French Horror: Industry, Society and Media (21st Century Horror)

Book info: French Horror: Industry, Society and Media (21st Century Horror) (Hardcover, 256 pages) – Edinburgh University Press, 2026. Language: English.

French Horror: Industry, Society and Media provides an overview of French horror film and television of the 21st century, exploring the particularities of the genre on both an industrial and a theoretical basis to identify an essential ‘Frenchness’.The book argues that there are a number of distinct production, formal and socio-cultural characteristics present in these works that mark them as uniquely French, including, among others, critical suspicion of homegrown horror and a corresponding lack of industrial support, attempts to evoke auteurism in certain creative figures, reference to key moments of French history, the framing of body horror and violence and the use of the banlieues.Through a series of close readings of both major and lesser-known texts, French Horror: Industry, Society and Media illustrates a rise in horror in the 21st century that is distinctly and unapologetically French.

Editorial Reviews Review This excellent volume rethinks French horror beyond the familiar lenses of auteurism and the New French Extremity, offering a long-overdue intervention into the field. Its attention to production histories and French cultural policy is especially significant, providing insights that resonate beyond national borders. Moving from films like Eyes without a Face to The Substance, the volume traces a compelling trajectory for understanding horror in France and beyond. ― Tina Kendall, Anglia Ruskin University About the Author Reece Goodall is a Director of Student Experience at the University of Warwick, where he completed a PhD thesis comprising an industrial and theoretical analysis of contemporary French horror cinema. He has previously written for French Screen Studies, Horror Studies and Animation Studies, and is the author of the forthcoming monograph French Horror: Industry, Society and Media and the editor of the forthcoming Horror Spoofs and Parody: Dying of Laughter.