Hollywood Hex: An Illustrated History of Cursed Movies

by Mikita Brottman (Editor)

From the myths of old Hollywood to recent on-screen accidents, the motion picture industry has long been associated with violent and untimely death. Hollywood has always been a magnet for suicides, murders, mysterious accidents and brutal mayhem; the simple fact is that, in the age of motion pictures, human death ahs become an inescapable part of show business. Hollywood Hex is a study of films that have, in one way or another, resulted in death and destruction. Some are directly responsible for the accidental deaths of those involved in their creation; others have caused tragedy indirectly by inspiring occult movements, serial killers, copycat crimes, psychotic behaviour in audiences, or bizarre and freakish coincidences. These "cursed" films include "The Exorcist", "Rosemary's Baby", "Twilight Zone - The Movie" and "The Crow"; films that have become notorious and compelling in their new role as inadvertent epitaphs, as documents on the subject of human mortality. Subjects covered range from the earliest Hollywood suicides and jinxed movies, to the death cult of James Dean, to links with Charles Manson, Satanic churches, snuff culture and mass murders, plus the mysterious death of Bruce Lee and the equally strange demise of his son Brandon. In the tradition of Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon , Hollywood Hex discloses and examines the dark, enigmatic connections between cinematic narratives and human catastrophe, forming a psychogeographic study of the Dream Factory which will fascinate the reader with its far-reaching implications.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published June 27, 1999

About the author

Mikita Brottman (born 30 October 1966) is a British scholar, psychoanalyst, author and cultural critic known for her psychological readings of the dark and pathological elements of contemporary culture. She received a D.Phil in English Language and Literature from Oxford University, was a Visiting Professor of Comparative Literature at Indiana University, and was Chair of the program in Engaged Humanities with an emphasis in Depth Psychology at the Pacifica Graduate Institute from 2008 to 2010. She currently teaches at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Brottman's articles and case studies have appeared in Film Quarterly, The American Journal of Psychoanalysis, New Literary History, and American Imago. She has written influentially on horror films, critical theory, reading, psychoanalysis, and the work of the American folklorist, Gershon Legman.

Brottman also writes for mainstream and counterculture journals and magazines. Her work has appeared in such diverse venues as The Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Bad Subjects, The Fortean Times, Headpress, and Popmatters, where her column, "Sub Rosa", ran from January 2007 to July 2009. Her essays have also appeared in a number of books and anthologies.

She is the author of the cult film books Meat is Murder and Hollywood Hex, as well as books on psychoanalysis, critical theory and contemporary popular culture. Her most recent book, The Solitary Vice: Against Reading (Counterpoint, 2008) was selected as one of the Best Books of 2008 by Publishers Weekly, who said: "Sharp, whimsical and impassioned, Brottman's look at the pleasures and perils of compulsive reading is itself compulsively readable and will connect with any book lover."

Brottman's partner is the film critic David Sterritt.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Lord Booktopus von Cephaloid · Rating 1 out of 5]

Great example of a fascinating subject squandered by the author's inability to remove their head from their own ass. Brottman appears to have such disdain of Hollywood and its denizens--at one point referring to John Belushi as "that fat clown"--that you wonder why they chose to write this book in the first place. Brottman uses spurious reason and great leaps of logic to make their claims of the so-called cursed films herein, relying on coincidence and what-if's until it resembles more the amateurish term paper of a disinterested high schooler than a professionally published book. Brottman's claims range from the ridiculous (ROSEMARY'S BABY was designed as a vessel of diabolism into popular culture) to the downright offensive (Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski's recreational drug use and hedonistic celebrity lifestyle were responsible for the former's brutal murder). On top of that, it's riddled with factual and typographical errors.

[brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

do not drive, or buy any piece of james dean's car...you will end up in the hospital. or dead. fer reals.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Morbidly fascinating!!