The Haunted World of Mario Bava

The Haunted World of Mario Bava

Author: Troy Howarth

Publisher:

Published: 2014-05-28

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 9781936168453

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The Haunted World of Mario Bava has now been updated, revised and expanded by author Troy Howarth to give a better overview of Bava's remarkable legacy as a director and "cinema magician."


The Haunted House on Film

The Haunted House on Film

Author: Paul Meehan

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2019-12-06

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 1476638209

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A popular phenomenon since antiquity, the image of the haunted house is one that has translated elegantly into the modern medium of film. The haunted house transcends genre, appearing in mysteries, gothic romances, comedies and horror films. This book is the first comprehensive historical and critical study of themes surrounding haunted houses in film. Covering more than 100 films, it spans from the Mystery House thrillers of the silent era to the high-tech, big budget productions of the 21st Century. Included are the works of such acclaimed directors as D.W. Griffith, Robert Wise, Mario Bava, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Tim Burton and Guillermo Del Toro. The book also covers the real-life "haunted house" phenomenon and movies based on paranormal case files, including those featured in films like the Conjuring series.


Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1957-1969

Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1957-1969

Author: Roberto Curti

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2015-03-27

Total Pages: 221

ISBN-13: 1476619891

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The "Gothic" style was a key trend in Italian cinema of the 1950s and 1960s because of its peculiar, often strikingly original approach to the horror genre. These films portrayed Gothic staples in a stylish and idiosyncratic way, and took a daring approach to the supernatural and to eroticism, with the presence of menacing yet seductive female witches, vampires and ghosts. Thanks to such filmmakers as Mario Bava (Black Sunday), Riccardo Freda (The Horrible Dr. Hichcock), and Antonio Margheriti (Castle of Blood), as well the iconic presence of actress Barbara Steele, Italian Gothic horror went overseas and reached cult status. The book examines the Italian Gothic horror of the period, with an abundance of previously unpublished production information drawn from official papers and original scripts. Entries include a complete cast and crew list, home video releases, plot summary and the author's analysis. Excerpts from interviews with filmmakers, scriptwriters and actors are included. The foreword is by film director and scriptwriter Ernesto Gastaldi.


Splintered Visions Lucio Fulci and His Films

Splintered Visions Lucio Fulci and His Films

Author: Howarth Troy

Publisher:

Published: 2016-09-07

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 9781936168538

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For many horror film fans, the name Lucio Fulci conjures images of gore and depravity. Derided by critics as a hack and an imitator and lionized by others as the "Godfather of Gore," Fulci remains a polarizing and controversial figure. However, many fans are unaware of the scope and breadth of his filmography. From his early days writing material for popular comics like Totò and Franco and Ciccio to directing films in such genres as the musical and the Spaghetti Western, Lucio Fulci was a filmmaker of great diversity. When he attained international notoriety with the release of his gory epic ZOMBIE, Fulci already had years of experience in the film industry; that film's success established him as one of Italy's premier masters of the macabre and he would continue to shock and delight fans until shrinking budgets and failing health began to compromise some of his later work. When he died in 1996, he was on the cusp of a major comeback, but in the years following his death the cult surrounding his legacy has continued to grow. Unfortunately, most studies of Fulci and his work have elected to focus only on a small part of his career. SPLINTERED VISIONS changes all of that by providing an in-depth exploration of Fulci's filmography, beginning with his work as a screenwriter and extending through all of his films as a director. The popular horror films and thrillers are given ample coverage, but the lesser-known works are finally put into their proper context. Author Howarth provides a detailed portrait of a complex man using newly conducted interviews with actors such as Richard Johnson and Franco Nero, which allows the reader a sense of who the director was and how he worked. The end result is the most comprehensive overview of Fulci, the man and Fulci, the filmmaker that has been published in English--making SPLINTERED VISIONS a cause for celebration among serious Fulci fans. The book is also lavishly illustrated with a number of rare stills, posters and advertising materials.


The Maciste Films of Italian Silent Cinema

The Maciste Films of Italian Silent Cinema

Author: Jacqueline Reich

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2015-10-19

Total Pages: 456

ISBN-13: 0253017483

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Italian film star Bartolomeo Pagano's "Maciste" played a key role in his nation's narratives of identity during World War I and after. Jacqueline Reich traces the racial, class, and national transformations undergone by this Italian strongman from African slave in Cabiria (1914), his first film, to bourgeois gentleman, to Alpine soldier of the Great War, to colonial officer in Italy's African adventures. Reich reveals Maciste as a figure who both reflected classical ideals of masculine beauty and virility (later taken up by Mussolini and used for political purposes) and embodied the model Italian citizen. The 12 films at the center of the book, recently restored and newly accessible to a wider public, together with relevant extra-cinematic materials, provide a rich resource for understanding the spread of discourses on masculinity, and national and racial identities during a turbulent period in Italian history. The volume includes an illustrated appendix documenting the restoration and preservation of these cinematic treasures.


The Book of Renfield

The Book of Renfield

Author: Tim Lucas

Publisher: Riverdale Avenue Books LLC

Published: 2023-04-11

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 1626016534

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"Lucas mimics Stoker's style so well that it's hard to distinguish his own writing from passages interpolated from Dracula. A fully humanized character study.” – Publishers Weekly Perhaps the most infamous supporting character in all of Gothic Horror is R.M. Renfield, the unstable patient under observation at Dr. Seward’s Carfax Asylum in Bram Stoker’s Dracula—a pathetic wretch who prophesies the imminent arrival of “the Master” while covertly feeding on spiders and flies. Yet Stoker’s 1887 classic tells us almost nothing about him. Why—and how—was such an unsavory figure chosen to be the Un-dead Count’s groveling envoy? In this remarkable harbinger of the “mash-up” novel, author Tim Lucas—with the help of Stoker himself—takes us on an illuminating, magical, sometimes strangely erotic investigation into Renfield’s origin, fitted seamlessly within the language and the flurry of correspondence and other documentation found in Dracula. THE BOOK OF RENFIELD reinvigorates Stoker’s seminal horror masterpiece with numerous, uncanny stories within stories—alternately ghastly, marvelous, and hauntingly tender, framing DRACULA’s robust blood-and-thunder with a flair for meta and modernity. This Newly Revised Edition is extensively reworded and restructured, incorporating many paragraphs of content deleted from the original 2005 text. Also included is a contextualizing new Foreword by horror expert Stephen R. Bissette and a substantial Afterword by the author.


Haunted Castles

Haunted Castles

Author: Ray Russell

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2016-09-27

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 0143129317

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Horror legend Ray Russell’s haunting and macabre stories, including “perhaps the finest example of the modern Gothic ever written” (Stephen King), with a foreword by acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro Haunted Castles is the definitive, complete collection of Ray Russell’s masterful Gothic horror stories, including the famously terrifying novella trio of “Sardonicus,” “Sanguinarius,” and “Sagittarius.” The characters that sprawl through Haunted Castles are frightful to the core: the heartless monster holding two lovers in limbo; the beautiful dame journeying down a damned road toward depravity (with the help of an evil gypsy); the man who must wear his fatal crimes on his face in the form of an awful smile. Engrossing, grotesque, and completely entrancing, Russell’s Gothic tales are the best kind of dreadful. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.


MURDER BY DESIGN

MURDER BY DESIGN

Author: Troy Howarth

Publisher:

Published: 2020-11-25

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 9781644301166

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An in-depth look at the films of Dario Argento, Italy's acknowledged master of horror and suspense, has made a career out of exploring the macabre poetry of images of violent death. He did not, however, set out to be a filmmaker. He established himself early on as a progressive voice in film criticism-lavishing praise on directors like Sergio Leone, who had yet to receive their due from the Italian critical establishment. His efforts attracted the attention of Leone himself, who invited the young critic to help develop the story for his next feature. The end result, Once Upon a Time in the West, is often cited as a masterpiece-and from there, Argento went on to enjoy success as a screenwriter before making the all-important switch to directing. His directorial debut, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, became a major hit and helped to popularize the floundering genre of Italian thrillers, also known as gialli. In the years since, Argento has established a high profile as one of Italian cinema's most commercially successful artists, earning a level of celebrity which is almost unheard of among film directors. His filmography includes such beloved gems as Deep Red, Suspiria, Inferno, and Phenomena, as well as more hotly-debated titles like The Stendhal Syndrome, The Phantom of the Opera, Sleepless, and Mother of Tears. Murder by Design: The Unsane Cinema of Dario Argento explores the full scope of his work as a writer, a producer, and a director. Lavishly illustrated and with newly conducted interviews with Dario Argento, as well as such colleagues as actress (and daughter) Fiore Argento, actress Sally Kirkland, actress Irene Miracle, composer Claudio Simonetti, and cinematographer Luciano Tovoli, the book provides a comprehensive overview of Argento's life, career, and rich cinematic legacy.