The Frankenstein Film Sourcebook

(Hardback)

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Description

The endurance of the Frankenstein narrative as a modern cinematic myth is undeniable. Its flexibility has produced classic and contemporary horror film-most notably the Universal films of the thirties-but it has also resulted in unusual hybrids, such as musical horror-comedy (The Rocky Horror Picture Show), hyperbolic parody (Flesh for Frankenstein), and science fiction (the Alien and Terminator series). This sourcebook provides a complete guide to all of the story's filmic incarnations-including essential information such as cast, creative personnel, and plot summaries- and also guides the reader to relevant primary texts such as scripts, posters, production histories, and newspaper clippings. Utilizing an approach that is both popular and scholarly, and including spotlight essays that deal with contemporary academic approaches to the subject, The Frankenstein Film Sourcebook reveals the depth of the cinematic range of interpretations of a classic modern myth. Comprehensive in its scope, The Frankenstein Film Sourcebook provides an alphabetical guide to two hundred films that incorporate the Frankenstein narrative. It also delves into both primary and secondary perspectives and includes discussions of aspects of the films, such as their depiction of women, which is relevant to current scholarly critiques.

Reviews

Scholarly in tone and a good purchase for academic libraries, upper-division undergraduates and higher. * Choice *
[O]ffers perhaps the most thorough and expansive resource for film scholars and horror movie fans intersted in cinematic representations of the Frankenstein motif. . . . [M]erits a place on the shelves of any university or college library. * SFRA Review *

Author Bio

CAROLINE JOAN ("KAY") S. PICART is an Assistant Professor of Humanities and English at Florida State University. She is the author of Resentment and "the Feminine" in Nietzsche's Politico-Aesthetics. Thomas Mann and Friedrich Nietzsche: Eroticism, Death, Music, and Laughter, The Cinematic Rebirths of Frankenstein (Greenwood, forthcoming). FRANK SMOOT works as an exhibit researcher and director of publications at the Chippewa Valley Museum, a regional history museum in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He has done text layout and copy editing for numerous books.