THE FRIGHTENERS 

​

​

The Frighteners follows the freaky (and funny)  quest of Peter Laws, a Baptist minister with a penchant for the macabre, to understand why so many people love things that are spooky, morbid and downright repellent. He meets vampires, hunts werewolves in Hull, talks to a man who has slept on a mortuary slab to help him deal with a diagnosis, and is chased by a chainsaw-wielding maniac through a farmhouse full of hanging bodies.

​

Staring into the darkness of a Transylvanian night, he asks: What is it that makes millions of people seek to be disgusted and freaked out? And, in a world that worships rationality and points an accusing finger at violent video games and gruesome films, can an interest in horror culture actually give us safe ways to confront our mortality? Might it even have power to re-enchant our jaded world?

​

Grab your crucifixes, pack the silver bullets, and join the Sinister Minister on his romp into our morbid curiosities.

​

PRAISE FOR THE FRIGHTENERS

 

‘Phrases like page-turner and tour-de-force are slapped on any old tome these days, but in this case, it is fully deserved. Truly the Bill Bryson of the horror think-piece, in literary terms, the highest honour this writer can bestow upon another.’ 9/10 – Starburst

 

‘A paradoxically jolly book about our fascination with horror’ – Daily Mail

​

'This is not simply a defense of a genre that routinely comes under fire for its graphic violence; it’s an intelligent, perceptive, and very well written successor to Stephen King’s 1981 classic, Danse Macabre.' -- Booklist

'...a unique blend of personal experience, research, and humor...as entertaining, informative, and insightful as it is hilarious.' -- Foreword

'Full of blood and guts and brains and heart, Peter Laws’s work is a fearless and ultimately emotional exploration for anyone who’s ever wondered why they were drawn to the macabre, and what it says about them.' -- Mike Bockoven, author of Fantasticland and Pack

​

‘A great read … Every chapter was packed with plenty of research, making The Frighteners an absorbing read, and whilst I read it I learnt a lot about the history of the macabre.’ – Terror-Tree

​

​

​