The Horror Film An Introduction

by Worland, Rick

• ISBN13: 9781405139014
• ISBN10: 1405139013
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-10-30
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

The Horror Film examines the ways in which horror movies have been produced, received, and interpreted by filmmakers, audiences, and critics throughout the medium's history, from the 1920s to the present. This brief volume offers a broad, historical introduction to cinematic horror, outlining and investigating important issues in the production, consumption, and cultural interpretation of the genre.Combining historical narrative with close readings of several significant horror films - including Frankenstein, Cat People, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Halloween and Bram Stoker's Dracula - The Horror Film will be the definitive read for any movie-goer who thrills to a great scare.

Author Biography

Rick Worland is Associate Professor and Chair of the Division of Cinema-Television at Southern Methodist University. He has published in many scholarly journals, including Cinema Journal, and has contributed essays to a number of film collections.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	vii
Acknowledgments	xi
1 Introduction: Undying Monsters	1	(24)
2 A Short History of the Horror Film: Beginnings to 1945	25	(51)
3 A Short History of the Horror Film: 1945 to the Present	76	(42)
4 Monsters Among Us: Cases of Social Reception	118	(26)
5 Edges of the Horror Film: Lon Chaney, Tod Browning, and The Unknown (1927)	144	(13)
6 Frankenstein (1931) and Hollywood Expressionism	157	(19)
7 Cat People (1942): Lewton, Freud, and Suggestive Horror	176	(17)
8 Horror in "The Age of Anxiety": Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)	193	(15)
9 Slaughtering Genre Tradition: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)	208	(19)
10 Halloween (1978): The Shape of the Slasher Film	227	(16)
11 Re-Animator (1985) and Slapstick Horror	243	(10)
12 Demon Lover: Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)	253	(13)
13 Afterword: Our Haunted Houses	266	(7)
Appendix: Horror Auteurs	273	(6)
Notes	279	(25)
Index	304