Eleanor Johnson: Scream With Me (preorder)

Atria Books, 2026, softcover, 368 pages, 13.9 x 21.2 cm

A compelling, intelligent, and timely exploration of the horror genre from one of Columbia University’s most popular professors, shedding light on how classic horror films demonstrate larger cultural attitudes about women’s rights, bodily autonomy, and more.

When the Supreme Court decided to reverse Roe v. Wade in the spring of 2022, Dr. Eleanor Johnson and her class were in the middle of studying the 1968 horror classic Rosemary’s Baby, a film that understands reproductive coercion as the soul of horror. Teaching this film to her distraught students led Johnson to an epiphany: horror cinema engages directly with the combustive politics of women’s rights and the despotic atmosphere in America, both in the 1970s and today.

In ten “riveting, enlightening, and occasionally scream-inducing” (Shelf Awareness) essays, Johnson reveals with intellect and empathy how classics like Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, and The Shining expose and critique issues of reproductive control, domestic violence, and patriarchal oppression. By weaving these iconic films into the fabric of American feminism, Johnson reveals that true horror often lies not in the supernatural but in the familiar (and all too often, lethal) confines of the home.