The Birth of the American Horror Film - Hardcover

Rhodes, Gary D.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1474430856 ISBN 13: 9781474430852

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 2018

Synopsis

Although early cinema has long been a key area of research in film studies, the origin and development of the horror film has been a neglected subject for what is arguably one of the world's most popular film genres. Using thousands of primary sources and long-unseen illustrations, The Birth of the American Horror Film examines a history that begins in colonial Salem, taking an interdisciplinary approach to explore the influence of horror-themed literature, theatre and visual culture in America, and how that context established an amorphous structural foundation for films produced between 1895 and 1915. Exhaustively researched, bridging scholarship on Horror Studies and Early Cinema, The Birth of the American Horror Film is the first major study dedicated to this vital but often overlooked subject.

About this title

About the Author

Gary D. Rhodes, Ph.D. is MA Convener for Film Studies at The Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Review

"In a remarkable work of historical research, Gary Rhodes provides what must certainly be the definitive study of the origins of the horror film genre." -- W. A. Vincent, Michigan State University, CHOICE

"The Birth of the American Horror Film is a handsome book filled with reproductions of film stills, photographs and illustrations. Rhodes' work triggers a cumulative effect of wide-ranging association. One is left with a comprehensive overview of numerous related topics in the service of a measured thesis. I read with interest and pleasure, as Rhodes's prose if remarkably lucid, his considerations important." -- Anne Golden, Monstrum

About this edition

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1474430856
• ISBN 13: 9781474430852
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 432