Horror Zone: The Cultural Experience Of Contemporary Horror Cinema

Ian Conrich is Director of the Centre for New Zealand Studies at Birkbeck, University of London. His books include The Cinema of John Carpenter: The Technique of Terror (2004), Film’s Musical Moments (2006), and Contemporary New Zealand Cinema (I.B.Tauris, 2008). Horror Zone The Cultural Experience of Contemporary Horror Cinema Edited by Ian Conrich Published in 2010 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd 6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 www.ibtauris.com Distributed in the United States and Canada Exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 Selection and editorial matter copyright © 2010 Ian Conrich Individual chapters copyright © 2010 Stacey Abbott, Linda Badley, Mick Broderick, Brigid Cherry, Ian Conrich, Joan Hawkins, Matt Hills, Ernest Mathijs, Jay McRoy, Tamao Nakahara, Angela Ndalianis, Julian Petley, Jeffrey Sconce, Angela Marie Smith, Estella Tincknell The right of Ian Conrich to be identified as the editor of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. ISBN: 978 1 84885 262 4 (HB) 978 1 84885 151 1 (PB) A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, from camera-ready copy edited and supplied by the editor contents v Contents List of Illustrationsâ•… vii Acknowledgmentsâ•… ix Introductionâ•… 1 Ian Conrich Part 1: Industry, Technology and the New Media 1. Dark Rides, Hybrid Machines and the Horror Experience Angela Ndalianis 11 2. High Concept Thrills and Chills: The Horror Blockbuster Stacey Abbott 27 3. Bringing It All Back Home: Horror Cinema and Video Culture Linda Badley 45 Part 2: Audiences, Fans and Consumption 4. Stalking the Web: Celebration, Chat and Horror Film Marketing on the Internet Brigid Cherry 67 5. Attending Horror Film Festivals and Conventions: Liveness, Subcultural Capital and ‘Flesh-and-Blood Genre Communities’ Matt Hills 87 6. ‘Trashing’ the Academy: Taste, Excess and an Emerging Politics of Cinematic Style Jeffrey Sconce 103 vi horror zone Part 3: Manufacture and Design 7. Culture Wars: Some New Trends in Art Horror Joan Hawkins 125 8. Making Up Monsters: Set and Costume Design in Horror Films Tamao Nakahara 139 9. They’re Here!: Special Effects in Horror Cinema of the 1970s and 1980s Ernest Mathijs 153 10. The Friday the 13th Films and the Cultural Function of a Modern Grand Guignol Ian Conrich 173 Part 4: Boundaries of Horror 11. ‘Parts is Parts’: Pornography, Splatter Films and the Politics of Corporeal Disintegration Jay McRoy 191 12. Nazi Horrors: History, Myth, Sexploitation Julian Petley 205 13. Better the Devil You Know: Antichrists at the Millennium Mick Broderick 227 14. Feminine Boundaries: Adolescence, Witchcraft and the Supernatural in New Gothic Cinema and Television Estella Tincknell 245 15. Impaired Visions: The Cultural and Cinematic Politics of Blindness in the Horror Film Angela Marie Smith List of Contributorsâ•… 277 Indexâ•… 283 259 illustrations vii Illustrations 1. The horror ride as amusement park attraction: A postcard promoting the Dragon