Stephen King's Danse Macabre

"Danse Macabre" is Stephen King's 1981 nonfiction survey of horror in books, film, radio, and television from roughly 1950 to 1980 — the genre's last great pulp golden age and the period during which King himself came up as a reader and writer. Part history, part criticism, part memoir, the book reads like a long, generous conversation with a writer who loves the form and has thought hard about why it works.

King moves through the foundational texts — Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House," Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend," Ira Levin's "Rosemary's Baby," Peter Straub's "Ghost Story," Ramsey Campbell's short fiction — and through the films and television that shaped a generation of horror fans: "Psycho," "Night of the Living Dead," "The Twilight Zone," "The Outer Limits," "Alien." Along the way he develops his now-famous taxonomy of horror, terror, and revulsion.

The book is essential reading for horror writers, horror scholars, and serious fans of the genre. It also functions as a Stephen King reading list — almost everything he praises is worth tracking down. Pairs naturally with King's later "On Writing," David J. Skal's "The Monster Show," and the more recent Grady Hendrix surveys of paperback horror.

Search-friendly notes: "stephen king danse macabre review," "is danse macabre worth reading," "best books about horror genre," "stephen king nonfiction books," "horror movies and books 1950-1980." Indispensable for horror fans.