Dahlia Schweitzer, associate professor of Film, Media, and Performing Arts, has written a book titled Haunted Homes, part of the Quick Takes: Movies and Popular Culture series from Rutgers University Press. The book will be released June 18.

Haunted Homes is a study of homes in horror films and television shows, where the suburban American dream of safety and comfort has turned into a nightmare. From classic movies like The Old Dark House to contemporary works like Hereditary and the Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House, Schweitzer explores why haunted homes have become a prime stage for dramatizing anxieties about family, gender, race, and economic collapse. She traces how the haunted house film was intertwined with the expansion of American suburbia, but also explores works like The Witch and The Babadook, which transport the genre to different times and places.

Schweitzer delivers a short talk about the book here.