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.