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American Horrors: Essays on the Modern American Horror Film
Since the release of Rosemary's Baby in 1968, the American horror film has become one of the most diverse, commercially successful, widely discussed, and culturally significant film genres. Drawing on a wide range of critical methods---from close textual readings and structuralist genre criticism to psychoanalytical, feminist, and ideological analyses---the authors examine individual films, directors, and subgenres.
In this collection of twelve essays, Gregory Waller balances detailed studies of both popular films ( Night of the Living Dead, The Exorcist, and Halloween ) and particularly problematic films ( Don't Look Now and Eyes of Laura Mars ) with discussions of such central thematic preoccupations as the genre's representation of violence and female victims, its reflexivity and playfulness, and its ongoing redefinition of the monstrous and the normal.
In addition, American Horrors includes a filmography of movies and telefilms and an annotated bibliography of books and articles about horror since 1968.
In this collection of twelve essays, Gregory Waller balances detailed studies of both popular films ( Night of the Living Dead, The Exorcist, and Halloween ) and particularly problematic films ( Don't Look Now and Eyes of Laura Mars ) with discussions of such central thematic preoccupations as the genre's representation of violence and female victims, its reflexivity and playfulness, and its ongoing redefinition of the monstrous and the normal.
In addition, American Horrors includes a filmography of movies and telefilms and an annotated bibliography of books and articles about horror since 1968.
246 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1987
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 8, 2009
This book was a bit over my head at times (e.g. “In Frye’s terms, the shift from the ironic mode, where images are presented directly through simple juxtaposition, to the mimetic”). There were times that I struggled to understand their psychoanalyzing essays and sometimes they became too engrossed in the subject, a tangent would start and take over. However, for the most part, I understood a great deal and thought the book was fantastic. Being a fan of horror, especially horror from the 1970’s-80’s, I liked seeing the intricacies involved in the genre. It was edited in the late 1980’s, so it misses the whole “torture-porn” that is one of the most recent subcategories of horror films.
What I also liked, as a collection, is that the authors would bounce off each other, often quoting one another and agreeing, disagreeing, or expanding the original point. I thought that made the book feel more tied together, but loose enough that so many different points of view could be expressed freely.
I enjoyed Dillard’s essay about “Night of the Living Dead”, although it was a little muddy when it started going into talking about the main protagonist’s hands and how they were symbolized in the movie.
In Wexman’s essay of “Rosemary’s Baby”, I liked the part on page 37 about Rosemary being trapped and physical cues that alluded to that feeling like sitting on a striped couch with the Venetian blinds and their shadows that looked like bars.
In Fischer and Landy’s essay about “The Eyes of Laura Mars” was interesting with its topic focused mainly on the relationship between sexism and horror. The mention of “Un Chien Andalou” was very well placed and interwoven very well into the essay. However, it soon dragged when it talked about the violence-against-women psychoanalytical exploration and the fear of castration: “while desiring bodily and spiritual reunion with the mother, the male child suspects that this will mean castration”. I found the various examples of women blinding men with their sexuality fascinating (Oedipus, Tiresias, and Peeping Tom with Lady Godiva). Lost me on: “The introductory and concluding song, in particular, performed by a woman, emphasizing imprisonment, psychic pain, and oneiric experiences.”
I like Robin Wood’s essay and thought it was entertaining and insightful, but ended very abruptly.
Vera Dika’s essay, “The Stalker Film” was my favorite essay and was fantastic! I told a lot of notes and quotations, which I’ll put after this review.
Kawin’s “The Funhouse and The Howling” was terrific. I didn’t like the breakdown of “The Howling” as much as “The Funhouse”, but it’s very insightful and intuitive.
Graham’s essay was pretty boring. It had some interesting points, but way too stuffy.
Waller’s “Made-for-TV Horror Films” was good, but a struggle sometimes because it seemed (at least in the beginning) that the author was trying to get a bead on the topic they really wanted to express and the execution became messy. But it picked up in the middle and end.
Derry skims a little into Psycho in his essay “Notes on the Recent Horror Film” and how random violence seems “so common and expected” in society. I thought this little section was interesting and reminds me of modern times: “In an era in which Ronald Reagan and the Moral Majority have emerged as prominent, in which school prayer is being advocated in the legislature, in which abortion seems potentially soon to be outlawed” that “it is difficult to contend that ‘evil’ (if unfairly confused with or disguised as liberal humanism).”
Sobchack’s “Family Economy and Generic Exchange” could have been a drinking game with the count of how many times she wrote “bourgeois”. It was grueling to get through the beginning. The middle picked up a little.
What I also liked, as a collection, is that the authors would bounce off each other, often quoting one another and agreeing, disagreeing, or expanding the original point. I thought that made the book feel more tied together, but loose enough that so many different points of view could be expressed freely.
I enjoyed Dillard’s essay about “Night of the Living Dead”, although it was a little muddy when it started going into talking about the main protagonist’s hands and how they were symbolized in the movie.
In Wexman’s essay of “Rosemary’s Baby”, I liked the part on page 37 about Rosemary being trapped and physical cues that alluded to that feeling like sitting on a striped couch with the Venetian blinds and their shadows that looked like bars.
In Fischer and Landy’s essay about “The Eyes of Laura Mars” was interesting with its topic focused mainly on the relationship between sexism and horror. The mention of “Un Chien Andalou” was very well placed and interwoven very well into the essay. However, it soon dragged when it talked about the violence-against-women psychoanalytical exploration and the fear of castration: “while desiring bodily and spiritual reunion with the mother, the male child suspects that this will mean castration”. I found the various examples of women blinding men with their sexuality fascinating (Oedipus, Tiresias, and Peeping Tom with Lady Godiva). Lost me on: “The introductory and concluding song, in particular, performed by a woman, emphasizing imprisonment, psychic pain, and oneiric experiences.”
I like Robin Wood’s essay and thought it was entertaining and insightful, but ended very abruptly.
Vera Dika’s essay, “The Stalker Film” was my favorite essay and was fantastic! I told a lot of notes and quotations, which I’ll put after this review.
Kawin’s “The Funhouse and The Howling” was terrific. I didn’t like the breakdown of “The Howling” as much as “The Funhouse”, but it’s very insightful and intuitive.
Graham’s essay was pretty boring. It had some interesting points, but way too stuffy.
Waller’s “Made-for-TV Horror Films” was good, but a struggle sometimes because it seemed (at least in the beginning) that the author was trying to get a bead on the topic they really wanted to express and the execution became messy. But it picked up in the middle and end.
Derry skims a little into Psycho in his essay “Notes on the Recent Horror Film” and how random violence seems “so common and expected” in society. I thought this little section was interesting and reminds me of modern times: “In an era in which Ronald Reagan and the Moral Majority have emerged as prominent, in which school prayer is being advocated in the legislature, in which abortion seems potentially soon to be outlawed” that “it is difficult to contend that ‘evil’ (if unfairly confused with or disguised as liberal humanism).”
Sobchack’s “Family Economy and Generic Exchange” could have been a drinking game with the count of how many times she wrote “bourgeois”. It was grueling to get through the beginning. The middle picked up a little.
October 15, 2013
This book is a collection of essays written in the 70s and 80s about the modern American Horror film. It was a book that was on a reading list for one of my college classes that we hardly used, but I was determined to eventually go back and read the whole thing.
If you are at all interested in critical examinations of horror films, this book is an excellent resource. Many of the essays deal with the victimization of the female in films such as Friday the 13th and The Eyes of Laura Mars, while others look at the breakdown of the nuclear family and the demonification of children in films like The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby.
One truly interesting thing about reading this collection is that it was published in 1987, so most of the essays deal with movies as current as 1983-84. In fact, an essay by Charles Derry on the evolution of the recent horror film touts Cronenberg and Peter Weir as the forefathers of the contemporary horror film, unfortunately, Hollywood being Hollywood, this style of visionary horror has been set aside for the much easier and profit-guaranteed slasher/gore flick such as the Saw films.
The end of the book contains an annotated bibliography of other works referenced and a filmography of the films mentioned throughout the book. Both are handy guides for further examination and I will be coming back to them later.
If you are a fan of horror films and want to see some unique interpretations you may not have considered, I'd suggest you give this book a chance.
If you are at all interested in critical examinations of horror films, this book is an excellent resource. Many of the essays deal with the victimization of the female in films such as Friday the 13th and The Eyes of Laura Mars, while others look at the breakdown of the nuclear family and the demonification of children in films like The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby.
One truly interesting thing about reading this collection is that it was published in 1987, so most of the essays deal with movies as current as 1983-84. In fact, an essay by Charles Derry on the evolution of the recent horror film touts Cronenberg and Peter Weir as the forefathers of the contemporary horror film, unfortunately, Hollywood being Hollywood, this style of visionary horror has been set aside for the much easier and profit-guaranteed slasher/gore flick such as the Saw films.
The end of the book contains an annotated bibliography of other works referenced and a filmography of the films mentioned throughout the book. Both are handy guides for further examination and I will be coming back to them later.
If you are a fan of horror films and want to see some unique interpretations you may not have considered, I'd suggest you give this book a chance.
July 9, 2010
I was pleasantly surprised to find that half of the essays were written by women, and a lot of them had a really feminist slant. (Seriously, the word "patriarchy" and any variant was used upwards to 20 times.) Some quickly devolved into academia and were a bit difficult to parse (Vivian Sobchack's contribution, mostly), but overall it's a very readable collection of essays.
December 4, 2015
this very interesting history.
June 23, 2023
Some essayists try to shine a light on the riddle why horror films are so popular. You'll start with Night of the Living Dead and cover many classics of the genre like Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist or The Dead Eyes of Laura Mars. There are fine photo sections included. Besides you'll have a good look behind the scenes and learn on great directors like John Carpenter or Brian De Palma how horror works. Exciting collection of essays with many good thoughts inside. Really recommended!
November 14, 2021
This is the first academic/film-studies-y book I've tried reading and I have to say I was pretty unimpressed. I had no idea film scholars were so fixated on (the now largely discredited) Freudian Psychoanalysis. I'm pretty sure psychology had gotten past it even by 1980. The essays toward the end of the book were far more interesting because they were much less focused on Freudian theory.
July 26, 2007
another excellent book on modern horror. contains 12 essays from different scholars, some better than others. none are bad, there's just a couple that are less exciting than the rest.
an excellent place to start reading about horror movies; i wish that i had started with this one. some highlights: chapters 1 & 2 are about Night of the Living Dead and Rosemary's Baby, respectively, and are great. chapter 4 is a very provocative examination of The Eyes of Laura Mars, which i am currently trying to locate and watch. chapters 6, 7, & 8 all tackle "slasher" films, with varying degrees of success. there's a great chapter on Brian DePalma.
thought provoking and readable. check it out.
an excellent place to start reading about horror movies; i wish that i had started with this one. some highlights: chapters 1 & 2 are about Night of the Living Dead and Rosemary's Baby, respectively, and are great. chapter 4 is a very provocative examination of The Eyes of Laura Mars, which i am currently trying to locate and watch. chapters 6, 7, & 8 all tackle "slasher" films, with varying degrees of success. there's a great chapter on Brian DePalma.
thought provoking and readable. check it out.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews