I really enjoyed this book! Eleanor Johnson does an excellent job describing how 6 domestic horror movies had an effect on feminism. The 6 films she discusses in length include: Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, The Stepford Wives, The Omen, Alien, and The Shining. 1968 through 1980 saw the beginning of the women’s rights movement. The Supreme Court granted the constitutional right for a woman to have an abortion. Domestic shelters opened in various states for women escaping abusive marriages. These 6 films were released around these wins for women’s rights. Johnson has a strong and powerful voice in these essays. She really did her homework. I love nonfiction books about feminism so this book is even sweeter since it is centered around domestic horror films. I ate this book right up. The writing and research is amazing. Very smart. Very insightful. Scream with Me kept me engaged and entertained.

As a feminist who loves the horror genre, I was so excited to read this book, and it did not disappoint.

Anyone who loves horror should pick this up and give it a chance!

Absolutely phenomenal. This book explores classic 1970s horror films as feminist masterworks, and I was completely enraptured by the author’s insight. I love all the movies she discusses, and her professorial and cinematic and historical acumen has deepened and enriched my appreciation for those movies.

Furthermore, she tackles the paradoxical nature of many male directors whose parasitical misogyny goes against the very thematic ideas explored in their films.

This is a well researched, well written book that is perfect for movie and horror fans who want to get into the bloody red meat the genre offers. I read an e-arc, and I will be buying this book in hardcover.

Be warned: you may never look at horror movies the same, and you’ll be better for it.

A good introductory text for baby feminists trying to look into horror + feminism critique and theory, but ultimately feels very barebones, which is why I consider this a starter text: there’s not much new here being explored

Solid 4.5! This is an excellent and insightful read, especially for horror fans. Although, even if you aren’t, you’ll still enjoy as it was well researched, cited and delivered. It was fascinating (and sad) because women are still in the same spot we were decades ago. Still trying to fight for our rights.

The author looks at the rise of feminism by looking at the six most impactful horror movies of the late 60s to early 80s:

Rosemary’s Baby
The Exorcist
The Stepford Wives
The Omen
Alien
The Shining

I absolutely loved learning from this author!

First and foremost, thank you so much to NetGalley and Atria Books for allowing me to read an advanced copy of “Scream with Me”.

I enjoyed the authors in-depth description of the movie Rosemary’s Baby. As someone who has not seen the movie I appreciated the very detailed annotation of it and the themes that went along with it. I enjoyed how the author brought issues occurring in New York pertaining to women and their reproductive health and correlated it with different horror movies. I do think that the Alien chapter was a little far fetched and reaching.

An easy read but educational. Feels like a hybrid between a wiki page and textbook. A little over done with the drawn out summaries and lengthy explanations for every single movie along with a few others that don’t have specific chapters. The chapters were LONG too. As someone who enjoys a short chapter, it took a little adjusting. I’m also bummed that the book technically ended at 87% (rest was notes).

Overall I’d give this book a 3.5-4 stars. I did enjoy it a lot, but some parts were long and repetitive. I’ll give it 4 stars because it was a very impressive novel and the author did so much research.

I thought this was a fantastic and fascinating read - while I have not seen every horror film referenced in the book, those I have seen I've watched over and over again. Johnson's book made me see parts of them through a totally different lens, and I'm eager to give them another viewing with new eyes. Through each film discussed, we learn about the themes of domestic violence, reproductive control, how these films were perceived at the time, and how they helped to shape the feminism of today. Additionally, we look at some more recent films and see how things have changed post-Dobbs - it's an interesting compare and contrast from 50+ years prior. I highly recommend this to anyone, horror fan or not. Thank you Atria Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy!

As someone who had never seen a horror movie before reading this book, I am surprised to say that Scream with Me by Eleanor Johnson just may be one of my favorite nonfiction books of all time.

Before I get to why, let me explain my approach to reading this book (which I highly recommend to anyone wishing to read this book). Because I hadn't seen any horror movies before, I thought this book presented a wonderful opportunity to dive into Johnson's curated list of films. Before each chapter, I watched the corresponding movie and would then read Johnson's analysis of the film, which made for a splendid experience.

While I enjoyed watching these movies, it is not necessary to have seen them to benefit or enjoy reading Johnson's analysis, as she seamlessly interweaves summary, historical background knowledge, and feminist implications. I am surprised by how much I learned about the connections between domestic horror films and feminist social change. Johnson's writing struck a perfect balance between clarity and depth, offering accessible yet insightful analysis. Even though the movies were fresh in my brain, Johnson uncovered nuances within each film that I failed to consider upon watching.

I absolutely loved this book and couldn't put it down. I recommend it to film buffs, feminists, and everyone in between. Immerse yourself in this thrilling history and, when you're ready, scream with me.

Thanks to Atria Books and Netgalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Be sure to grab this book when it's published on September 30, 2025!!

I’m a big fan of reading film theory, especially theory around horror films, and Eleanor Johnson has such an intriguing premise here. She writes of six of the most known, most beloved horror movies of all time (The Exorcist, Alien, The Stepford Wives, Rosemary’s Baby, The Omen, and The Shining) and how those movies, whether intentionally or not, have a lot to say about feminism, reproductive control, domestic violence, and the idea of “the home” as a safe space becoming intentionally sinister. It’s really clear that Johnson has spent a great deal of time thinking about and teaching the concepts that she writes of in this book. The ideas are clear and coherent, if occasionally a bit obvious. Johnson also writes about the times that these movies came out in - the passing of Roe vs. Wade in 1973, the introduction of laws making domestic violence a punishable offense, and the existence of second-wave feminism all played into what these movies spoke to and what they eventually became to the female public. I find books like this so interesting (and also depressing!) because of how little has really changed.

When this popped up on NetGalley, I immediately hit the request button and eagerly looked forward to reading; I devoured it in a few hours and it *absolutely* delivered!

Johnson presents six major horror films that we now consider classics of the genre: Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist, The Stepford Wives, The Omen, Alien, and The Shining. She crafts a brilliant argument for each as a feminist (even if complicatedly so) reflection of the American political and cultural climate at the time. For most, the intrinsic feminist messages are presented in understated and less obvious ways, but no less potent and reflective of the tumultuous years in which they were released.

Throughout, there is the underlying rage (what's new?) of what it means to be a woman in America, both during the second wave feminist movement and now, as so many rights are being ripped away and so much progress is being undone. Now more than ever, these films speak to that rage, fear, powerlessness, and survival, and Johnson does a fascinating job of laying it all out.

(I will admit that I skimmed a bit through the sections on Creep and Creep 2, as well as the analyses on recent reboots of the original six, simply because I'd like to stay spoiler free in case I decide to watch!)

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

In Scream with Me, author Eleanor Johnson examines the women's movement and issues like domestic violence, forced pregnancy, and rape through the lens of classic horror films. By diving into films like Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist, Johnson addresses the very real fears that women live with. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.

Love this book! The authors writing style was great for me, I was hooked right away. Sometimes nonfiction reads can be too dry and hard for me to get into, not the case here! Also love how the intro laid out what we were getting into, how each chapter focuses on a different movie. I love horror movies, Rosemarys Baby is my favorite. So it was cool to read about it in the context of the time it was created and what it means.

Wow! First, i’m not usually into nonfiction but this just had my attention PEEKED! Horror and talking about how horror movies from the 70’s-80’s tackle woman’s rights to their bodies and domestic violence.

The author delves into how horror movies like, “Rosemarys Baby” (1968), “The Exorcist” (1973), “The Stepford Wives” (1975), “The Omen” (1976), “Alien” (1978), and “The Shinning” (1980), tackle the struggle woman had in the time these movies were made and how they were trying to shed light on their pain. I really enjoyed how the author, as well as talking about how the movies are showing these struggles but also relating it to how the world and the times were.

We also get a look into more recent horror movies post-Dobb with a feminist view that are slightly similar and partially connected to the older movies like, “Immaculate” (2024), “The First Omen” (2024), and “Apartment 7A” (2024).

The way the author writes and you can honestly just feel the way she feels for the woman and children in these horror movies. It really made me also feel for these characters that I don’t really know (since I sadly haven’t seen ANY of the movies we talked about in the book (except “Alien”)). She wants woman to continue to write, speak out, and SCREAM. It was very inspiring but also very bittersweet.

Thank you Atria Books Publicity and Marketing, and Netgalley for this eArc in exchange for my honest review!

4.5 stars

A professor at Columbia looks at the women’s movement through six horror movies that were released between 1968 and 1980: “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968), “The Exorcist” (1973), “The Stepford Wives” (1975), “The Omen” (1976), “Alien (1978) and “The Shining (1980).

This was incredibly interesting in a “why didn’t I write this?” kind of way (although I certainly wouldn’t have thought about including “The Omen” and enjoyed reading the rationale for doing so.) Johnson summarizes and takes a long look at each movie and what it means to the movement. She also discusses what happens when bad men make good horror movies (obviously looking at you, Polanski, but you aren’t the only one.)

Next, Johnson examines some more recent movies that those interested in feminism should see (I’ve seen two of them, “Paranormal Activity” and “Creep” and I’m putting “Creep 2” on my short list.) I was a little surprised to see “Creep” here, no spoilers here, but iykyk, but, again, I was interested in the author’s explanation. Then Johnson covers some films released post-Dobbs that I must see. Since she summarizes the movies I skipped the sections where she discusses these, but they are “Immaculate” (2024), “The First Omen” (2024) and “Apartment 7A” (2024).

Finally, she spends a chapter on the incredible, Oscar-winning, Sarah Polly-helmed film “Women Talking” which she calls “the first domestic horror of the 2020s. It might not usually be classified as horror, but considering it’s based on a true story, it might be the most terrifying story the book covers; if you don’t know it it’s based on the story of a Mennonite community where the women (some as young as six…SIX) were drugged with veterinary drugs and sexually assaulted, repeatedly, by a group of the men of the community. In the movie the men involved have been arrested and the women are left alone while the remaining men go to bail out those in jail. The women must work together to decide what they should do and there are three options: they can leave, stay and fight or do nothing. The movie covers their meetings. It is staggering.

The whole book is great, especially for horror fans, but the six books at the forefront are so very popular that this book is going to be fairly accessible for everyone. Highly recommended.

Scream with Me is an absolutely gripping and thought-provoking read. Eleanor Johnson blends her love of horror films with sharp cultural commentary in a way that feels both smart and deeply personal. I was hooked from the first chapter—she doesn’t just talk about horror as entertainment, but as a genre that reflects and responds to the real fears women face, especially around issues like reproductive rights, domestic violence, and control over our own bodies.
Reading this felt like having a really eye-opening conversation with a brilliant friend who loves horror as much as you do. Johnson dives into films like Rosemary’s Baby and The Shining and shows how they speak to the anxieties women live with every day. This book is fierce, passionate, and genuinely moving. If you love horror and care about feminism, this is one you don’t want to miss.

I really enjoyed this. I am fascinated by horror films and feminism so this book was right up my alley. Enjoyed the exploration of the films with the historical climate at the time of the film. Very interesting!

Scream With Me dissects a handful of seminal horror films from the seventies and eighties, and highlights how each film depicts the domestic horror that millions of women and children actually faced. The author also delves into how these films reflected changing attitudes and legal policies at the time. The author’s note begs us to keep talking, keep writing, and keep screaming about our pain because it remains the only way to inspire lasting change. I found this to be very informative and inspiring, and would recommend it to serious horror fans and film buffs, as each movie is essentially spoiled in dissection. Five enthusiastic stars!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC.

I used to do horror research as an undergrad research assistant, so topics like the one this books is exploring are very close to my heart. 

Overall I really liked the exploration of the connection between domestic horror movies and the state of the feminist movement at the time of their release. 

I did want the boom to say a bit more in the chapter on the bad men making these movies. That seems like a very unexplored part of the conversation compared to the general analysis, so I was really hoping this book would explore it more. 

The pacing of the book felt a little off at times, I think the chapters could have been arranged better. 

Overall the book was pretty short, I was hoping for a bit more content from it, but I did enjoy what was there.