This week’s hair raising read is 2021’s THE WOODS ARE ALWAYS WATCHING by Stephanie Perkins. The novel’s setup is deceptively simple. College bound best friends Josie and Neena embark on a last hurrah camping trip only to find themselves terrorized by two killers. But while this IS a story of survival, it is also a poignant look at the emotional complexities of friendship and what it means to fight for others just as hard as you fight for yourself. On this podcast, we talk blood, guts, and spoilers so listener discretion is advised.
And if you’re interested in exploring the woods as a setting of horror further, check out the recommended resources below!
Recommended Reading:
Gambin, Lee. Massacred by Mother Nature: Exploring the Natural Horror Film. Midnight Marquee & BearManor Media, 2012.
Gilmore, Timothy. “After the Apocalypse: Wildness as Preservative in a Time of Ecological Crisis.” ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment (2017).
Gilmore, Timothy Brendan. Biophobia: Anxiety, Wildness, and the Horror of Nature. University of California Press, 2013.
Keetley, Dawn. “Introduction: Six Theses on Plant Horror; or, Why Are Plants Horrifying?.” Plant Horror. Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. 1-30.
Murray, Robin L., and Joseph K. Heumann. Monstrous Nature: Environment and Horror on the Big Screen. University of Nebraska Press, 2016.
Parker, Elizabeth. “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Woods?: Deep Dark Forests and Literary Horror.” The Palgrave Handbook to Horror Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. 275-290.
Simpson, Catherine. “Australian Eco-horror and Gaia’s Revenge: Animals, Eco-nationalism and the ‘New Nature’.” Studies in Australasian Cinema 4.1 (2010): 43-54.
