Description
Book SynopsisMost critical work on the horror film in Germany has been devoted to the period of the Weimar Republic and the classics it has produced, including Robert Wiene''s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) and F.W. Murnau''s Nosferatu (1922). Postwar German horror film, however, has received little critical attention. Caligari''s Heirs: The German Cinema of Fear after 1945 is a collection of essays that corrects this oversight by providing intelligent critical analyses of a variety of German horror films from the early postwar years to the present day. Following an introduction that discusses the development of critical discourse on postwar German horror film, these essays focus on four particular aspects of the genre: the immediate postwar years and the long shadow of Weimar cinema that falls over them; the dialogue between the German Autorenfilm and horror cinema; the influence of commercial American cinema on German horror films; and contemporary splatter films that have received more crit
Trade ReviewThis book will be the perfect starting point for the horror film buff interested in German output of the last 60 years. Recommended. * CHOICE, August 2007 *
A dozen contributions from international scholars critically examine various German horror films from the early postwar years to the present day. Themes addressed include (for example) the connections between the German Autorenfilm and horror cinema, and the influence of commercial American movies on the genre. Interviews with three directors—Jörg Buttgereit, Robert Sigl, and Nico Hoffmann—complete the volume. Hantke teaches English at Sogang U. in Seoul, South Korea. * Reference and Research Book News, May 2007 *
The contributors have made a real, thought-provoking intervention in German film scholarship. * Film Quarterly *
Intelligent critical analyses of a variety of German horror films from the early postwar years to the present day. ...Caligari's Heirs has something to offer to three distinct audiences: the horror film fan, the reader interested in German cinema in general, and the reader interested in discovering a national culture through its popular culture. * Turner Classic Movies *
Table of ContentsPart 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Postwar German Cinema and the Horror Film: Thoughts on Historical Continuity and Genre Consolidation Part 3 Part 1: The Long Shadow of Weiman: Expressionism and Postwar German Horror Film Chapter 4 Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse Trilogy and the Horror Genre, 1922-1960 Chapter 5 Peter Lorre's Der Verlorene: Trauma and Recent Historical Memory Chapter 6 Hollywood Horror Comes to Berlin: A Critical Reassessment of Robert Siodmak's Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam Part 7 Part 2: German Autorenkino and Horror Film: Influences, Dialogues, Exchanges Chapter 8 The Shadow and the Auteur: Herzog's Kinski, Kinski's Nosferatu, and the Myths of Authorship Chapter 9 History, Homage, and Horror: Fassbinder, Raab, Lommel and the Tenderness of Wolves (1973) Chapter 10 Joy-Boys and Docile Bodies: Surveillance and Resistance in Romuald Karmakar's Der Totmacher Part 11 Part 3: New German Horror Film: Between Global Cinema and the Hollywood Blockbuster Chapter 12 Introducing "The Little Spielberg": Roland Emmerich's Joey as Reverent Parody Chapter 13 To Die For: Der Fan and the Reception of Sexuality and Horror in the Early 1980s German Cinema Chapter 14 "Not to scream before or about, but to scream at death": Haneke's Horrible Funny Games Part 15 Part 4: Beyond Aesthetics, Against Aesthetics: German Splatter Film Chapter 16 Better Living Through Splatter: Christoph Schlingensief's Unsightly Bodies and the Politics of Gore Chapter 17 Buttgereit's Poetics: Schramm as Cinema of Poetry Chapter 18 Necrosexuality, Perversion, and Jouissance: The Experimental Desires of Jörg Buttgereit's NekRomantik Films Part 19 Part 5: Interviews: Three German Horror Film Directors Chapter 20 Good News from the Underground: A Conversation with Jörg Buttgereit Chapter 21 Hunting the Innocents: A Conversation with Robert Sigl Chapter 22 Loneliness, Passion, Melancholia: A Conversation with Nico Hoffmann Part 23 Index Part 24 About the Editors and Contributors
