"My goal was not just to understand the extent and the level of awareness the authors of American New Horror had in depicting the American society of the 1970s and 1980s through their cinematic nightmares. American Nightmares features 33 career interviews full of anecdotes and previously unshared information about the films' creation. Conducted over ten years (2003-2013) between Europe and the United States, these interviews reveal portraits of men who devoted their lives to the magic of cinema for various reasons".

Paolo Zelati, Born in 1975, graduated in "Foreign Languages and Literatures "at the University of Bologna. Expert and lover of Fanta / Horror Cinema and Literature, he lives in Mantua, Italy, where he works as a Screenwriter, Journalist and Film Historian. Between 2003 and 2005 he collaborated with Lloyd Kaufman's Troma and the newborn Italian company Arstone in order to import in Italy the colorful world of the well-known American independent Company. As a Film critic he wrote for several Italian and International magazines/newspapers and collaborated with many Film Festivals. During the last 15 years he has worked as agent for the Italian masters of horror (Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava, Ruggero Deodato, Sergio Stivaletti, Asia Argento...) bringing them to conventions and festivals around the world. Paolo owns the largest Italian posters collection known and, during the years, he did organize several Posters Exhibitions around Italy. Since January 2021, Zelati is the proud Italian Ambassador of the George A. Romero Foundation (GARF). "American Nightmares" (published in Italy in 2014) is the author's first English-language book.