Horror films can be profound fables of human nature and important works of art, yet many people dismiss them out of hand. 'Horror and the Horror Film' conveys a mature appreciation for horror films along with a comprehensive view of their narrative strategies, their relations to reality and fantasy and their cinematic power. The volume covers the horror film and its subgenres - such as the vampire movie - from 1896 to the present. It covers the entire genre by considering every kind of monster in it, including the human.

Bruce F. Kawin is Professor of English and Film at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Preface	p. xi
List of Figures	p. xiii
Approaching the Genre
Horror	p. 2
Overview	p. 2
Origins	p. 3
Defining Horror	p. 3
Taking It All In	p. 5
Spectacle and Suggestion	p. 7
Nightmares and Forbidden Texts	p. 9
Real and Imagined Horror	p. 10
Endings	p. 11
Recurring Elements	p. 13
Beauty	p. 14
Reflexivity	p. 15
Appeal	p. 15
Frames and Windows	p. 17
The Monster at the Bedroom Window	p. 20
Tarantula	p. 20
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari	p. 21
Nosferatu	p. 23
Frankenstein	p. 25
King Kong	p. 26
Tie Mummy's Tomb and Others	p. 28
Back to the Tarantula	p. 30
Fear in a Frame	p. 32
Dreams and Reflexivity in Vampyr	p. 32
Narrative Structure in Dead of Night	p. 38
The Unfilmable in Peeping Tom	p. 40
The Mummy's Tale	p. 44
Categories	p. 45
Subgenres: The Book of Monsters
Monsters	p. 50
Transforming Monsters: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Thing	p. 50
Constructed Monsters: Frankenstein	p. 54
Composite Monsters: Island of Lost Souls and The Fly	p. 62
Giants: King Kong and Them!	p. 64
Little People: The Devil-Doll	p. 67
Animals: Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Birds and Jurassic Park	p. 68
Body Parts: The Beast with Five Fingers	p. 72
Monsters from Outer Space: The Tiling From Another World and Alien	p. 73
Monsters from the Lab: "You Made Us Things!"	p. 79
Monsters from Underwater: It Came from Beneath the Sea	p. 79
Plants: Invasion of the Body Snatchers	p. 80
Minerals: The Monolith Monsters	p. 81
Amorphous Monsters: The Blob	p. 82
Child Monsters: It's Alive, The Brood and The Funhouse	p. 84
Parasites: Shivers	p. 87
Machines: The Car	p. 88
Monsters from Underground: The Descent	p. 89
Supernatural Monsters	p. 91
Demons and the Devil: Faust and The Evil Dead	p. 91
Doubles: The Student of Prague	p. 94
Vampires: Nosferatu and Dracula	p. 96
Witches: Häxan and Suspiria	p. 105
Ghosts: Tie Uninvited and Ringu	p. 110
Zombies: White Zombie and Night of the Living Dead	p. 118
Mummies: The Mummy's Ghost	p. 125
Others Back from the Dead: The Walking Dead	p. 132
Werewolves and Other Shape-Shifters: The Wolf Man and Cat People	p. 133
Legendary Figures: Candyman	p. 140
Nameless Forces: Final Destination	p. 141
Immortal Slashers: Michael, Jason and Freddy	p. 141
Humans	p. 152
Mad Scientists and Doctors: Caligari and Mad Love	p. 153
Romantics: The Phantom of the Opera	p. 156
Human Anomalies: Freaks	p. 158
Artists: Mystery of the Wax Museum and In the Mouth of Madness	p. 160
Believers: The Black Cat, Blood Feast and The Wicker Man	p. 162
Sadists and Torturers: Tie Raven, Salò and Hostel	p. 165
Ghouls: The Body Snatcher and Ed Gein	p. 171
Mad Killers: Psycho and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer	p. 174
Families: The Last House on the Left and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre	p. 177
Psychics and Telekinetics: Carrie and Scanners	p. 183
The Infected: Rabid and 28 Days Later	p. 185
Cannibals: Eaten Alive! and Cannibal Holocaust	p. 187
Slashers: Scream	p. 192
Related Genres
Horror Comedy	p. 198
Monster Comedies: Young Frankenstein	p. 198
Supernatural Comedies: The Return of the Living Dead	p. 200
Human Comedies: Arsenic and Old Lace	p. 201
Horror Documentary	p. 204
Death on Camera	p. 204
Autopsy: The Act of Seeing With One's Own Eyes	p. 206
Looking at Horror	p. 207
Notes	p. 209
Films Cited	p. 222
Selected Bibliography	p. 230
Index	p. 233
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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