Journeys Into Terror: Essays from the Cinematic Intersection of Travel and Horror

Since ancient times, explorers and adventurers have captured popular imagination with their frightening narratives of travels gone wrong. Usually, these stories heavily feature the exotic or unknown, and can transform any journey into a nightmare. Stories of such horrific happenings have a long and rich history that stretches from folktales to contemporary media narratives.

This work presents eighteen essays that explore the ways in which these texts reflect and shape our fear and fascination surrounding travel, posing new questions about the ＂geographies of evil＂ and how our notions of ＂terrible places＂ and their inhabitants change over time. The volume’s five thematic sections offer new insights into how power, privilege, uncanny landscapes, misbegotten quests, hellish commutes and deadly vacations can turn our travels into terror.

Cynthia J. Miller, a cultural anthropologist focusing on popular culture and visual media, teaches in the Institute for Liberal Arts at Emerson College in Boston. She is the editor or coeditor of more than a dozen scholarly volumes, many exploring the horror genre. A. Bowdoin Van Riper is an historian specializing in depictions of science and technology in popular culture. He is the reference librarian at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum, and is the author or editor of a wide range of volumes, ranging from science to science fiction to horror.