An in-depth analysis of the home-grown horror film, each chapter anchored by close studies of key titles, consisting of textual analysis, production history, marketing and reception

A 2023 Edgar Award Nominee for Best Young Adult Novel! In a Florida tourist trap, a summer acting job turns into a real-life horror show when a cast member turns up dead—then disappears. This nail-biting story is perfect for fans of Fear Street and the Scream franchise. Dave is spending his final summer before college working at Frightmares House of Horrors, a struggling haunted house attraction held together by malfunctioning killer clown mannequins, a cheap replica Annabelle doll, and a lot of improvising. After a particularly disastrous shift ends in an employee walkout, Dave reluctantly takes over a role for his friend, however, he makes a horrifying discovery—a real dead body, hidden on set. But when Dave returns with help, the body is gone. Though the killer covered their tracks, Dave realizes they must know what he saw. Could he be their next target?

What if you only had one hundred words to warn humanity of a deadly danger? What if your favorite sci-fi movie suddenly turned into a real-life worst nightmare? What if a girl you've never seen before keeps showing up in photos on your cell phone? What if you hear a knocking sound in the middle of the night? In each of the 27 tales in this book, people are afraid. Very afraid. Read their stories. See if you share their fears. Because if you don't now . . . you will.

In 1834 when a storm at sea destroys the slave ship on which she is a stoaway, twelve-year-old Emma musters all her resourcefulness to survive in the African jungle.

Join the stars of the Frightmares thrillers, Rosie and Kayo, as they take on bright lights and dark deeds to uncover the art thief responsible for stealing the most valuable painting of the Oakwood Art Museum. Rosie’s dog is a star! Rosie Saunders and Kayo Benton are thrilled when their new friend Lyle Guthrie recommends Bone Breath the dog for a carry-on part in Pirate’s Plunder at the Oakwood Community Theater. The girls are so busy working backstage that they nearly forget about the scandal at the Oakwood Art Museum—the museum’s most valuable painting is a forgery! But when Rosie finds a Van Gogh painting in the theater’s storeroom, she knows the thief is too close for comfort. Is the painting real or is it another fake? Someone is willing to do anything to conceal the crime…and if they don’t act quickly, Rosie, Kayo, and Lyle will become the next victims!

A compilation of really scary stories also published in four separate library-bound volumes: The Girl in the Graveyard, The Library Claw, Shadow Shoes, and The Night Octopus.

Many Frightmares later, "little Jeffy" is now Bil Keane's assistant. Asked what was the worst dream he ever had, Jeff said: "I dreamt I picked up the morning paper and "The Family Circus" wasn't in it." Rest assured, Jeff. It won't happen. The Family Circus now appears worldwide in more than 1300 newspapers!

A forbidden attraction grows even more complicated when the guy Lane Jamison has crushed on for years suddenly becomes her step-brother in this sexy and gorgeously written debut novel about the lines between love, desire, and obsession. What happens when the boy you want most becomes the one person you can’t have? Lane Jamison’s life is turned upside down the week before her senior year when her father introduces her to his new fiancée: mother of Grey McIntyre, Lane’s longtime secret crush. Now with Grey living in Lane’s house, there’s only a thin wall separating their rooms, making it harder and harder to deny their growing mutual attraction—an attraction made all the more forbidden by Grey’s long-term girlfriend Sadie Hall, who also happens to be Lane’s friend. Torn between her feelings for Grey and her friendship with Sadie—not to mention her desire to keep the peace at home—Lane befriends Sadie’s older brother, Connor, the black sheep of the strict, evangelical Hall family. Connor, a metalworking artist who is all sharp edges, challenges Lane in ways no one else ever has. As the two become closer and start to open up about the traumas in their respective pasts, Lane begins to question her conviction that Connor is just a distraction. Tensions come to a head after a tragic incident at a party, forcing Lane to untangle her feelings for both boys and face the truth of what—and who—she wants, in this gripping and stunningly romantic debut novel.

Sixteen-year-old Amy, her cousin Ben, and Teddy, longtime friends until the previous summer, must put aside their differences and confront truths that tie their families to tragedy when Teddy's sister disappears in River Run, Kentucky.

When Katie Osborne goes to visit her new friend Shannon Lindstrom, a stranger says Shannon’s at her piano lesson. The next day Shannon is reported missing and Katie is the victim of a hit-and-run driver. Katie doesn’t realize that she’s the only one who can identify Shannon’s kidnapper—or that she’s in grave danger still.