Film, Horror, and the Body Fantastic

(Hardback)

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This study relates horror film to recent interpretations of the body and the self, drawing from feminist film theory, psychoanalytic theory, cultural criticism and gender studies. Applying the term "horror" broadly, this work includes discussions of black comedy, thrillers, science fiction and slasher films. Central to this book is the view of horror as a modern iconography and "discourse" of the body. Badley's analysis of films by directors Tim Burton, Tobe Hooper, George Romero, Ridley Scott, Brian De Palma, David Lynch, David Cronenberg, Jonathan Demme and Clive Barker, should be of interest to both scholars and students.

Reviews

.,.".Badley makes a good case for the confluence of contemporary horror films and contemporary theorists of the body....she establishes an interesting relationship between the represented body in contemporary horror films and contemporay theoretical discourses on the body...offers interesting readings...largely useful as a reference tool."-Science-Fiction Studies
....Badley makes a good case for the confluence of contemporary horror films and contemporary theorists of the body....she establishes an interesting relationship between the represented body in contemporary horror films and contemporay theoretical discourses on the body...offers interesting readings...largely useful as a reference tool.-Science-Fiction Studies
Badley carefully looks at the anatomy and significance of horror and its impact on concepts of the self. She extends her study beyond horror films and literature to the broad cultural landscape that encompasses music, art, and even childrens' toys and cereals...Her handling of popular culture is encyclopedic, even dense: her scholarly surgeries range from a postmodern deconstruction of Freud and his theories...through a precise analysis of the spectatorship of the horror film...-Choice
...".Badley makes a good case for the confluence of contemporary horror films and contemporary theorists of the body....she establishes an interesting relationship between the represented body in contemporary horror films and contemporay theoretical discourses on the body...offers interesting readings...largely useful as a reference tool."-Science-Fiction Studies
"Badley carefully looks at the anatomy and significance of horror and its impact on concepts of the self. She extends her study beyond horror films and literature to the broad cultural landscape that encompasses music, art, and even childrens' toys and cereals...Her handling of popular culture is encyclopedic, even dense: her scholarly surgeries range from a postmodern deconstruction of Freud and his theories...through a precise analysis of the spectatorship of the horror film..."-Choice

Author Bio

LINDA BADLEY is Professor of English at Middle Tennessee State University. She has published articles on fantasy, film, and gender. She is currently working on a book on the horror fiction of Stephen King, Clive Barker, and Anne Rice.