Emily C. Hughes Delivers a Gift For The Scare Curious With "HORROR FOR WEENIES."

September 3rd, 2024 will now go down in history as the single greatest day in the lives of the scare curious a.k.a “Weenies.” That’s because Quirk Books has just released “HORROR FOR WEENIES: Everything You Need to Know About the Films You’re Too Scared to Watch” by Emily C. Hughes. What is a “Weenie” you ask? Well, that’s anyone and everyone who desperately wants to be part of the horror conversation but is too scared to watch horror films. We all know dozens of people like this and Emily Hughes is throwing them a lifeline wrapped in a perfectly sized tome of terror that will be their Rosetta Stone for all things horror going forward.

Emily Hughes, who runs and curates all the horror literature recommendations for readjumpscares.com (if that site isn’t in your favorites you’re missing out) has now focused her keen eye on 25 horror films, classics, cult, and contemporary and given the reader the essentials needed to be a fun, insightful and intelligent part of a horror conversation. Jess Zimmerman, Emily’s editor, perfectly encapsulates who needs this book in her introduction. It’s the person at the bar, cocktail party, or BBQ who desperately wants in on those fun, frantic, animated horror conversations but doesn’t have a clue how because they’ve never watched them. Emily took it upon herself to put together what can only be described as the perfect horror movie reference guide.

What makes this 272-page book so remarkable, well…everything actually. The book is sectioned into 3 parts, “Horror in Upheaval,” Doom and Boom,” and “Toward the Unknown,” which cover the most prolific periods in horror movie history. The 25 films referenced are quintessential must-know films such as “The Shining,” “Scream,” “Halloween” and “Psycho” but there are also deeper cuts such as “It Follows,” “Get Out,” and “The Babadook.” There are enough films here to thoroughly educate not only Weenies but also lifelong horror fanatics. The chapters are quick and efficient at only 10-12 pages per movie but they are packed with the themes, tropes, easter eggs, and plot turns that anyone can appreciate for a good horror movie chinwag. But wait, it gets better, Emily actually has short blurbs titled “Say this at a party,” which tells you exactly what to say in front of even the most annoying of horror fans. These blurbs are spot on and will have you sounding like John Carpenter or Karyn Kusama in no time. There is also a fantastic page-length synopsis on everything from “Unkillable Franchises” to “Jump Scares” to “Meta Horror”. My favorite section leans heavily into Emily’s forte, the “recommended readings”. At the end of each chapter are recommendations for 3-4 books that relate to the subgenre of the film discussed to further your Weenie knowledge. They're a perfect pairing and horror lovers will find them irresistible. Everything is covered here from “Cursed Productions” to “B-Movies and Exploitation” to “Grief in Horror.” No subgenre is left out. I was shocked at how much there was here to learn. We’ve been watching horror movies for many decades and walked away with a much deeper appreciation and knowledge of films we’d seen countless times.

On a final note, we like to point out that while this book is exhaustive in its research and scope it’s also incredibly funny. Emily has a great sense of humor and it comes off the page. Some aspects had us constantly crackling up like some of the descriptions, the “Basic Idea” blurb for “Psycho,”, “A woman on the run after embezzling some money from her job stops at the wrong motel and takes the worst shower of her life,” or “The Exorcist, ”When her daughter comes down with a bad case of demonic possession, a woman enlists a priest having a crisis of faith to exercise the girl. Absolutely nobody has a good time.” This book knocks it out of the park with the 25 films detailed within but there are so many films out there that would benefit from a book like this. I hope this is the beginning of a series from Emily. I’d happily have a bookshelf full of them.

HORROR FOR WEENIES: Everything You Need to Know About the Films You’re Too Scared to Watch will be released September 3rd from Quirk Books

Stay up to date with “The Dark Side Of Pop Culture” by following Macabre Daily on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.