Description
Book SynopsisThe popular and critical successes of films like
The Sixth Sense and
The Ring and its sequels in the late 1990s led to an impressive international explosion of scary films dealing with ghosts. This book takes a close look at a number of those films from different countries, including the United States, Japan, South Korea, Spain, and Great Britain. Making a crucial distinction between these atmospheric films and conventional horror, Michael Walker argues that they are most productively seen as ghost melodramas, which opens them up to a powerful range of analytic tools from the study of melodrama, including, crucially, psychoanalysis.
Trade Review"The bibliography and index are thorough and the illustrations are very good, well above the average in modern publishing = It is difficult to give a proper sense of this extensive study. It is certainly comprehensive up until the date of publication and the study of genre films from so many different cinemas is fascinating." - Keith Withall,
mej (media education journal) , Issue 62, Winter 2017-18
Table of Contents1. Introduction 2. Three major predecessors 3. The fallow years: an assortment of ghosts SEMINAL FILMS 4. Ghosts in the city 5. Ghosts in the machine 6. Schoolgirl angst 7. Childhood abuse EVOLUTION OF THE CYCLE 8. Generic developments 1: Messages from the dead 9. Spain and history 1: Politics and war 10. Hollywood reinflections 11. Asian variations 12. Generic developments 2: Ghosts in the woman's film 13. Ghosts and institutions 1: South Korea 14. Ghosts and institutions 2: The West 15. National variations 16. Anatomy of the ghost melodrama 17. Spain and history 2: The Franco legacy and the Catholic church 18. Return of the British ghost film 19. Recent US developments and conclusion Filmography Bibliography
