The Modern British Horror Film
184 pages, 4 1/2 x 7
Paperback
Release Date:05 Feb 2018
ISBN:9780813579443
Hardcover
Release Date:16 Mar 2018
ISBN:9780813590059
The Modern British Horror Film
Rutgers University Press
When you think of British horror films, you might picture the classic Hammer Horror movies, with Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and blood in lurid technicolor. Yet British horror has undergone an astonishing change and resurgence in the twenty-first century, with films that capture instead the anxieties of post-Millennial viewers.
Tracking the revitalization of the British horror film industry over the past two decades, media expert Steven Gerrard also investigates why audiences have flocked to these movies. To answer that question, he focuses on three major trends: “hoodie horror” movies responding to fears about Britain’s urban youth culture; “great outdoors” films where Britain’s forests, caves, and coasts comprise a terrifying psychogeography; and psychological horror movies in which the monster already lurks within us.
Offering in-depth analysis of numerous films, including The Descent, Outpost, and The Woman in Black, this book takes readers on a lively tour of the genre’s highlights, while provocatively exploring how these films reflect viewers’ gravest fears about the state of the nation. Whether you are a horror buff, an Anglophile, or an Anglophobe, The Modern British Horror Film is sure to be a thrilling read.
Tracking the revitalization of the British horror film industry over the past two decades, media expert Steven Gerrard also investigates why audiences have flocked to these movies. To answer that question, he focuses on three major trends: “hoodie horror” movies responding to fears about Britain’s urban youth culture; “great outdoors” films where Britain’s forests, caves, and coasts comprise a terrifying psychogeography; and psychological horror movies in which the monster already lurks within us.
Offering in-depth analysis of numerous films, including The Descent, Outpost, and The Woman in Black, this book takes readers on a lively tour of the genre’s highlights, while provocatively exploring how these films reflect viewers’ gravest fears about the state of the nation. Whether you are a horror buff, an Anglophile, or an Anglophobe, The Modern British Horror Film is sure to be a thrilling read.
Steven Gerrard clearly knows his subject well and does a very good job of linking the cycles he identifies (hoodie horror, outdoors horror, and the monster within) to the contemporary British social and political context.
Gerrard's exemplary study shows how recent British horror films have revitalised the genre, building on the gothic traditions of Hammer to produce a cinema that reflects the anxieties of today.
STEVEN GERRARD is a senior lecturer in film and visual culture at the Northern Film School, Leeds Beckett University in Leeds, UK. He is the author of The Carry On Films.
Introduction 1
1 The Hooded Terror 27
2 The Great Outdoors 63
3 The Dead Inside, the Dead Outside,
the Stranger Within 105
Conclusion 146
Acknowledgments 155
Further Reading 157
Works Cited 159
Magazines, Films, TV Series 165
Index 171
1 The Hooded Terror 27
2 The Great Outdoors 63
3 The Dead Inside, the Dead Outside,
the Stranger Within 105
Conclusion 146
Acknowledgments 155
Further Reading 157
Works Cited 159
Magazines, Films, TV Series 165
Index 171
