Be Scared of Everything

Horror Essays

Horror essays that read like Chuck Klosterman filtered through H. P. Lovecraft.

Slinging ectoplasm, tombstones, and chainsaws with aplomb, Be Scared of Everything is a frighteningly smart celebration of horror culture that will appeal to both horror aficionados and casual fans. Combining pop culture criticism and narrative memoir, Counter’s essays consider and deconstruct film, TV, video games and true crime to find importance in the occult, pathos in Ouija boards, poetry in madness, and beauty in annihilation.

Comprehensive in scope, these essays examine popular horror media including Silent Hill, Hannibal, Hereditary, the Alien films, Jaws, The X-Files, The Terror, The Southern Reach Trilogy, Interview with the Vampire, Misery, Gerald’s Game, The Sixth Sense, Scream, Halloween, The Blair Witch Project, The Babadook, the works of H. P. Lovecraft, Slenderman stories, alongside topics like nuclear physics, cannibalism, blood, Metallica, ritual magic, nightmares, and animatronic haunted houses.

This is a book that shows us everything is terrifying—from Pokémon to PTSD—and that horror can be just as honest, vulnerable, and funny as it is scary.

Contributors

Peter Counter

Peter Counter is a writer exploring ideas of faith, violence, horror, identity and memory though criticism, creative nonfiction, and playwriting. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with his partner, their grumpy cat, an old rabbit, and his family Ouija board. Find more of his writing at EverythingIsScary.com.
Chapter Contributors Pages Year Price
The essay titled "Interviews with My Family Ouija Board."
8 $0.80
The essay titled "Celebration of Life."
3 $0.30
The essay titled "A World Made out of Train Tacks."
4 $0.40
The essay titled "Please Add me to your Zombie Survival Network."
13 $1.30
The essay titled "The FBI’s Basement Office."
8 $0.80
The essay titled "Too-Loo."
3 $0.30
The essay titled "Corporate Personhood."
5 $0.50
The essay titled "The New Necronomicon."
8 $0.80
The essay titled "The Shattered Teacup."
9 $0.90
The essay titled "On the Horror of Comedy."
3 $0.30
The essay titled "Manufacturing Mephistopheles."
7 $0.70
The essay titled "Beeps and Boops."
4 $0.40
The essay titled "Manifest Doom."
4 $0.40
The essay titled "Five Litres."
2 $0.20
The essay titled "Fighting Ghosts."
3 $0.30
The essay titled "100 Seconds to Midnight."
3 $0.30
The essay titled "Metaphysical Graffiti."
7 $0.70
The essay titled "Silent Ruins."
4 $0.40
The essay titled "Where the CreepyPastas Are."
5 $0.50
The essay titled "Broken Nightmare Telephone."
5 $0.50
The essay titled "Fear of the Shark."
3 $0.30
The essay titled "Audient Void, Authorial Void."
9 $0.90
The essay titled "Extrasensory."
2 $0.20
The essay titled "On Madness."
10 $1.00
The essay titled "Cannibal Symposium."
6 $0.60
The essay titled "Wallpaper."
4 $0.40
The essay titled "Devil’s Nostril."
9 $0.90
The essay titled "Santa Claus Versus the Smoke Monster."
4 $0.40
The essay titled "When the Screaming Stops."
12 $1.20