I've read a handful of books on horror cinema now, and this is the best I've encountered so far. It's a bit of a slog for the first 20 or so pages, but then it picks up. Hutchings's main aim is to explore and even revel in the diversity and richness of horror cinema throughout its history and at any given point in time. As such, we find him frequently pushing back on over-simplified or overly tidy accounts of particular horror sub-genres or historical movements. It's a great place to start for anyone who wants a grounding in the history of the horror film and in the key themes in horror film studies.