Review by Emily Malone
Ever wanted to be a fly on the wall in a room full of cardinals after they’ve just sat through The Exorcist? Well, picture me gleefully rubbing my grubby little hands together, because I have just the book for you.
In The Vatican Versus Horror Movies, Matt Rogerson unearths a strange and fascinating chapter of film history—one where the Catholic Church wasn’t just clutching its rosary beads at the rise of horror but was actively critiquing, categorising, and, in some cases, even finding merit in it.
This is not a book about knee-jerk condemnation. The Vatican recognised early on that cinema—horror in particular—was more than just entertainment; it was shaping culture, influencing morality, and, most concerningly, making people think. So, in an effort to keep its flock from straying too far into the shadows, the Church put together its own review system, deciding which films were safe for Roman Catholic viewing, and which were absolutely not to be watched. And so, the fortnightly publication of the Segnalazioni Cinematografiche was born to pass Catholic moral judgment on every film released.
* All illustrations by the author
Rogerson is the perfect guide through this bizarre cinematic history, providing beautiful illustrations throughout (you know we're a sucker for books with pictures). His research is meticulous, but it never weighs the book down—his writing is warm, engaging, and demonstrates a clear love for genre film. That love, it turns out, runs in the family. His dad was a full-blown VHS pirate of the video nasties era, smuggling the banned and the brutal into their home—films a young Rogerson would sneak downstairs to watch when everyone had gone to bed. Like many of us, early exposure to horror’s forbidden fruits seems to have ignited a lifelong fascination, and you can feel that passion in every page of this book. You can’t help but get swept up in the sheer joy of discovering this hidden world of ecclesiastical film criticism alongside him.
He digs deep into the Church’s responses to different horror subgenres, from the nightmarish beauty of Italian Giallo to the blunt-force trauma of the American slasher boom. The Vatican had particular anxieties about zombie films (no surprise there—resurrection narratives tend to be their thing), but their reactions weren’t always as predictable as you might expect. Some films receive surprisingly thoughtful analysis, while others are hilariously scathing. There are moments when you might chuckle at the absurdity of it all and other times when you’ll find yourself nodding in awe at how prescient the Vatican was about cinema’s influence on culture.
Beyond just being a history of film censorship, The Vatican Versus Horror Movies is a book about power—who gets to decide what’s morally acceptable, how institutions respond when art reflects their own anxieties back at them, and what happens when those institutions realise they might be losing control. Horror has always had a way of slipping through the cracks, confronting uncomfortable truths, and tapping into fears that organised religion has spent centuries trying to contain. And, as Rogerson shows us, the Vatican knew this. They weren’t just reacting to horror films; they were engaging with them, trying to understand their influence, and—whether they liked it or not—taking them seriously.
For horror fans of all subgenres, this book is a total must-read. It’s a deep dive into how an institution built on tradition dealt with a genre built on transgression. For anyone interested in the intersection of faith and film, it’s an unexpectedly rich exploration of how pop culture and religious authority have always been more intertwined than we might think. And for those of us who just love knowing that the Vatican once had to sit through the Elm Street franchise and come up with an official opinion on it? Well, that’s just the icing on the sacrilegious cake. (And trust me, their verdict might surprise you.)
So do yourself a favour: pick up a copy of The Vatican Versus Horror Movies and prepare for an unexpected deep dive into the strangest film critics you never knew existed.
Published by McFarland.
More information at McFarlandBooks.com.
