REVIEW: The Evolution of Horror: A Terrifying Guide to Horror Movie History

BY: MAKE IT WEIRD EDITORIAL TEAM

The Evolution of Horror: A Terrifying Guide to Horror Movie History is Mike Muncer’s book adaptation of his own long-running podcast, and it’s exactly the kind of guide I wish existed when I was first getting serious about this genre many years ago. It’s a big, handsome hardcover, and it earns that size.

A little on Muncer for anyone who doesn’t know the show. He’s a London based podcaster and film journalist who cut his teeth producing Film 2018 with Claudia Winkleman and the Inside Cinema series for the BBC, along with work for the BFI, MTV, and Little White Lies. He started The Evolution of Horror podcast in 2017 as a side project, and by 2021 it had grown into his full time job, now the biggest horror and film history podcast in the UK, complete with live tours and screenings. Reece Shearsmith writes the foreword, which tells you the kind of company this book keeps.

This is squarely my kind of book. Between my own nonfiction writing and everything I do here at Make It Weird, I’m always looking for something that treats horror history with the same rigor you’d give any other academic subject while still writing like a fan. The Evolution of Horror splits its 224 pages into eight subgenres, vampires, slashers, zombies, ghost stories, and more, and walks through the tropes, the historical context, and the psychology of why each one works on us. Every chapter reviews a stack of movies within that subgenre, from Psycho all the way up through Sinners, and profiles the filmmakers who defined it. Mike Lee-Graham’s illustrations and the stills and posters scattered throughout make it as fun to flip through as it is to actually read cover to cover.

What I like most is the structure. Breaking the genre down by subgenre instead of a straight chronological march through film history means you can read it in whatever order suits your mood, and it makes the book genuinely useful as a reference you’ll keep coming back to, not just something you read once and shelve. I’d have happily taken an even deeper dive into a couple of the more niche corners of each subgenre, but that’s more a compliment to how well Muncer builds the appetite than a real knock against the book.

If you’re the kind of horror fan who wants the history and the psychology behind why this genre grabs us, not just a list of recommendations, this belongs on your shelf right next to your favorite film encyclopedias. It’s a book I can see myself referencing for years.