Horror has the gripping ability to captivate…and enthrall.
It hooks you with unnerving stories of dread and evil, pushes your limits and pokes every phobia.
Audiences love to be scared, but behind every muffled scream is something deeper and even more fascinating.
In Screaming for Pleasure, S.A. Bradley takes you on a wild journey exploring horror, where you’ll discover what is so tantalizing about terror, including:
Rare insights about some of the greatest fright directors of all time, like David Cronenberg, Guillermo Del Toro and John Carpenter, culled from hundreds of interviews.
An in-depth look at 6 of the most impactful horror films by women directors, plus a list of over 15 women directors you should be watching now.
Relive the most terrifying and shocking moments in horror film history with detailed breakdowns of over 100 films.
Plus, you’ll uncover how horror lets you peek in at what may be lurking within yourself.
Screaming for Pleasure thrills you with the beauty and depth of the horror genre, dissecting films, literature and music that reveals how horror constantly reinvents itself and reflects the anxieties of each generation. Whether you’re frightened to watch scary movies alone or a horror obsessive, Screaming for Pleasure is the entertaining guide to help cinephiles of all types fall in love with horror again.
“Screaming for Pleasure” wins the 2021 Firebird Book Award in the Movies and Television category!
October 2021 – Speak Up Talk Radio announced the winners of 2021’s third quarter FIREBIRD BOOK AWARDS contest. One of the winning entries was from California, author S.A. Bradley, whose book titled "Screaming for Pleasure: How Horror Makes You Happy and Healthy" won in the Movies and Television category.
“Screaming for Pleasure” made it to the Best Horror Film Books of All Time!
I'm happy to announce that my book, "Screaming for Pleasure: How Horror Makes You Happy and Healthy", made it to BookAuthority's Best Horror Film Books of All Time!
BookAuthority collects and ranks the best books in the world, and it is a great honor to get this kind of recognition. Thank you for all your support!
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Endorsements for Screaming for Pleasure
“Scott Bradley's affectionate study of our relationship with horror films is fiercely personal and should resonate with anyone who's responded emotionally to movies of any genre. In a world drowning in movie books this one stands apart, and should become part of any film fan's library.”
— Joe Dante, director of Gremlins, The Howling, Innerspace, The Burbs, and Small Soldiers
Part memoir and part film criticism, Bradley talks about living in a fundamentalist household, preparing for the apocalypse, and the apocalypse not happening. He then dives deep into the crevasse of scary movies and how they affected his childhood, and adulthood. This book is perfect for those either very well-versed in horror film or interested in becoming more familiar with it. He examines motifs of horror movies, their evolution and new applications, and uses his personal experiences with them to analyze them.
— Mary Kay McBrayer, Journalist