“The Catholic Church has found itself increasingly under the microscope because of fallout from the plethora of creepy clergy sexual abuse cases made public in the last twenty-five years. So, no one should be surprised that contemporary depictions of the Church continue a tradition dating back to Gothic horror novels such as Lewis’s The Monk (1775) that depict the presence of a bond between the Roman Church and the minions of Satan. The authors of Catholic Horror on Television, however, provide a more nuanced approach to Church depravity, arguing that every problematic institution wrestles with complicated definitions of “truth” (characterized in the series Evil) even as individual priests (in The Exorcist television series) are depicted standing in defiance of a corrupt Church hierarchy. Catholic Horror on Television offers a mixed and complicated response to both the status of the Catholic Church as well as the genre of horror itself.”

Tony Magistrale, University of Vermont

Catholic Horror on Television benefits from its authors’ and editors’ varied personal histories with Catholicism. Their essays have an emotional resonance that contextualizes and deepens readers’ appreciation of the liturgical, ceremonial, and spiritual sources of horror in these television series. Catholic rituals and symbols suffuse our culture and have been deployed in film and television from their beginnings to explore the particular fears we have of both supernatural and human evils. This collection addresses an under-examined source of Catholic horror in art and entertainment: streaming series that pop up in our algorithms, whether by blind chance or divine intervention. The scholars' analyses of these 21st century series in 21st century viewing contexts offer valuable new perspectives and insights on the 21st century Church.

Will Dodson, University of North Carolina Greensboro