Thomas Harris modeled his fictional character Hannibal Lecter after the real-life serial killer Ted Bundy, and Harris’ novel The Silence of the Lambs would later aid officials in the incarceration of the Green River Killer. Michael Herr was a war correspondent in the Vietnam War before becoming a contributing writer for Apocalypse Now, a film that parallels Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness. Horror fiction has left very real marks, both positive and negative, on culture, science, history, even geography, and this introductory class will analyze a series of contexts surrounding archetypal horror-genre writings and films.

Click below to read the course essays written in the style of Horror: 100 Best Books, edited by Stephen Jones and Kim Newman:

• “Tunnels” by Kylie Cunningham
• “‘In Transit’ by Kevin Sampsell” by Jalena Post
• “‘Zombies’ by Chuck Palahniuk” by Jalena Post
• “‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by Charlotte Gilman” by Logan Schwartz
• “American Psycho: An Essay” by Hannah Williams

To find horror fiction readings online, please click here.