More horror movies are produced and released each year than any other film genre. While horror enjoys broad popularity, many hardcore fans voraciously consume films from their favorite subgenres while avoiding others entirely. This says something interesting about the films and their audiences. This primer and reference guide defines and explores 75 alphabetically listed subgenres of horror film, from Abduction to Witchcraft and two Zombie subgenres. Each sizeable entry provides a critical survey of the subgenre, a detailed examination of its characteristic elements and themes, and a discussion of three or four exemplary titles as well as other titles of interest.
WHAT IS THE STORY GRID? The Story Grid is a tool developed by editor Shawn Coyne to analyze stories and provide helpful editorial comments. It's like a CT Scan that takes a photo of the global story and tells the editor or writer what is working, what is not, and what must be done to make what works better and fix what's not. The Story Grid breaks down the component parts of stories to identify the problems. And finding the problems in a story is almost as difficult as the writing of the story itself (maybe even more difficult). The Story Grid is a tool with many applications: 1. It will tell a writer if a Story ?works? or ?doesn't work. 2. It pinpoints story problems but does not emotionally abuse the writer, revealing exactly where a Story (not the person creating the Story'the Story) has failed. 3. It will tell the writer the specific work necessary to fix that Story's problems. 4. It is a tool to re-envision and resuscitate a seemingly irredeemable pile of paper stuck in an attic drawer. 5. It is a tool that can inspire an original creation.
More horror movies are produced and released each year than any other film genre. While horror enjoys broad popularity, many hardcore fans voraciously consume films from their favorite subgenres while avoiding others entirely. This says something interesting about the films and their audiences. This primer and reference guide defines and explores 75 alphabetically listed subgenres of horror film, from Abduction to Witchcraft and two Zombie subgenres. Each sizeable entry provides a critical survey of the subgenre, a detailed examination of its characteristic elements and themes, and a discussion of three or four exemplary titles as well as other titles of interest.
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.
In sharp contrast to many 1960s science fiction films, with idealized views of space exploration, Ridley Scott's Alien (1979) terrified audiences, depicting a harrowing and doomed deep-space mission. The Alien films launched a new generation of horror set in the great unknown, inspiring filmmakers to take Earth-bound franchises like Leprechaun and Friday the 13th into space. This collection of new essays examines the space horror subgenre, with a focus on such films as Paul W.S. Anderson's Event Horizon, Duncan Jones' Moon, Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires and John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars. Contributors discuss how filmmakers explored the concepts of the final girl/survivor, the uncanny valley, the isolationism of space travel, religion and supernatural phenomena.
This richly informed study analyzes how various cinematic tools and techniques have been used to create horror on screen--the aesthetic elements, sometimes not consciously noticed, that help to unnerve, frighten, shock or entertain an audience. The first two chapters define the genre and describe the use of pragmatic aesthetics (when filmmakers put technical and budgetary compromises to artistic effect). Subsequent chapters cover mise-en-scene, framing, photography, lighting, editing and sound, and a final chapter is devoted to the aesthetic appeals of horror cinema. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.
Horror has the gripping ability to captivate...and enthrall. It hooks you with unnerving stories of dread and evil, pushes your limits and pokes every phobia. Audiences love to be scared but behind every muffled scream is something deeper and even more fascinating. In Screaming for Pleasure, S.A. Bradley takes you on a wild journey exploring horror, where you'll discover what is so tantalizing about terror, including: Rare insights about some of the greatest fright directors of all time, like David Cronenberg, Guillermo Del Toro and John Carpenter, culled from hundreds of interviews.An in-depth look at 6 of the most impactful horror films by women directors, plus a list of over 15 women directors you should be watching now.Relive the most terrifying and shocking moments in horror film history with detailed breakdowns of over 100 films. Plus, you'll uncover how horror lets you peek in at what may be lurking within yourself. Screaming for Pleasure thrills you with the beauty and depth of the horror genre, dissecting films, literature and music, that reveals how horror constantly reinvents itself and reflects the anxieties of each generation. Whether you're frightened to watch scary movies alone or a horror obsessive, Screaming for Pleasure is the entertaining guide to help cinephiles of all types fall in love with horror again.
Women occupy a privileged place in horror film. Horror is a space of entertainment and excitement, of terror and dread, and one that relishes the complexities that arise when boundaries – of taste, of bodies, of reason – are blurred and dismantled. It is also a site of expression and exploration that leverages the narrative and aesthetic horrors of the reproductive, the maternal and the sexual to expose the underpinnings of the social, political and philosophical othering of women. This book offers an in-depth analysis of women in horror films through an exploration of ‘gynaehorror’: films concerned with all aspects of female reproductive horror, from reproductive and sexual organs, to virginity, pregnancy, birth, motherhood and finally to menopause. Some of the themes explored include: the intersection of horror, monstrosity and sexual difference; the relationships between normative female (hetero)sexuality and the twin figures of the chaste virgin and the voracious vagina dentata; embodiment and subjectivity in horror films about pregnancy and abortion; reproductive technologies, monstrosity and ‘mad science’; the discursive construction and interrogation of monstrous motherhood; and the relationships between menopause, menstruation, hagsploitation and ‘abject barren’ bodies in horror. The book not only offers a feminist interrogation of gynaehorror, but also a counter-reading of the gynaehorrific, that both accounts for and opens up new spaces of productive, radical and subversive monstrosity within a mode of representation and expression that has often been accused of being misogynistic. It therefore makes a unique contribution to the study of women in horror film specifically, while also providing new insights in the broader area of popular culture, gender and film philosophy.
You'll scream with delight while reading this fun and engaging book that discusses fright flicks all horror fans need to see to ascend to the level of a true Horror Freak —from classics (Dracula and Psycho) to modern movies (Drag Me to Hell) and lesser-known gems (Dog Soldiers). Movies are divided into various categories including Asian horror, beginners, homicidal slashers, supernatural thrillers, and zombie invasion. Features more than 130 movies, 250+ photos of movie stills and posters, and a chapter on remakes and reimaginings. The book also includes the DVD of George A. Romero's original 1968 version of "Night of the Living Dead."
“Glasby anatomizes horror’s scare tactics with keen, lucid clarity across 34 carefully selected main films—classic and pleasingly obscure. 4 Stars.” —Total Film? Horror movies have never been more critically or commercially successful, but there’s only one metric that matters: are they scary? The Book of Horror focuses on the most frightening films of the post-war era—from Psycho (1960) to It Chapter Two (2019)—examining exactly how they scare us across a series of key categories. Each chapter explores a seminal horror film in depth, charting its scariest moments with infographics and identifying the related works you need to see. Including references to more than one hundred classic and contemporary horror films from around the globe, and striking illustrations from Barney Bodoano, this is a rich and compelling guide to the scariest films ever made. “This is the definitive guide to what properly messes us up.” —SFX Magazine The films: Psycho (1960), The Innocents (1961), The Haunting (1963), Don’t Look Now (1973), The Exorcist (1973), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Who Can Kill a Child? (1976), Suspiria (1977), Halloween (1978), The Shining (1980), The Entity (1982), Angst (1983), Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1990), Ring (1998), The Blair Witch Project (1999), The Others (2001), The Eye (2002), Ju-On: The Grudge (2002), Shutter (2004), The Descent (2005), Wolf Creek (2005), The Orphanage (2007), [Rec] (2007), The Strangers (2008), Lake Mungo (2008), Martyrs (2008), The Innkeepers (2011), Banshee Chapter (2013), Oculus (2013), The Babadook (2014), It Follows (2015), Terrified (2017), Hereditary (2018), It Chapter Two (2019)
