what are you doing still reading this review? Pick up the book already. ...more

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Nov 02, 2015 Marlowe rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, horror

Shock Value tells the story of New Horror, the mostly independent movement in the 1970s to revitalize the genre, breaking from what had become the standard in horror: formulaic monster movies with the occasional gimmick (theatre seats with buzzers!) thrown in. The book tracks a few of the major players, like Wes Craven, Brian De Palma, Roman Polanski, John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, Tobe Hooper, William Friedkin, George Romero, and Dan O'Bannon.

It's no secret that I'm a fan of the horror genre Shock Value tells the story of New Horror, the mostly independent movement in the 1970s to revitalize the genre, breaking from what had become the standard in horror: formulaic monster movies with the occasional gimmick (theatre seats with buzzers!) thrown in. The book tracks a few of the major players, like Wes Craven, Brian De Palma, Roman Polanski, John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, Tobe Hooper, William Friedkin, George Romero, and Dan O'Bannon.

It's no secret that I'm a fan of the horror genre - so much so that I rarely watch anything else. So much so that Netflix can't keep up with my consumption habits, even when I'll happily watch their 1-2 star selections. But I tend to stick to my role of consumer, and I often don't know the histories or the names of the directors (the catalogue enthusiast part of my brain is already sufficiently occupied by other topics). So it was interesting to me to get a little of the backstory.

Unfortunately, Shock Value felt a bit flat. The author hops around from figure to figure, and I think that I would have found it very confusing if I didn't already know many of the names. Chapters just sort of meandered until they reached their page length, and I didn't get the sense that they had focus or purpose.

Generally, I guess my complaint is just that the book "lacks soul." It throws out the information, but it doesn't dig deep, it doesn't tell a story. The closest it got was in the discussions with Dan O'Bannon, who seems like he could have justified a whole book himself. That's where Zinoman's passion peeked through, and I was intrigued enough to look up more information. But for the rest, the writing just felt very flat, telling anecdotes in a detached and almost haphazard way.

For fans of horror, the book might still be worthwhile, and there were certainly bits and pieces of interesting information. But it could have been presented in a better way. It's clear from O'Bannon's sections that Zinoman does have passion, and I hope he let's himself show it a little more in future works. ...more

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“[Wes] Craven rejected the ideas of his childhood, but he was still searching for something to replace them with, leading to confusion and dark spells. 'I had to much rage as a result of years of being made to be a good boy,' he says. 'I think when you're raised to be within such rigid confines of thought and conduct, what that does to a person is you think you are terrible if you violate the rules. It makes you crazy. Or it makes you angry.” — 0 likes

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Shock Value: How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror

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Trivia About Shock Value: How ...

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See a Problem?

Preview — Shock Value by Jason Zinoman

Shock Value: How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About Jason Zinoman

Books by Jason Zinoman

Related Articles

Trivia About Shock Value: How ...

Quotes from Shock Value: How ...

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