Monster Cinema introduces readers to a vast menagerie of movie monsters. Some are gigantic, like King Kong or the kaiju in Pacific Rim, while others are microscopic. Some monsters appear uncannily human, from serial killers like Norman Bates to the pod people in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. And of course, other movie monsters like demons, ghosts, vampires, and witches emerge from long folklore traditions. Film expert Barry Keith Grant considers what each type of movie monster reveals about what it means to be human and how we regard the world. 

Armed with an encyclopedic knowledge of film history, Grant presents us with an eclectic array of monster movies, from Nosferatu to Get Out. As he discovers, although monster movies might claim to be about Them!, they are really about the capacity for horror that lurks within each of us.

BARRY KEITH GRANT is emeritus professor of film studies and popular culture at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. He is an Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and he is the author of numerous books, including 100 Science Fiction Films.

"Barry Keith Grant is an ideal guide in this wide-ranging survey of monsters in the movies. He leaps across genres, periods, and critical traditions with authority and verve."

"This is far more than a very handy guidebook to monsters in the movies. Barry Keith Grant’s prose is lucid, and informed by a keen intelligence and exhaustive scholarship demonstrating his mastery of the genre. This is a great read!"

"Barry Keith Grant’s Monster Cinema is an 'unnaturally' fine book, providing readers with a concise, engaging, and perceptive historical and ideological overview that attests to the enduring power of this genre."

"The book is highly recommended, because, as Grant himself notes, our survival depends on understanding monsters—in other words, on understanding ourselves."