Twilight's Last Screaming

by Sean Hogan

PATHS CROSS - What is the relationship between Senator Greg Stillson and murderous preacher Harry Powell? How did sweet Alice Spages meet Roman and Minnie Castavet? What happens when Laura Mars gets into Travis Bickle's taxi?
STORIES ENTWINE - What links Michael Myers to the strange town of Twin Peaks? How is Clint Eastwood's nameless Stranger connected to 'Dirty' Harry Callaghan? What Paranormal Activity goes on in the shadows of Hill House? In the follow-up to his acclaimed England's Screaming , Sean Hogan acts as your guide through the liminal spaces of North American horror, down Nightmare Alleys and across High Plains, following the Lost Highway all the way to the Bates Motel. At once fiction and criticism, Twilight's Last Screaming masterfully examines how our experience of cinema takes on an imaginative life of its own. It deconstructs and reassembles genre film into unfamiliar but recognisable shapes, mapping the history of the American horror movie, and ultimately, the dark heart of America itself.

692 pages, Paperback

Published December 8, 2022

Reviews

[CHAD HADEN · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute perfection

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A direct follow-up to the previous ENGLAND'S SCREAMING, this time around utilizing characters from genre across the pond - America, that is. It's a thicker volume; there's quite a lot of characters and some surprising choices and linkages made (some seen on the front cover). All the episodes are fun, but even more impressive is that even though it gives the impression of being episodic, there is an overall narrative being worked - and it sticks the landing!

Fans of the Moore/O'Neill LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN aesthetic will eat this up! Highly recommended.

Note: The listing has this as a hardcover book; what I found was softcover. Not that it'll make a difference in the reading enjoyment...

[Mark Cain · Rating 5 out of 5]

very fun alternative history of America via horror movies