Body and Blood

Catholic Horror in America

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by Matthew J. Cressler, Jack Lee Downey, Kathleen Holscher and Michael Pasquier

Type

Studies

Subject

Genre > Horror

Keywords

horror, religion, United States

Publishing date

2026 (October 27, 2026)

Publisher

New York University (NYU) Press

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Hardcover • 248 pages
6 x 9 inches (15 x 23 cm)

ISBN

978-1-4798-4583-5

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Book Presentation:
Exposes the deep Catholic roots of American horror

From exorcisms to suffocating catacombs, grinning corpses, and electric holy water, Catholicism and American horror go hand in hand. Body and Blood cuts horror open to reveal how the Catholic tradition has shaped its supernatural and grotesque aesthetics in the modern world.

Making the case that it is impossible to understand the enduring popularity of horror without recognizing its religious elements, this volume makes two groundbreaking claims. First, that there is a profoundly Catholic current coursing through modern American horror and that the genre comes alive in new ways when we hold it to the light of the Catholic past. And second, that Catholic history is horrifying in ways that demand our attention, ranging from the supernatural figures who visited children with visions of the apocalypse to settler colonialism and clergy sexual abuse. Catholicism is not exceptional in its capacity to horrify, of course. However, this book shows how contending with the Catholic dimension of the genre teaches us something important about horror and its hold on audiences in the United States, and it invites us to understand Catholicism anew.

Offering a shocking view of Catholic history as you have never seen it before, Body and Blood presents both scholars and fans alike with an accessible entry into the dark underbelly of America’s religious landscape.

See the publisher website: New York University (NYU) Press