Gothic Cinema

Arguing for the need to understand Gothic cinema as an aesthetic mode, this book explores its long history, from its transitional origins in phantasmagoria shows and the first ‘trick’ films to its postmodern fragmentation in the Gothic pastiches of Tim Burton. But what is Gothic cinema? Is the iconography of the Gothic film equivalent to that of the horror genre? Are the literary origins of the Gothic what solidified its aesthetics? And exactly what cultural roles does the Gothic continue to perform for us today? Gothic Cinema covers topics such as the chiaroscuro experiments of early German cinema, the monster cinema of the 1930s, the explained supernatural of the old dark house mystery films of the 1920s and the Female Gothics of the 1940s, the use of vibrant colours in the period Gothics of the late 1950s, the European exploitation booms of the 1960s and 1970s, and the animated films and Gothic superheroes that dominate present times. Throughout, Aldana Reyes makes a strong case for a medium-specific and more intuitive approach to the Gothic on screen that acknowledges its position within wider film industries with their own sets of financial pressures and priorities. This groundbreaking book is the first thorough chronological, transhistorical and transnational study of Gothic cinema, ideal for both new and seasoned scholars, as well as those with a wider interest in the Gothic.

This book looks at contemporary Gothic cinema within a transnational approach. With a focus on the aesthetic and philosophical roots which lie at the heart of the Gothic, the study invokes its literary as well as filmic forebears by exploring how these styles informed strands of the modern filmic Gothic: the ghost narrative, folk horror, the vampire movie, cosmic horror and, finally, the zombie film. In recent years, the concept of transnationalism has ‘trans’-cended its original boundaries, perhaps excessively in the minds of some. Originally defined in the wake of the rise of globalisation in the 1990s, as a way to study cinema beyond national boundaries, where the look and the story of a film reflected the input of more than one nation, or region, or culture. It was considered too confining to study national cinemas in an age of internationalization, witnessing the fusions of cultures, and post-colonialism, exile and diasporas. The concept allows us to appreciate the broader range of forces from a wider international perspective while at the same time also engaging with concepts of nationalism, identity and an acknowledgement of cinema itself.

This anthology explores the resilience and ubiquity of the Gothic in cinema from its earliest days to its most contemporary iterations.

The Colombian Gothic in Cinema and Literature traces the aesthetic and political development of the Gothic genre in Colombia. Gabriel Eljaiek-Rodríguez shows how, in the hands of Colombian writers and filmmakers, Gothic tropes are taken to their extremes to reflect particularly Colombian issues, like the ongoing armed conflict in the country since the 1950s as various left wing guerillas, government factions and paramilitary groups escalated violence. In this context, collectives such as the “Cali group” challenge both the centrality of US and European Gothics as well as the centrality of Bogota-centered perspectives of Colombian politics and conflict. The book demonstrates how writers and filmmakers transform the European and American Gothic to show genealogical links between colonization, imperialism and domestic elites’ maintenance of social inequalities.

Gothic Cinema closes a gap in German-language film discourse: for the first time, the volume sheds light on a hitherto little-discussed film context. It considers Gothic Cinema as a form of unofficial historiography that allows a look not only at the history of film and its technique, but also at moral concepts, gender relations, collective fears or aesthetic currents. A delimitation and definition of the term and the central elements of the Gothic are followed by a comprehensive historical overview from 1896 to the present day. Three in-depth analyses of individual post-2015 gothic films and television series round out the review. On the one hand, the examples examined are representative in terms of typical elements, motifs or topoi, and on the other hand, they exhibit peculiarities and breaks that prove fruitful for a cultural and media studies investigation.

Barry Forshaw celebrates with enthusiasm the British horror film and its fascination for macabre cinema. A definitive study of the genre, British Gothic Cinema discusses the flowering of the field, with every key film discussed from its beginnings in the 1940s through to the 21st century.

From The Curse of Frankenstein to The Horror of Dracula, The Phantom of the Opera to The Mummy, and The Curse of the Werewolf to The Devil Rides Out, Terence Fisher was Hammer's acclaimed Gothic specialist, and is celebrated across the globe for directing many of the greatest horror movies of all time. TERENCE FISHER: Master of Gothic Cinema is the result of five years of research and writing by renowned author Tony Dalton, a long-time friend of Terence Fisher and his family. This fully authorised biography includes an introduction written by Fisher's daughter Micky Harding.