Hollywood in the 1970s is usually means directors such as Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola. But, this decade was also horror's 'golden age', producing classics like Rosemary's Baby, Carrie, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween by directors who would become famous and achieve massive box office success. Ever since, horror has been a crucial and inventive part of cinema. Shock Value describes how horror was re-created, ridding itself of the old supernatural cliches and instead portraying serial killers, extreme and baseless violence, and the fear that can be found in everyday suburbia. Jason Zinoman draws on interviews with hundreds of the most important artists in horror and has created a character-focused account of how an often overlooked, but highly influential, golden age in American film began.