Publisher Description

"[A] well-plotted survey." Total FilmIn 100 American Horror Films, Barry Keith Grant presents entries on 100 films from one of American cinema's longest-standing, most diverse and most popular genres, representing its rich history from the silent era - D.W. Griffith's The Avenging Conscience of 1915 - to contemporary productions - Jordan Peele's 2017 Get Out.In his introduction, Grant provides an overview of the genre's history, a context for the films addressed in the individual entries, and discusses the specific relations between American culture and horror. All of the entries are informed by the question of what makes the specific film being discussed a horror film, the importance of its place within the history of the genre, and, where relevant, the film is also contextualized within specifically American culture and history. Each entry also considers the film's most salient textual features, provides important insight into its production, and offers both established and original critical insight and interpretation.The 100 films selected for inclusion represent the broadest historical range, and are drawn from every decade of American film-making, movies from major and minor studios, examples of the different types or subgenres of horror, such as psychological thriller, monster terror, gothic horror, home invasion, torture porn, and parody, as well as the different types of horror monsters, including werewolves, vampires, zombies, mummies, mutants, ghosts, and serial killers.

Author Biography

Barry Keith Grant is Professor of Film Studies and Popular Culture at Brock University, Canada. He is the author of 100 Science Fiction Films (2013) in the BFI Screen Guides series and co-author of 100 Documentary Films (2009), author of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (BFI Film Classics, 2010), Monster Cinema (2018), and two influential anthologies, Planks of Reason: Essays on the Horror Film (second edition 2004), the first scholarly anthology on the horror film, and The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film (second edition 2015). He recently edited Robin Wood on the Horror Film: Collected Essays and Reviews (2018).

Table of Contents

Introduction1. The Addiction (Abel Ferrara, 1995)2. American Psycho (Mary Harron, 2000)3. American Werewolf in London (John Landis, 1981)4. The Avenging Conscience (D.W. Griffith, 1914)5. The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, 1963)6. Blade (Stephen Norrington, 1998)7. The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick and Eduard Sánchez, 1999)8. Brian Damage (Frank Henenlotter, 1988)9. Bram Stoker's Dracula (Francis Ford Coppola, 1992)10. The Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935)11. Bubba Ho-Tep (Don Coscorelli, 2002)12. Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (Charles Barton, 1948)13. The Burrowers (J. T. Petty, 2008)14. Candyman (Bernard Rose, 1992)15. Carnival of Souls (Herk Harvey, 1962)16. Carrie (Brian De Palma, 1976)17. The Cat and the Canary (Paul Leni, 1927)18. Cat People (Jacques Tourneur, 1942)19. Child's Play (Tom Holland, 1998)20. Color out of Space (Richard Stanley, 2019)21. Contagion (Steven Soderbergh, 2011)22. The Crazies (George A. Romero, 1973)23. Creature from the Black Lagoon (Jack Arnold, 1954)24. The Dead Zone (David Cronenberg, 1983)25. The Devil's Rejects (Rob Zombie, 2005)26. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Rouben Mamoulian, 1931)27. Dracula (Tod Browning, 1931)28. Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1977)29. The Evil Dead (Sam Raimi, 1981)30. The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)31. Fall of the House of Usher (James Sibley Watson and Melville Webber, 1928)32. Fallen (Gregory Hoblit, 1998)33. Fatal Attraction (Adrian Lyne, 1987)34. The Fly (Kurt Neumann, 1958)35. Frankenstein (J. Searle Dawley, 1910)36. Freaks (Tod Browning, 1932)37. The Frighteners (Peter Jackson, NZ/US, 1996)38. Funny Games U.S. (Michael Haneke, 2007)39. Ganja and Hess (Bill Gunn, 1973)40. Get Out (Jordan Peele, 2017)41. Gremlins (Joe Dante, 1984)42. Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978)43. The Hellstrom Chronicle (Walon Green, 1971)44. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (John McNaughton, 1986)45. The Hills Have Eyes (Wes Craven, 1977)46. Hostel (Eli Roth, 2005)47. House of Wax (André de Toth, 1953)48. The Hunger (Tony Scott, 1983)49. I Walked with a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943)50. I Was a Teenage Werewolf (Gene Fowler, Jr., 1957)51. In the Mouth of Madness (John Carpenter, 1994)52. Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (Neil Jordan, 1994)53. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Philip Kaufman, 1978)54. It's Alive (Larry Cohen, 1974)55. Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)56. King Kong (Meriam C. Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack, 1933)57. The Last House on the Left (Wes Craven, 1972)58. Let Me In (Matt Reeves, 2010)59. The Little Shop of Horrors (Roger Corman, 1960)60. The Lodger (John Brahm, 1944)61. Mad Love (Karl Freund, 1935)62. The Magician (Rex Ingram, 1926)63. Martin (George A. Romero, 1976)64. The Masque of the Red Death (Roger Corman, 1964)65. Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)66. Misery (Rob Reiner, 1990)67. The Mist (Frank Darabont, 2007)68. The Mummy (Karl Freund, 1932)69. Murders in the Rue Morgue (Robert Florey, 1932)70. Near Dark (Kathryn Bigelow, 1987)71. Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968)72. Office Killer (Cindy Sherman, 1997)73. The Omen (Richard Donner, 1976)74. Paranormal Activity (Orin Peli, 2007)75. The Phantom of the Opera (Rupert Julien, 1925)76. Phantom of the Paradise (Brian de Palma, 1974)77. Poltergeist (Tobe Hooper, 1982)78. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)79. The Purge (James DeMonaco, 2013)80. Race with the Devil (Jack Starrett, 1975)81. Ravenous (Antonia Bird, 1999)82. Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)83. Saw (James Wan, US/Australia, 2004)84. Scream (Wes Craven, 1996)85. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)86. The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991)87. Sisters (Brian De Palma, 1972)88. Targets (Peter Bogdanovich, 1968)89. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)90. The Tingler (William Castle, 1959)91. Twentynine Palms (Bruno Dumont, 2003)92. Two Thousand Maniacs! (Herschell Gordon Lewis, 1964)93. The Unknown (Tod Browning, 1927)94. Weird Woman (Reginald Le Borg, 1944)95. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (Robert Aldrich, 1962)96. White Zombie (Victor Halperin, 1932)97. The Wind (Emma Tammi, 2019)98. The Witch (Robert Eggers, 2015)99. The Wolf Man (George Waggner, 1941)100. Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks, 1974)Index

Review

A keen dissection of the unsettled, Grant's well-plotted survey shows how the genre feeds on the renegotiation of its methods and meanings. -- Kevin Harley * Total Film *
Barry Keith Grant provides a treasure trove of information and insights into some of the most important films in the horror genre. Those new to the genre will find this book a useful guide into its many facets and long history. Readers already familiar with the genre will enjoy finding new films and new critical perspectives on old favorites. -- Kendall Phillips, author of A Place of Darkness: The Rhetoric of Horror in Early American Cinema

Promotional

A guide to 100 of the most notable American horror movies by leading popular cinema expert Barry Keith Grant in the BFI Screen Guides series.

Review Quote

"Barry Keith Grant provides a treasure trove of information and insights into some of the most important films in the horror genre. Those new to the genre will find this book a useful guide into its many facets and long history. Readers already familiar with the genre will enjoy finding new films and new critical perspectives on old favorites." -- Kendall Phillips, author of A Place of Darkness: The Rhetoric of Horror in Early American Cinema

Promotional "Headline"

A guide to 100 of the most notable American horror movies by leading popular cinema expert Barry Keith Grant in the BFI Screen Guides series.

Feature

Horror is one of the most popular film genres

Details