Brandon R. Grafius - Lurking Under the Surface: Horror, Religion, and the Questions That Haunt Us

Brandon Grafius combines biblical scholarship with a fanboys love of horror to create a fun, fascinating book you wont be able to put down. Ive never read a book quite like this.

Reza Aslan, #1 New York Times best-selling author of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

No matter how many times youve seen Night of the Living Dead, The Thing, or Sinister, this book will come to you as a revelation. Brandon Grafius not only knows horrorhe understands the deeper questions dark fictions ask.

W. Scott Poole, author of Dark Carnivals: Modern Horror and the Origins of American Empire and Monsters in America

What a tasty book! It dives deep into what terrifies us, entertains us, and awakens the awe inside us. With a scholars knowledge of both theology and every kind of horror movie, Grafius takes us on a tour of our soul with thought-provoking analysis, personal reflection from his own journey, and a healthy helping of humor.

Owen Egerton, writer/director of Mercy Black and author of Hollow

Lurking under the Surface rightly argues the hope of horror and the horror of hope within the overlapping and at times problematic circles of Western religion and the horror film. A thoroughly engaging read.

Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Cabin at the End of the World

Lurking under the Surface is one of the most impactful, poignant, and thought-provoking books on film Ive ever read. Grafiuss book swept me along like high tide, as it reveals how the horror genre remains a source of faith, hope, and refuge, and why the horror film is the best medium for carrying creative and compelling stories about the deep fears and anxieties that dominate our daily lives.

Victoria McCollum, senior lecturer in cinematic arts at Ulster University, Coleraine, Northern Ireland

Biblical scholar and encyclopedic horror fan Brandon R. Grafius leads the reader on a journey through meaning-making texts and experiences that show how looking at horror through eyes of faith opens up a universe of possibility. Lurking under the Surface lives up to its titleplumbing the depths of horror culture and Christian faith to find profundity, significance, and the possibilities of what the world can mean.

Kevin J. Wetmore Jr., professor of theatre arts, Loyola Marymount, Los Angeles

Too often, believers approach horror movies as little more than the opportunity to reinforce cherished religious views. Grafius takes his subject much more seriously than that, exploring not only why these texts are important to believers, but how their importance lies precisely in that they raise the hard questions. If horror is the genre that takes religion at its word, Grafius takes horror the same way. Highly recommended.

Douglas E. Cowan, professor of religious studies and social development studies at the University of Waterloo and author of Americas Dark Theologian: The Religious Imagination of Stephen King

This generous personal account demonstrates what horror fans have always known: that in exploring, and sometimes wallowing in, the darkest recesses of the human condition, we can find resilience, understanding, and hope.

Aislinn Clarke, writer-director of The Devils Doorway and lecturer in screenwriting and film, Queens University, Belfast

Grafius skillfully untangles the threads of belief, doubt, and the holy that give horror its enduring power, inviting us to reconsider both fear and faith. A book for horror fans, believers, skeptics, and everyone in between.

Rhiannon Graybill, associate professor of religious studies at Rhodes College and author of Texts after Terror: Rape, Sexual Violence, and the Hebrew Bible

LURKING

UNDER THE

SURFACE

HORROR,

RELIGION,

AND THE

QUESTIONS

THAT HAUNT US

BRANDON R. GRAFIUS

LURKING UNDER THE SURFACE

Horror, Religion, and the Questions That Haunt Us

Copyright 2022 Brandon R. Grafius. Printed by Broadleaf Books, an imprint of 1517 Media. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Email or write to Permissions, Broadleaf Books, PO Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440-1209.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are taken from the King James Version.

Cover image: AVTG/iStock

Cover design: 1517 Media

Print ISBN: 978-1-5064-8162-3

eBook ISBN: 978-1-5064-8163-0

CONTENTS

PRECHAPTER VIEWING RECOMMENDATIONS

Night of the Living Dead (George Romero, 1968)

I live a few miles south of Michigan State University in a bucolic town that has deep roots as a farming community. Theres a community garden right across the street from my house. You can walk through the gardens parking lot to the Hayhoe River Trail, winding along the banks of a slow-moving creek, which meanders through a rich forest of cedar and oak. But before it gets to the forest, the trail bends along the edge of Maple Grove Cemetery, a graveyard with stones that date to the 1800s. Even in the bright sunlight of a Michigan fall day, something makes me feel a little uneasy about walking around the cemetery. I often find myself holding my breath for long stretches until I can get to the forest. Then, once Ive crossed the bridge and left the cemetery behind, I can settle into my walk.

I dont think I appreciated this space enough until the pandemic hit, and daily masked walks became one of the few ways we were able to get out of our homes. I havent taken it for granted since then. During my times in this space, my mind kept pondering all the ways the graveyard symbolizes the connections between life and death, the sacred and the terrifying. At first, these two experiences may seem like opposite ends of the spectrum. But the graveyard helps us to see that faith and fear are more closely connected than they appear.

Lurking under the Surface explores this connection between faith and horror, showing how horror can be a valuableeven importantconversation partner for the spiritual questions that animate so many of us. If we treat them both seriously, as I believe we should, horror movies and religion lead us through the same sets of questions. Both areas explore issues of justice, hope, and our relationship to the cosmos. And both offer us ways to make meaning out of the contradictory pieces of our world, a world that can seem so hopeful and yet so doom-laden, filled with sunshine but also much darkness.