Frankenreads @ GWC

An adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel about the scientist who creates a terrifying monster. Restored with footage cut after the initial release. Adapted by John L. Balderston from a play by Peggy Webling based on the story by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. DVD release of the 1931 motion picture.
Cast: Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles, Edward van Sloan, Frederick Kerr, Dwight Frye, Lionel Belmore, Marilyn Harris.

Credits: Director, Mel Brooks ; screen story and screenplay, Gene Wilder, Mel Brooks
Cast: Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Cloris Leachman, Teri Garr, Kenneth Mars, Madeline Kahn.

Filmmakers have long been drawn to the Gothic with its eerie settings and promise of horror lurking beneath the surface. Moreover, the Gothic allows filmmakers to hold a mirror up to their own age and reveal society's deepest fears. Franco Zeffirelli's Jane Eyre, Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet are just a few examples of film adaptations of literary Gothic texts. In this ground-breaking study, Lisa Hopkins explores how the Gothic has been deployed in these and other contemporary films and comes to some surprising conclusions. For instance, in a brilliant chapter on films geared to children, Hopkins finds that horror resides not in the trolls, wizards, and goblins that abound in Harry Potter, but in the heart of the family.

Horror is often dismissed as mass art or lowbrow entertainment that produces only short-term thrills. Horror films can be bloody, gory, and disturbing, so some people argue that they have bad moral effects, inciting viewers to imitate cinematic violence or desensitizing them to atrocities. In The Naked and the Undead: Evil and the Appeal of Horror, Cynthia A. Freeland seeks to counter both aesthetic disdain and moral condemnation by focusing on a select body of important and revealing films, demonstrating how the genre is capable of deep philosophical reflection about the existence and nature of evil—both human and cosmic.

The thrill and exhilaration generated by a terrifying story or film not only excite the senses but also raise important questions about safety, justice, suffering, and other human concerns. The Philosophy of Horror examines why horror as a genre fascinates fans by exploring the social, moral, and artistic statements of the genre. From classic films such as Psycho (1960) and The Shining (1980) to contemporary and highly controversial torture-horror films like Hostel (2005) and the Saw series, the scholarly essays trace the development of horror as a form of art and entertainment. The essays follow the evolution of the horror genre across the decades, investigating the theoretical underpinnings of each work in the context of its time. This diverse collection explores horror from a variety of perspectives including: feminist, postcolonial, Marxist, and psychoanalytic criticism. The result is a comprehensive study of fundamental questions about morality, identity, social constructions, and other topics raised in horror narratives.--From the publisher's description.

America is in love with horror, with demon children, gender-bending vampires, and the battlefield aesthetic of post-Vietnam movies. Horror entertainment in all its forms - from Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Phantom of the Opera to Stephen King, Anne Rice, and the Terminator, from Tod Browning's "Freaks" to the photographs of Diane Arbus and the neo-Gothic trappings of heavy metal music - is a multi-billion-dollar cultural juggernaut. Illuminating the dark side of the American century, this provocative book uncovers the surprising links between horror entertainment and the great social crises of our time, as well as horror's function as a pop analogue to surrealism and other artistic movements.

Universal Studios was to horror films what Warner Bros. was to gangster films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. This book is the definitive study of the 85 films produced during this era and presents a general overview as well. For each film, complete cast lists, credits, storyline, behind-the-scenes information, production history, commentary from the cast and crew, and in-depth critical analysis are included. Generously illustrated.