Italian Horror Cinema

In its heyday from the late 1950s until the early 1980s Italian horror cinema was characterised by an excess of gore, violence and often incoherent plot-lines. Films about zombies, cannibals and psychopathic killers ensured there was no shortage of controversy, and the genre presents a seemingly unpromising nexus of films for sustained critical analysis. But Italian horror cinema with all its variations, subgenres and filoni remains one of the most recognisable and iconic genre productions in Europe, achieving cult status worldwide. One of the manifestations of a rich production landscape in Italian popular cinema after the Second World War, Italian horror was also characterised by its imitation of foreign models and the transnational dimension of its production agreements, as well as by its international locations and stars.
This collection brings together for the first time a range of contributions aimed at a new understanding of the genre, investigating the different phases in its history, the peculiarities of the production system, the work of its most representative directors (Mario Bava and Dario Argento) and the wider role it has played within popular culture.

Author: Stefano Baschiera
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Published: 06/28/2016
Pages: 240
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.10w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9781474419680

About the Author

Stefano Baschiera is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at Queen's University Belfast. His work on European cinema, material culture, and film industries has been published in a variety of edited collections and journals including Film International, Bianco e Nero, New Review of Film and Television Studies, and NECSUS: European Journal of Media Studies. With Russ Hunter is the co-editor of Italian Horror Cinema (2016).

Russ Hunter is a Senior Lecturer in Film & Television at the University of Northumbria. His research is focused upon Italian genre cinema, critical reception, and European horror cinema.