You may know the Bible as a testament of faith. But within this sacred book are also the world’s first horror stories.

Conventional wisdom has it that the origins of the horror genre are found in the nineteenth century, in works like Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In this paradigm-shaking new book, Bible scholar and cultural historian Brandon Grafius argues that the Bible is, among other things, the world’s first work of horror literature. 

The tropes and themes that we find in slasher movies, body horror, folk horror and zombie apocalypses were kickstarted by the Bible. Before Godzilla, there were the monsters arising from the sea in the book of Daniel. Before The Wicker Man, there was the folk horror violence of the book of Judges. And before The Fly, Leviticus and Paul understood that our bodies are untrustworthy. Sometimes, the Bible has decided that the best way to help us understand the world in new ways is to scare us.

Grafius’s book is a revelatory work of biblical scholarship as well as a cultural analysis of the contemporary horror genre. It is a book that will make readers revise how they see the Bible and impact how they consume horror literature and cinema. It is guaranteed to make them wiser consumers of both.

Praise for Lurking Under the Surface: Horror, Religion, and the Questions that Haunt Us

“Grafius's surprising, and often insightful, eclectic intellectual enterprise in Lurking Under the Surface brings into stark focus Ligotti's understanding of unreal horror as being sublimated ruminations about real horror." —Los Angeles Review of Books

"Grafius teaches us how to welcome horror as a constant companion in a world plagued by real evil." —Sojourners

"Grafius' easy writing and gentle touch will lull the reader into an educational trance that makes diving into the slim book more like watching a movie than reading an informational text. Grab the popcorn." —Booklist

"Brandon Grafius combines biblical scholarship with a fanboy's love of horror to create a fun, fascinating book you won't be able to put down. I've never read a book quite like this." —Reza Aslan, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

"No matter how many times you've seen Night of the Living Dead, The Thing, or Sinister, this book will come to you as a revelation. Brandon Grafius not only knows horror—he understands the deeper questions dark fictions ask." —W. Scott Poole, author of Dark Carnivals: Modern Horror and the Origins of American Empire and Monsters in America

"What a tasty book! It dives deep into what terrifies us, entertains us, and awakens the awe inside us. With a scholar's knowledge of both theology and every kind of horror movie, Grafius takes us on a tour of our soul with thought-provoking analysis, personal reflection from his own journey, and a healthy helping of humor." —Owen Egerton, writer/director of Mercy Black and author of Hollow

"Lurking under the Surface rightly argues the hope of horror and the horror of hope within the overlapping and at times problematic circles of Western religion and the horror film. A thoroughly engaging read." —Paul Tremblay, bestselling author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Cabin at the End of the World