Download or read book The Hollywood Horror Film 1931 1941 written by Reynold Humphries and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By addressing these elements, The Hollywood Horror Film, 1931-1941 will be of interest not only to scholars of film but also to those of political and cultural studies, as well as psychoanalysts and philosophers."--BOOK JACKET.

Download or read book The Turn to Gruesomeness in American Horror Films 1931 1936 written by Jon Towlson and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2016-09-27 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Critics have traditionally characterized classic horror by its use of shadow and suggestion. Yet the graphic nature of early 1930s films only came to light in the home video/DVD era. Along with gangster movies and "sex pictures," horror films drew audiences during the Great Depression with sensational content. Exploiting a loophole in the Hays Code, which made no provision for on-screen "gruesomeness," studios produced remarkably explicit films that were recut when the Code was more rigidly enforced from 1934. This led to a modern misperception that classic horror was intended to be safe and reassuring to audiences. The author examines the 1931 to 1936 "happy ending" horror in relation to industry practices and censorship. Early works like Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) and The Raven (1935) may be more akin to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and Hostel (2005) than many critics believe.

Download or read book HOLLYWOODS PRE CODE HORRORS 19 written by Jr. Raymond Valinoti and published by BearManor Media. This book was released on 2017-01-06 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hollywood's Pre-Code Horrors 1931-1934 appraises all horror films from Dracula (1931), which spearheaded the American horror market, to The Black Cat (1934), the last chiller released before the strengthening of the Code.

Download or read book The A to Z of Horror Cinema written by Peter Hutchings and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2009-09-02 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Horror is one of the most enduring and controversial of all cinematic genres. Horror films range from the subtle and the poetic to the graphic and the gory but what links them all is their ability to frighten, disturb, shock, provoke, delight, irritate, amuse, and bemuse audiences. Horror's capacity to serve as an outlet to capture the changing patterns of our fears and anxieties has ensured not only its notoriety but also its long-term survival and its international popularity. Above all, however, it is the audience's continual desire to experience new frights and evermore-horrifying sights that continue to make films like The Exorcist, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Night of the Living Dead, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Psycho, Ringu, and The Shining captivate viewers. The A to Z of Horror Cinema traces the development of horror cinema from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries. Entries cover all the major movie villains, including Frankenstein and his monster, the vampire, the werewolf, the mummy, the zombie, the ghost, and the serial killer; the film directors, producers, writers, actors, cinematographers, make-up artists, special effects technicians, and composers who have helped to shape horror history; significant production companies and the major films that have come to stand as milestones in the development of the horror genre; and the different national traditions in horror cinema as well as horror's most popular themes, formats, conventions, and cycles.

Download or read book Universal Horrors written by Tom Weaver and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2011-12-20 with total page 617 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Revised and updated since its first publication in 1990, this acclaimed critical survey covers the classic chillers produced by Universal Studios during the golden age of hollywood horror, 1931 through 1946. Trekking boldly through haunts and horrors from The Frankenstein Monster, The Wolf Man, Count Dracula, and The Invisible Man, to The Mummy, Paula the Ape Woman, The Creeper, and The Inner Sanctum, the authors offer a definitive study of the 86 films produced during this era and present a general overview of the period. Coverage of the films includes complete cast lists, credits, storyline, behind-the-scenes information, production history, critical analysis, and commentary from the cast and crew (much of it drawn from interviews by Tom Weaver, whom USA Today calls "the king of the monster hunters"). Unique to this edition are a new selection of photographs and poster reproductions and an appendix listing additional films of interest.

Download or read book The Cinema of Tod Browning written by Bernd Herzogenrath and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2008-09-22 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a director, actor, writer and producer, Tod Browning was one of the most dynamic Hollywood figures during the birth of commercial cinema. Known for his fantastic collaborations with Lon Chaney in numerous silents, and for directing the horror classic Dracula and the still-controversial Freaks, Browning has been called "the Edgar Allan Poe of the cinema." Despite not entering the profession until he began acting in his early thirties, he went on to helm more than 60 films in a 25-year career. His work continues to influence directors such as David Lynch, John Waters, and Alejandro Jodorowsky. These essays critically explore such topics as the connection between Browning, Poe and Kant; Browning's cinematic techniques; disability; masochism; sound and suspense; duality; parenthood; narrative and cinematic trickery; George Melford; surrealism; and the occult. A Browning filmography is included.

Download or read book Stanley Kubrick written by Gary D. Rhodes and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2007-12-27 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seventeen essays examine the career and films of director Stanley Kubrick from a variety of perspectives. Part I focuses on his early career, including his first newsreels, his photography for Look magazine, and his earliest films (Fear and Desire, Killer's Kiss). Part II examines his major or most popular films (Paths of Glory, The Shining, 2001: A Space Odyssey). Part III provides a thorough case study of Eyes Wide Shut, with four very different essays focusing on the film's use of sound, its representation of gender, its carnivalesque qualities, and its phenomenological nature. Finally, Part IV discusses Kubrick's ongoing legacy and his impact on contemporary filmmakers. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Download or read book The Gothic Probing the Boundaries written by Eoghain Hamilton and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-04-14 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume was first published by Interdisciplinary Press in 2012. The Gothic lives! From The Castle of Otranto to today’s Let Me In, the Gothic continues to be part of popular consciousness. Yet, even as it has adapted to fit changing times and technologies, it has retained both its essence and its hold on our imagination. What defines the Gothic? What are its parameters? This collection of essays, the work of scholars who met at the first-ever global conference on the Gothic, looks at the Gothic today—in print and other media including cinema, in music, in fashion, and in the popular culture of countries around the world. This volume of essays is another step in the process of understanding a genre that stretches the boundaries of definition and continues to make its way, adapting and changing along the way, into new aspects of modern culture.

Download or read book Edgar G Ulmer written by Gary D. Rhodes and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2009 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Edgar G. Ulmer: Detour on Poverty Row examines the full scope of the career of this often overlooked film auteur, with essays exploring individual films, groups of films (such as his important work in film noir), repetitive themes appearing across the spectrum of his work, and a case study of three essays analyzing The Black Cat (1934).

Download or read book Monstrous Nature written by Robin L. Murray and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2016-10-01 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 5. Zombie Evolution: A New World with or without Humans -- 6. Laughter and the Eco-horror Film: The Troma Solution -- 7. Parasite Evolution in the Eco- horror Film: When the Host Becomes the Monster -- PART 4: Gendered Landscapes and Monstrous Bodies -- 8. Gendering the Cannibal: Bodies and Landscapesin Feminist Cannibal Movies -- 9. American Mary and Body Modification: Nature and the Art of Change -- Conclusion: Monstrous Nature and the New Cli-Fi Cinema -- Filmography -- Notes -- Works Cited -- Index

Download or read book What Ought to Scare You written by H. Marshall Leicester and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2024-07-09 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using the Hollywood studio system (1931-1960) as a historical center, this book performs close readings of classic horror films (such as Frankenstein and Cat People) while asking the following three questions: What about this movie is weird? What does this movie think ought to scare you? If there weren't monsters in this movie, what would be wrong with these people's lives? These questions guide readers toward the uniqueness of horror films in relation to the way they are classified and the feeling of "horror" that they offer. The horror genre is a collection of culturally-shared elements--words, images, or themes used to signify or evoke horror, because they have been used that way before. Instead of treating movies as examples of the horror genre through how they evoke feelings from viewers, this book locates the meaning of horror within individual films and shows how movies make their own genealogies and complicate their own scares in an evolution of the genre. It argues that classic horror movies are forms of reception of--and resistance to--the ideas of horror that were current in their historical period. Working historically, the author traces movies' interactions with their precursors and co-conspirators to show how they are the agents of historical changes in the genre and in what we take to be horror.

Download or read book Science Fiction written by Mark Bould and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Science Fiction explores the genre from 1895 to the present day, drawing on examples from over forty countries. It raises questions about the relationship between science fiction, science and technology, and examines the interrelationships between spectacle, narrative and self-reflexivity, paying particular attention to the role of special effects in creating meaning and affect. It explores science fiction's evocations of the sublime, the grotesque, and the camp, and charts the ways in which the genre reproduces and articulates discourses of colonialism, imperialism and neo-liberal globalization. At the same time, Science Fiction provides a thorough analysis of the genre's representation of race, class, gender and sexuality, making this text an essential guide for students, academics and film fans alike. Key films discussed include: Le voyage dans la lune (1902) 20,000 Leagues under the Sea (1916) L'Atlantide (1921) King Kong (1933, 2005) Gojira (1954) La Jet e (1962) The Abominable Dr Phibes (1971) Tetsuo (1989) Sleep Dealer (2008) Avatar (2009)

Download or read book The Films of Edgar G Ulmer written by Bernd Herzogenrath and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2009-05-20 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Considered the 'King of Poverty Row,' Edgar G. Ulmer (1904-1972) was an auteur of B productions. A filmmaker with an individual voice, Ulmer made independent movies before that category even existed. From his early productions like The Black Cat (1934) and Yiddish cinema of the late 1930s to his final films of the late 1950s and early 1960s, Ulmer created enduring works within the confines of economic constraints. Almost forgotten, Ulmer was rediscovered first in the 1950s by the French critics of the Cahiers du Cinema and then in the early 1970s by young American directors, notably Peter Bogdanovich. But who was Edgar G. Ulmer? The essays in this anthology attempt to shed some light on the director and the films he created_films that are great possibly because of, rather than despite, the many restrictions Ulmer endured to make them. In The Films of Edgar G. Ulmer, Bernd Herzogenrath has assembled a collection of essays that pay tribute to Ulmer's work and focus not only on his well-known films, including Detour, but also on rare gems such as From Nine to Nine and Strange Illusion. In addition to in-depth analyses of Ulmer's work, this volume also features an interview with Ulmer's wife and an interview Ulmer gave in 1965, in which he comments on actors Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, as well as fellow directors Tod Browning and James Whale.

Download or read book The Horror Factory written by Bruce Dettman and published by . This book was released on 1976 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Lost in the Dark written by Brad Weismann and published by Univ. Press of Mississippi. This book was released on 2021-04-22 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two horror films were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2018, and one of them—The Shape of Water—won. Since 1990, the production of horror films has risen exponentially worldwide, and in 2013, horror films earned an estimated $400 million in ticket sales. Horror has long been the most popular film genre, and more horror movies have been made than any other kind. We need them. We need to be scared, to test ourselves, laugh inappropriately, scream, and flinch. We need to get through them and come out, blinking, still in one piece. Lost in the Dark: A World History of Horror Film is a straightforward history written for the general reader and student that can serve as a comprehensive reference work. The volume provides a general introduction to the genre, serves as a guidebook to its film highlights, and celebrates its practitioners, trends, and stories. Starting with silent-era horror films and ending with 2020’s The Invisible Man, Lost in the Dark looks at decades of horror movies. Author Brad Weismann covers such topics as the roots of horror in literature and art, monster movies, B-movies, the destruction of the American censorship system, international horror, torture porn, zombies, horror comedies, horror in the new millennium, and critical reception of modern horror. A sweeping survey that doesn’t scrimp on details, Lost in the Dark is sure to satisfy both the curious and the completist.

Download or read book The Gangster Film Reader written by Alain Silver and published by Hal Leonard Corporation. This book was released on 2007 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the 1930s the gangster film in the United States coincided with a very real and very sensational gangsterism at large in American society. Little Caesar (1931), The Public Enemy (1931), and Scarface (1932) borrowed liberally from the newspapers and books of the era. With the release of just these three motion pictures in barely more than a year's time, Hollywood quintessentially defined the genre. The characters, the situations, and the icons-from fast cars and tommy-guns to fancy fedoras and fancier molls-established the audience expectations associated with the gangster film that remain in force to this day. As with their Film Noir Reader series, using both reprints of seminal articles and new pieces, editors Silver and Ursini have assembled a group of essays that presents an exhaustive overview of this still vital genre. Reprints of work by such well-known film historians as Robin Wood, Andrew Sarris, Carlos Clarens, Paul Schrader, and Stuart Kaminsky explore the evolution of the gangster film through the 1970s and The Godfather. Parts 2 and 3 comprise two dozen newer articles, most of them written expressly for this volume by Ursini and Silver. These case studies and thematic analyses, from White Heat to the remake of Scarface to "The Sopranos," complete the anthology.

Download or read book Journeys into Terror written by Cynthia J. Miller and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2023-05-15 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since ancient times, explorers and adventurers have captured popular imagination with their frightening narratives of travels gone wrong. Usually, these stories heavily feature the exotic or unknown, and can transform any journey into a nightmare. Stories of such horrific happenings have a long and rich history that stretches from folktales to contemporary media narratives. This work presents eighteen essays that explore the ways in which these texts reflect and shape our fear and fascination surrounding travel, posing new questions about the "geographies of evil" and how our notions of "terrible places" and their inhabitants change over time. The volume's five thematic sections offer new insights into how power, privilege, uncanny landscapes, misbegotten quests, hellish commutes and deadly vacations can turn our travels into terror.