Book Reviews: New titles from McFarland explore horror cinema

McFarland publishers has long been noted for their many books on various media studies, including film, television, music, and the theater.  Regarding their film books, several are studies in horror cinema, offering some of the best and most insightful books on the genre.  Three new titles from this publisher have continued their tradition in top horror studies.

SOUND IN THE AMERICAN HORROR FILM

Author Jerry Bullins is a sound designer who has worked in the sound department for several horror films.  This fascinating book offers some real insights on the effectiveness of proper sound usage in horror cinema, dating back to early precode talkies.  The book presents its chapters chronologically, so the reader can appreciate the historical evolution of the sound process in horror movies.  The book discusses early sound cinema, wartime releases, post-war,, the 60s, 70s, slasher, post-modern, the supernatural and, quite fascinatingly, the notable use of silence and its impact. It is impressive how much the author can get out of one technological aspect within one cinematic genre.  For anyone interested in film’s form and function, this book is a very enlightening and intelligent examination of how sound has affected horror movies over the past nearly 100 years. Available at this link: HORRORSOUND

THE CINEMATIC BOOGEYMAN

Sub-titled “From the Fairytale to the Slasher Film,” this new book by Kevin McGuiness goes beyond the parameters of cinema and extends to literature as a foundation for what the movies would eventually do.  This is a rather intellectual approach to the concept of the character, dating back to Bluebeard (1697) and moving through cinematic horror icons like Freddie Krueger, Jason Vorhees, and Michael Myers, et al.  The author backs up his statements with some specifics combined with a broader focus that includes cultural ideology and psychological angst.  It is all really quite fascinating.  Available at this link:  BOOGEYMAN

QUEER HORROR: A FILM GUIDE

Oversized, massive, encyclopedic in its thoroughness and structure, this study gathers all of the horror films with LGBTQ+ themes.  Edited by Sean Abley and Tyler Doupé, this book is an alphabetical reference containing everything from Universal classics like Dracula’s Daughter, to more recent indies like Jason Collum’s Five Dark Soul movies, and comedies like Scary Movie.  There are some tangential titles like Looking For Mr. Goodbar, along with many obscure straight-to-video examples.  One of the introductory pages indicate that the essayists who contributed to this project were “very opinionated genre journalists."  This includes along with Abley and Doupé, Calpernia Addams, Molly Henery, Alan Kelly, Daniel W. Kelly, Brian Kirst, and Michael Varrati.  Even if you happen to disagree with their opinions, these writers all turn in exemplary work.  This reference guide fills a need in researching horror movies and well as films with gay themes.  It is interesting, informative, comprehensive, well-structured, and nicely illustrated.  So whether you want to look up Hitchcock’s Psycho or Scream Teen Scream, all such films are represented. 

Available at this link: QUEERHORROR

All of these books are recommended for libraries, research centers, and movie buff collections.  They each contribute significantly to their areas of film study.