Research Catalog

Title

Hollywood horror : from gothic to cosmic / Mark A. Vieira.

Author

Vieira, Mark A., 1950-

Publication

New York : Harry N. Abrams, 2003.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

264 p. : ill.; 31 cm.

Summary

"The horror film, which author Mark A. Vieira calls "the escape valve of the American psyche," is forever imprinted on our popular culture. Celebrating an ever-popular and enduring cinematic genre populated with vampires, mummies, zombies, werewolves, sinister scientists, aliens, and psychopaths, Hollywood Horror is an entertaining narrative and pictorial history of the classic American monster movie from the silent era to 1968." "Illustrated with 260 pristine still photographs - many never before published - culied from 160 films, the book captures all the mystery, power, dark humor, and chilling beauty of cinematic horror. Among the featured films are seminal icons such as James Whale's Frankenstein and Tod Browning's Dracula; the steamy pre-Code jungle sorcery of The Island of the Lost Souls; big-budget thrillers like The Uninvited and The Picture of Dorian Gray; the cold-war science fiction of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers; sublimely ridiculous "creature features" such as The Blob, and terrifying thrillers like Hitchcock's Psycho."--Jacket.

Subjects

• Criticism, interpretation, etc
• Horror films > United States > History and criticism

Genre/Form

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 245-255) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

pt. 1. The gothic -- 1. Silent prototypes -- The monster born and bred -- The German influence -- Lon Chaney and Tod Browning -- 2. The horror film -- Tod Browning's Dracula -- James Whale's Frankenstein --A cycle spawned -- 3. Pre-code horrors -- Madness reigns -- Karl Freund's The mummy -- Jungle horrors -- Edgar Ulmer's The black cat -- 4. Gothic moderne -- Variations on a gothic theme -- WereWolf in London -- Bride of Frankenstein -- Dracula's daughter -- Son of Frankenstein -- 5. Universal, the horror factory -- House of horrors -- In the gothic tradition -- pt. 2. The psychic -- 6. Big-budget chills -- Glossy hauntings -- Music and madness -- The terror of evil -- 7. Val Lewton and the psychology of fear -- Poetry and danger -- Horror meets terror -- pt. 3. The atomic -- 8. Poisoned air -- Kiss me deadly -- Lab work -- 9. Poisoned waters -- Modern inconveniences -- Cheap thrills -- pt. 4. The cosmic -- 10. The science-fiction film -- Unearthly subversion -- The good neighbor policy -- Green meanies -- 11. Drive-in terror -- The last of the epics -- Those monsters next door -- Don't step on it! -- 12. Last hurrahs -- Alfred Hitchcock -- William Castle, master of gore and gimmicks -- Horror queens -- Roger Corman -- 2001 : a space odyssey -- The end of two eras -- Epilogue : rated "ick!"

ISBN

0810945355 (hardcover)

LCCN

^^2003006976

OCLC

• 51942518
• SCSB-12579296

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library