A strange book. I liked some of what it said about the genre of horror, but other parts weren't as compelling.

From the title and description, I expected something completely different. This is more of a self-help book that uses horror movies as illustrations for life lessons.
There are simple analyses of why bad things happen in some popular horror movies, and the author even said that Carrie is one of the movies that could have had a happy ending if people acted differently.
The author discussed his own struggles and uses horror movie situations to describe better ways we can cope in the real world. Maybe a younger person could get more from this.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

When I originally selected this title I was expecting it to just talk about horror movies and maybe give some facts about them. But the author really gives deep philosophical looks into some of the most popular horror movies. The author has made me think differently about movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre but he also gives us a look into his personal struggles and how horror movies helped him cope. If you love horror movies, this book might make you think differently about some of your favorite movies. If you don't like horror movies, this might help you understand why others love horror movies.

This book takes horror icons and looks at them through a psychological lens, explaining to you how they really strike fear in our minds and how we can overcome those fears. I love the friendliness of the authors and the personable nature of the writing. This is a book that I hope to have in my personal library when it is published.

I adored this book! I felt that it was well-written, moved quickly, and the information inside was fascinating. I enjoyed the deeper psychological dive into what drives us to watch and enjoy horror movies, along with what lessons we can draw from them. There is actually a class taught just like this at my local community college, and now I want to take it even more!

I was very excited for this book, but was mostly disappointed. It was rather redundant and I was hoping for a more in-depth exploration of everything. I appreciated their love for horror, but it just seemed rather basic.

The subtitle: 'What Horror Movies Teach us About Navigating the Human Experience' made me think this book would be examining how horror represents the Human Experience by looking at particular cinematic examples and analysing them. This is not really how the book handles the human experience side of things, instead it is far more didactic and 'self-helpy' (a rather odd combo with horror).

Overall I would definitely say this book is a new take on the horror genre. But it didnt live up to my expectations for the book to be a collection of essays on horror. What I got was... a bit of this plus instructions on Mindfulness?

It does gather a lot of great secondary material but the instructive tone of the book was a little confusing and the voice of the authors in the work hampers the material standing on its own. It is a great account of a person's approach to horror but sadly did not go any further for me.

Based on very real and practical commentary, life experience, and occasionally, tongue-in-cheek-misfortunes of horror legends, Necessary Death explores how the horror genre, its motifs and characters, offer individuals a unique opportunity for insight and understanding of their own lives.

As a huge fan of horror movies, I found this to be very interesting and informative. Really well written!

An interesting look into the realm of horror. I would classify it most as a psych than self help.

It was not a bad read, but it was not what I expected.

This book is very focused on the spiritual aspect and how horror icons are related to self help and finding a true purpose, which was not fully what I expected. I thought this was going to focus more on how certain personality aspects feature in horror icons. Didn't enjoy it a lot, sadly...

Not quite what I expected but still enjoyable. Definitely made for someone else out there but I am still able to appreciate what was put into this book and the amount of work it took to get out there.