Nightmares with the Bible : the good book and cinematic demons /

Revisiting the religious demonology of his Holy Horror: The Bible and Fear in Movies (2018), Wiggins (independent scholar) descends on a dark trajectory in Nightmares with the Bible, a fulfillment of William Rockett's downward transcendence. Opting for the portrayal of demons from the texts of popular culture rather than departments of theology and looking into the abyss, Wiggins writes with insight, readable historical scholarship, humor, and a flair for igniting the imagination of the reader. Using reception history, Wiggins demonstrates how a biblically illiterate population absorbs its understanding of the demonic primarily through movies (e.g., The Exorcist, The Conjuring). He traces demonic origins back to Mesopotamia and the Jewish apocrypha through the medieval era. He then explores the shadowy fragments of evil creatures, possession, witches, female victims, and other things that go bump in the soul, as they are manifested through and in cinematic culture. To quote Leonard Cohen's "Anthem," there is a "crack in everything / that's how the light gets in." Wiggins illumines the darkness with piercing light and panache in this lucid, delightful, and fascinating book, but one not to be read after midnight. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers. --Terry Lindvall, Virginia Wesleyan University