Transmedia Terrors in Post-TV Horror: Digital Distribution, Abject Spectrums and Participatory Culture

In the twenty-first century horror television has spread across the digital TV landscape, garnering mainstream appeal. Located within a transmedia matrix, Transmedia Terrors in Post-TV Horror triangulates this boom across screen content, industry practices, and online participatory cultures. Understanding the genre within a post-TV paradigm, the book readdresses what is horror television, analysing not only broadcast TV and streaming platforms but also portals such as YouTube, Twitch.TV, and apps. The book also investigates complex digital media ecologies, blurring distinctions between niche and general audience viewing practices, and fostering new circulation pathways for horror television from around the world. Undertaking netnography, the book further offers an innovative model – abject spectrums – to empirically explore myriad audience responses to TV horror, manifesting in various participatory practices including writing, imagery, and crafts. As such, the book greatly expands what is considered horror television, its formatting and circulation, and the transmedia materiality of audience engagement. Transmedia: Participatory Culture and Media Convergence Table of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction – TV Horror: What a Time to Be Alive... and Undead Part 1 Post-TV Horror Ecologies 1. Jekyll and Hyde: TV Horror’s Incorporation of Other Genres and Audiences 2. Streaming Screaming: Post-Television Horror Texts and Platforms 3. Digital Crypt Keepers: Informal Digital Dissemination and Consumption of Post-TV Horror Part 2 Post-TV Horror Audiences 4. Not Just Horrifying: TV Horror Audiences’ Abject Spectrums 5. Spreadable Splatter: TV Horror’s Online Fans’ Image Textuality 6. Sick Senses: Fan Food and Soundtracks as Materialities of Transmedia TV Horror Conclusion Index