Evolutionary criticism tells us much about our tastes in the arts. But an understanding of how primal narratives influence our response to films or novels that enact them also leads us to a new understanding of human nature and how the adaptive strategies of our ancestors can create dysfunction in a modern setting.

Why is horror in film and literature so popular? Why do viewers and readers enjoy feeling fearful? Experts in the fields of sociobiology and evolutionary psychology posit that behaviors from our ancestors that favored survival and adaptation still influence our actions, decisions and thoughts today. The author, with input from a new generation of Darwinists, explores six primal narratives that recur in the horror genre. They are territoriality, tribalism, fear of genetic assimilation, mating rituals, fear of the predator, and distrust or fear of the Other.