100 European Horror Films (Screen Guides)

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100 European Horror Films (Screen Guides) Details

Review From bloodsucking schoolgirls to flesh-eating zombies, and from psychopathic killers to beasts from hell, "100 European Horror Films" provides a lively and illuminating guide to a hundred key horror movies from the 1920s to the present day.' - Tangled Web Read more From the Back Cover From bloodsucking schoolgirls to flesh-eating zombies, and from psychopathic killers to beasts from hell, "100 European Horror Films" provides a lively and illuminating guide to a hundred key horror movies from the 1920s to the present day. Alongside films from countries particularly associated with horror production - notably Germany, Italy, and Spain - and movies by key horror filmmakers such as Mario Bava, Dario Argento, and Lucio Fulci, "100 European Horror Films" also includes films from countries as diverse as Denmark, Belgium, and the Soviet Union, and filmmakers such as Bergman, Polanski and Claire Denis, more commonly associated with art cinema. The book features entries representing key horror subgenres such as the Italian "giallo" thrillers of the late 60s and 70s, psychological thrillers, and zombie, cannibal, and vampire movies. Each entry includes a plot synopsis, major credits, and a commentary on the film's significance, together with its production and exhibition history. Films covered in the book include early classics such as Paul Wegener's "The Golem," Robert Wiene's "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," and "Murnau's Nosferatu"; 70s horror favorites such as "Daughters of Darkness, The Beast," and "Suspiria"; and notable recent releases such as "The Devil's Backbone, Malefique," and "The Vanishing." Read more See all Editorial Reviews

Reviews

This collection of reviews, edited by Steven Jay Schneider, covers one hundred European horror films from 1919 ("The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari") to 2004 ("The Ordeal"). The bulk of the movies considered are from the Sixties through the Eighties and include most of the seminal works of the continent from that period. There's a heavy emphasis on the Italian gialli (a lot of Bava and Argento) and the Italo-Spanish school of zombie and vampire flicks. The UK is not European enough for this book, so you won't find anything English here--meaning the entire Hammer and Amicus output is absent. But the book does go beyond Italy, Spain, and France to consider a few titles from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and elsewhere. And there are certainly a good number of movies from the more recent past, the Nineties and onwards (most recognizably the French "High Tension" from 2003).The reviewers skew heavily to the academic side and come mostly from the US, Canada, and the UK. About the only name recognizable to the layman is the dangerously omnipresent and multi-talented Kim Newman. Most of the essays (virtually none of which exceed two pages) are written for the average reader, but a few of the authors can't help themselves and slip into jargon more suited for journals on transgressive gender studies about The Other.The book has a pretty nice index and a good selection of black-and-white photos scattered throughout, and brief CVs for the contributors.This won't be your thing if you really are keen on the Anglo-American side of horror movies, but it's definitely got a ton of material on the output from Western Europe, and certainly should help you find a few movies you'll want to hunt down and see.

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