Book Review: Fear Not! by Josh Larsen

Fear Not! A Christian Appreciation of Horror Movies by Josh Larsen

At first glance, it seems like Christianity and horror movies should have nothing to do with each other. Christianity is all about loving God and your neighbor as yourself. The typical horror movie icons are completely remote from such fundamentals. They are killers, predators, sadists. Their victims are usually people "who deserved it" for moral infractions or being part of some group (so those icons are bigots too?). The only seeming bright spot in horror films are the occasional opponents who defeat the evil ones by being pure or having special powers, almost as if they are supernaturally gifted. So there's a tiny window for some Christian understanding or appreciation to come in.

Josh Larsen, co-host of Filmspotting and senior producer at Think Christian, comes at the problem from a different angle. He looks at a key component of horror films, namely fear, and how that relates to Christianity. So there's the fear of losing individuality which is manifest in zombie films or the fear of guilt which is manifest in ghost stories. The format lends to a lot of commentaries, though sometimes films can fit in multiple categories. Larsen acknowledges this ambiguity. He has some insightful comments and writes well. There's no earth-shattering revelations here, other than how Christians can appreciate and learn from (or at least experience catharsis with) horror films.

Mildly recommended.