Nightmares in Red, White and Blue

The documentary opens with a question: why does American horror keep erupting in the same periods? It looks for the answer in history. Postwar nuclear fear, Vietnam, Watergate, serial killer panic, economic crisis; each wave has a wave of horror to match it. The film treats horror not as a genre but as the place a country records what makes it uneasy. Andrew Monument has the genre's own people make that case. Directors including John Carpenter, Joe Dante, Larry Cohen and Darren Lynn Bousman explain their films alongside the politics of the years they made them. Lance Henriksen narrates. The structure is chronological and orderly, running from the silent era into the 2000s. Who it's for: Anyone interested in the history of horror and the relationship between genre and society, and anyone wanting a good introduction. Who it's not for: Viewers who know the genre will find little new and the analysis stays on the surface. Horror made outside America is almost entirely absent.