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Ghost of an Idea: Hauntology, Folk Horror, and the Spectre of Nostalgia
- GenresNonfictionHorrorTheory
288 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2025
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346 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 20, 2025
A great cover, subject and promising title but sadly the content of this book leaves a lot to be desired.
The first of its seven chapters takes up half the book and is for the most part a well-informed, though often repetitive, essay on the topic
The remainder of the book, however, is a hotchpotch of lists, reviews and over-long interviews with obscure musicians. The focus of these is very confusing. For instance, having established that Folk Horror was born in the UK, the author's list of film recommendations then focuses on American or global titles before ending with a quote from The Wicker Man!?
A review of a Nick Cave concert in Brooklyn has no obvious relevance to the rest of the book.
Worst of all, the book ends with an unseemly rant against the Toy Story franchise which is portrayed as being nothing more than a capitalist exercise in mind control and is held responsible for "endless merchandising that has blighted the world for the last 20 years." If you want to split hairs, Disney have been doing the same thing for much longer!
Aside from bordering on the unhinged, this short but spiteful essay (in lieu of a coherent conclusion) ends the book on a very sour note.
The first of its seven chapters takes up half the book and is for the most part a well-informed, though often repetitive, essay on the topic
The remainder of the book, however, is a hotchpotch of lists, reviews and over-long interviews with obscure musicians. The focus of these is very confusing. For instance, having established that Folk Horror was born in the UK, the author's list of film recommendations then focuses on American or global titles before ending with a quote from The Wicker Man!?
A review of a Nick Cave concert in Brooklyn has no obvious relevance to the rest of the book.
Worst of all, the book ends with an unseemly rant against the Toy Story franchise which is portrayed as being nothing more than a capitalist exercise in mind control and is held responsible for "endless merchandising that has blighted the world for the last 20 years." If you want to split hairs, Disney have been doing the same thing for much longer!
Aside from bordering on the unhinged, this short but spiteful essay (in lieu of a coherent conclusion) ends the book on a very sour note.
January 14, 2025
The Hauntology section is the most interesting, delving into its origins and concepts beyond manifestations in art and entertainment. The folk horror parts were good, but I had hoped for something on the level of the hauntology analysis. While the concepts as stated in the nostalgia section were intriguing, the actual pieces themselves were shallow and vitriolic hyperbole - for instance, rather than explaining in calm, clear terms why the Star Wars sequels were ill-conceived and how their failures were related to the limits of nostalgia, the author mostly just insults them in emotional terms, ironically demonstrating what he rails against - the hurt feelings that nostalgia leads to. But as I said, the first two sections are thought provoking and the resource lists are nice.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews