The first monograph to critically engage with the controversial horror film subgenre known as 'torture porn', this book dissects press responses to popular horror and analyses key torture porn films, mapping out the broader conceptual and contextual concerns that shape the meanings of both 'torture' and 'porn'.

Contents Introduction: 'Welcome To Your Worst Nightmare' PART I: 'TORTURE PORN' (CATEGORY) 1. 'The Past Catches Up to Everyone' – Lineage and Nostalgia 2. 'Bend to our objectives' – 'Torture Porn' as Press Discourse 3. 'No-one approves of what you're doing' – Fans and Filmmakers PART II: 'TORTURE' (MORALITY) Introduction 4. 'Your story's real, and people feel that' – Contextualising Torture 5. 'Some are Victims. Some are Predators. Some are Both' – Torturous Positions 6. 'In the land of the pig, the butcher is king' – Torture, Spaces, and Power PART III: 'PORN' (EXTREMITY) Introduction 7. 'Ladies first'? – Torture Porn, Sex, and Misogyny 8. 'Why are you crying? Aren't you having fun?' – Extreme Porn 9. 'You Will Not Believe Your Eyes...or Stomach' – Hardcore Horror Conclusion: 'Will You Continue?' – Beyond 'Torture Porn' Notes Bibliography Filmography Index

'This pioneering study bravely goes to unchartered territories in order to explain the label's implied porn-horror confluence and examine critically neglected subgenres.' - Dejan Ognjanovic, Rue Morgue