House of Usher

Evert Jan Van Leeuwen

ISBN 10: 1911325604 / ISBN 13: 9781911325604

Published by Auteur Publishing Jan 2019, 2019

About this Item

Neuware - This study of Roger Corman's House of Usher explores the film's narrative structure and imagery. Evert van Leeuwen shows how the use of specific techniques creates and sustains the atmosphere of gothic decay and situates horror icon Vincent Price's performance in the context of the Romantic misfit and the postwar countercultural antihero.

Seller Inventory # 9781911325604

Bibliographic Details

• Title: House of Usher
• Publisher: Auteur Publishing Jan 2019
• Publication Date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1911325604
• ISBN 13: 9781911325604
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu

About this title

Synopsis

Despite being the product of Roger Corman’s AIP exploitation studio, House of Usher enjoys a high standing. But while the impact and cult status of Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe cycle is often discussed in histories of gothic, horror, and exploitation cinema, no extended analysis and critical discussion has been published to date that explores specifically the aesthetic appeal of House of Usher. This Devil’s Advocate provides a complete study of the aesthetic appeal of Corman’s influential first Poe picture.

Evert van Leeuwen explores the underlying narrative structure borrowed from Poe’s original story and shows how closely Richard Matheson’s script followed Poe’s theory of short fiction. He goes on to explore the formal techniques of allegory and symbolism employed to represent the house as a monster before focusing on Corman’s imagery, showing how the use of specific camera angles, lenses, colors, and sound effects create and sustain the simultaneously morbid and beautiful atmosphere of gothic decay. Finally, he situates horror icon Vincent Price’s performance as Roderick Usher in the context of the nineteenth-century Romantic misfit and the postwar countercultural antihero, two closely related cultural identities.

About the Author

Evert Jan van Leeuwen is a lecturer in English-language culture at Leiden University. He researches the history and development of English- and Dutch-language Gothic, horror, science fiction and noir fiction.