The Birth of the American Horror Film - Softcover

Gary D. Rhodes

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1474430864 ISBN 13: 9781474430869

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 2018

Synopsis

Explains how the American horror movie came into existenceAlthough early cinema has long been a key area of research in film studies, the origin and development of the horror film has been a neglected subject for what is arguably one of the world's most popular film genres. Using thousands of primary sources and long-unseen illustrations, 'The Birth of the American Horror Film' examines a history that begins in colonial Salem, taking an interdisciplinary approach to explore the influence of horror-themed literature, theatre and visual culture in America, and how that context established an amorphous structural foundation for films produced between 1895 and 1915. Exhaustively researched, bridging scholarship on Horror Studies and Early Cinema, 'The Birth of the American Horror Film' is the first major study dedicated to this vital but often overlooked subject.Key featuresThe first scholarly book dedicated to the birth of the American horror filmBridges scholarship on Horror Studies and Early CinemaExamines pre-cinema (literature, theatre and visual culture), as well as major works in early horror-themed cinemaSuitable for use on courses focusing on Film History, Genre and Horror

About this title

Review

'In a remarkable work of historical research, Rhodes provides what must certainly be the definitive study of the origins of the horror film genre. First, he traces the manifestations of "horror-themed" material well back into the 18th century, considering literature, theater, graphic arts, freak shows, lurid news stories anything likely to raise a thrill of horror. He then turns to early cinema - the peep shows, the nickelodeons - covering its development from 1895 to 1915. Most popular of the horror figures were witches, ghosts, and devils, but almost all future familiar frights were represented-vampires, werewolves, mummies, monsters, mad scientists, mesmerists, somnambulists, aliens, sinister "others". The only horror missing from the period was the zombie. Rhodes also enumerates the films based on the works of Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and especially Edgar Allan Poe. The sheer volume of films produced is astonishing. Most are lost, of course, but Rhodes does a magnificent job of resurrecting them, using advertising copy, publicity stills, trade magazines, and film criticism to recuperate plots and some notion of style.' --W. A. Vincent, Michigan State University, CHOICE

About the Author

Gary D. Rhodes, Ph.D., currently serves as Postgraduate Director for Film Studies at the Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He is the author of Lugosi (1997), White Zombie: Anatomy of a Horror Film (2002), Emerald Illusions: The Irish in Early American Cinema (2012) and The Perils of Moviegoing in America (2012). Rhodes is also the writer-director of the documentary films Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula (1997) and Banned in Oklahoma (2004). Currently he is at work on a history of the American horror film to 1915, as well as a biography of William Fox.

About this edition

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1474430864
• ISBN 13: 9781474430869
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 424