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Before award-winning director Dan Curtis became known for directing epic war movies, he darkened the small screen with the horror genre's most famous soap opera, Dark Shadows, and numerous subsequent made-for-TV horror movies. This second edition serves as a complete filmography, featuring each of Curtis's four-dozen productions and 100 photographs. With the addition of new chapters on Dark Shadows, the author further explores the groundbreaking daytime television serial. Fans and scholars alike will find an exhaustive account of Curtis's work, as well as a new foreword from My Music producer Jim Pierson and an afterword from Dr. Mabuse director Ansel Faraj.
This eclectic overview of horror cinema offers up a collection of horror films for practically any occasion and literally every day of the year. For example, the author recommends commemorating United Nations Day (October 24) with a screening of The Colossus of New York, whose startling climax takes place at the U.N. Building. Each day-by-day entry includes the movie title, production year, plot summary and critique, along with a brief explanation of how the film fits into the history of that particular day and interesting anecdotes on the film's production.
From the horrific to the heroic, cinematic werewolves are metaphors for our savage nature, symbolizing the secret, bestial side of humanity that hides beneath our civilized veneer. Examining acknowledged classics like The Wolf Man (1941) and The Howling (1981), as well as overlooked gems like Dog Soldiers (2011), this comprehensive filmography covers the highs and lows of the genre. Information is provided on production, cast and filmmakers, along with critical discussion of the tropes and underlying themes that make the werewolf a terrifying but fascinating figure.
People hunting people for sport--an idea both shocking and fascinating. In 1924 Richard Connell published a short story that introduced this concept to the world, where it has remained ever since--as evidenced by the many big- and small-screen adaptations and inspirations. Since its publication, Connell's award-winning "The Most Dangerous Game" has been continuously anthologized and studied in classrooms throughout America. Raising questions about the nature of violence and cruelty, and the ethics of hunting for sport, the thrilling story spawned a new cinematic subgenre, beginning with RKO's 1932 production of The Most Dangerous Game, and continuing right up to today. This book examines in-depth all the cinematic adaptations of the iconic short story. Each film chapter has a synopsis, a "How Dangerous Is It?" critique, an overall analysis, a production history, and credits. Five additional chapters address direct to video, television, game shows, and almost "dangerous" productions. Photographs, extensive notes, bibliography and index are included.
Stories describe Michigan's first governor, Lewis Cass, signing a treaty with the Chippewa in 1819 and resting nearby with companions under a swamp oak a few miles north of Detroit. Cass told the story of Prince Charles II, who took refuge in 1651 under a mighty oak tree after the Battle of Worcester and lived to be crowned king. Cass later designated the locality, including the southernmost townships in Oakland County, as Royal Oak. This sector became a village in 1891 and a city in 1921. Strong roots have helped the "City of Trees" maintain its viability through the years. Home to William Beaumont Hospital, assorted high-tech graphic and sound studios, and a world-class zoo, today Royal Oak draws people into its pedestrian-friendly downtown for an eclectic mix of bars, sidewalk cafs, boutiques, theaters, and upscale lofts.
In the mid-1950s, to combat declining theater attendance, film distributors began releasing pre-packaged genre double-bills--including many horror and science fiction double features. Though many of these films were low-budget and low-end, others, such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Horror of Dracula and The Fly, became bona fide classics. Beginning with Universal-International's 1955 pairing of Revenge of the Creature and Cult of the Cobra, 147 officially sanctioned horror and sci-fi double-bills were released over a 20-year period. This book presents these double features year-by-year, and includes production details, historical notes, and critical commentary for each film.
Offering an original perspective on the sustainable-development discourse by emphasizing the importance of culture and cultural institutions in facilitating societal sustainability goals, The Overlooked Pillar conceptualizes sustainability as an institutional logic that develops in organizations and is enacted by managers of such organizations who make decisions and engage in sustainable thinking on a daily basis, leading them to reconcile current organizational realities and the need to adapt to those realities with considerations of the needs of future generations. Drawing on more than five years of research conducted on a variety of organizations within the domain of the arts and humaniti...
The novella was an important medieval and Renaissance prose narrative form that developed out of exempla and didactic literature and contributed to modern narrative forms. This is the first collection of essays dedicated to comprehensive scholarship on the Italian novella. The essays range from work on the Decameron , the epitome of the genre, to studies of sixteenth century authors who often utilized transgressive or sexual themes in their novellas.
Beginning with celebrated classics, the author locates King Kong (1933) within the era of lynching to evince how the film protects whiteness against supposed aggressions of a black predator and reviews The Wizard of Oz (1939) as a product of the Depression's economic anxieties. From there, the study moves to the cult classic animated Sinbad Trilogy (1958-1977) of Ray Harryhausen, films rampant with xenophobic fears of the Middle East as relevant today as when the series was originally produced. Advancing to more recent subjects, the author focuses on the image of the monstrous woman and the threat of reproductive freedom found in Aliens (1986), Jurassic Park (1993), and Species (1995) and on depictions of the mentally ill as dangerous deviants in 12 Monkeys (1996) and The Cell (2000). An investigation into physical freakishness guides his approach to Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Beauty and the Beast (1991).
Many of the key films in the career of horror icon Vincent Price (1911-1993) contain commentaries both obvious and subtle on the role of women, not only in the context of the times in which the films were created, but also during the historical periods depicted in the storylines. This examination of Price's horror films focuses on how the principal female characters--portrayed by such notable actresses as Barbara Steele, Hazel Court and Diana Rigg, to name but a few--are simultaneously villains, victims and objects of veneration. Also considered are issues of gender and sexuality as addressed in Vincent Price's most memorable movies. Included are dozens of rare production stills and a selected filmography that provides significant background information on the films cited.