Hardcore Horror Cinema in the 21st Century


Book Description

The first of its kind, this study examines the exemplars of hardcore horror--Fred Vogel's August Underground trilogy, Shane Ryan's Amateur Porn Star Killer series and Lucifer Valentine's "vomit gore" films. The author begins with a definition and critical overview of this marginalized subgenre before exploring its key aesthetic convention, the pursuit of realist horror. Production practices, exhibition and marketing strategies are discussed in an in-depth interview with filmmaker Shane Ryan. Audience reception is covered with a focus on fan interaction via the Internet.




Best New Horror


Book Description

From the New York Times bestselling author of NOS4A2 and Horns comes this e-short story—from Joe Hill’s award-winning collection 20th Century Ghosts. Imogene is young and beautiful. She kisses like a movie star and knows everything about every film ever made. She's also dead and waiting in the Rosebud Theater for Alec Sheldon one afternoon in 1945. . . . Arthur Roth is a lonely kid with big ideas and a gift for attracting abuse. It isn't easy to make friends when you're the only inflatable boy in town. . . . Francis is unhappy. Francis was human once, but that was then. Now he's an eight-foot-tall locust and everyone in Calliphora will tremble when they hear him sing. . . . John Finney is locked in a basement that's stained with the blood of half a dozen other murdered children. In the cellar with him is an antique telephone, long since disconnected, but which rings at night with calls from the dead. . . .




Camera Man


Book Description

They were calling it the Twentieth Century -- "She is a little animal, surely" -- "He's my son, and I'll break his neck any way I want to" -- "The locomotive of juveniles" -- A little hell-raising Huck Finn -- The boy who couldn't be damaged -- "Make me laugh, Keaton" -- Speed mania in the kingdom of shadows -- Pancakes at Childs -- Comique -- Roscoe -- Brooms -- Mabel at the wheel -- Famous players in famous plays -- Home, made -- Rice, shoes, and real estate -- The shadow stage -- Battle-scarred risibilities -- One for you, one for me -- The "darkie shuffle" -- The collapsing façade -- Grief slipped in -- The road through the mountain -- Not a drinker, a drunk -- Old times -- The coming thing in entertainment -- Coda: Eleanor.




Hellbound Hearts


Book Description

Clive Barker's iconic masterpiece The Hellbound Heart, the novella adapted into the film Hellraiser, unleashed a new mythology of horror, brilliantly conceived and born of the darkest imagination. Now, enter this visionary world -- the merciless realm of the demonic Cenobites -- in this collection of stories inspired by The Hellbound Heart. Featured here is the graphic work "Wordsworth," from bestselling author Neil Gaiman and artist Dave McKean, who unlock an explicit way to violate innocence -- one torturous puzzle at a time.... New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong logs on to a disturbing website for gamers, where the challenge is agonizing, and the solution beyond painful. When his father disappears, an Oxford student returns to his family's mansion, where a strange mechanism in the cellar holds a curious power, in a haunting illustrated work by Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola.




21st-Century Horror


Book Description

The first broad analysis of horror fiction by modern established writers. S.T. Joshi is one of the leading authorities on weird fiction.




Gender and the Nuclear Family in Twenty-First-Century Horror


Book Description

Gender and the Nuclear Family in Twenty-First-Century Horror is the first book-length project to focus specifically on the ways that patriarchal decline and post-feminist ideology are portrayed in popular American horror films of the twenty-first century. Through analyses of such films as Orphan, Insidious, and Carrie, Kimberly Jackson reveals how the destruction of male figures and depictions of female monstrosity in twenty-first-century horror cinema suggest that contemporary American culture finds itself at a cultural standstill between a post-patriarchal society and post-feminist ideology.




Horrorween


Book Description

For untold ages a dark presence has shrouded the small town of Orangefield. In addition to the plentiful pumpkins that gave the town its name, Orangefield is home to the dreaded Lord of Death himself, Samhain. Despite rumors of his existence, and rare, brief sightings, Samhain has long been content to leave the local inhabitants alone. But that's about to change... When a boy from the town disappears, detective Bill Grant is convinced Samhain is responsible. But even Grant cannot imagine the horrific extent of the Lord of Death's grand scheme. As what may prove to be the last Halloween approaches, the fate of the world will depend on the survival of a small group of people, pawns in a terrifying game of cosmic proportions.




Dark Dreams 2.0


Book Description

Greatly expanded and updated from the 1977 original, this new edition explores the evolution of the modern horror film, particularly as it reflects anxieties associated with the atomic bomb, the Cold War, 1960s violence, sexual liberation, the Reagan revolution, 9/11 and the Iraq War. It divides modern horror into three varieties (psychological, demonic and apocalyptic) and demonstrates how horror cinema represents the popular expression of everyday fears while revealing the forces that influence American ideological and political values. Directors given a close reading include Alfred Hitchcock, Brian De Palma, David Cronenberg, Guillermo Del Toro, Michael Haneke, Robert Aldrich, Mel Gibson and George A. Romero. Additional material discusses postmodern remakes, horror franchises and Asian millennial horror. This book also contains more than 950 frame grabs and a very extensive filmography.




Lovecraft in the 21st Century


Book Description

Lovecraft in the 21st Century assembles reflections from a wide range of perspectives on the significance of Lovecraft’s influence in contemporary times. Building on a focus centered on the Anthropocene, adaptation, and visual media, the chapters in this collection focus on the following topics: Adaptation of Lovecraft’s legacy in theater, television, film, graphic narratives, video games and game artwork The connection between the writer’s legacy and his life Reading Lovecraft in light of contemporary criticism about capitalism, the posthuman, and the Anthropocene How contemporary authors have worked through the implicit racial and sexual politics in Lovecraft’s fiction Reading Lovecraft’s fiction in light of contemporary approaches to gender and sexuality




All American Horror of the 21st Century


Book Description

ALL AMERICAN HORROR OF THE 21ST CENTURY is a compilation of the best short horror fiction published by magazines, anthologies, and websites spanning the years 2000 to 2010. These stories deal with uniquely American themes and subjects and are written in an equally unique American style. Contributors include National Book award-nominee Dan Chaon, rising horror star Jeff Jacobson, Bram Stoker award-winner John Everson, World Fantasy award winner Andy Duncan, and New York Times bestselling author Tom Monteleone.