The Official Splatter Movie Guide, Volumes: 1963-1992

The Official Splatter Movie Guide, Volumes: 1963-1992
Author: John McCarty
Publisher: Crossroad Press
Total Pages: 634
Release: 2016-11-04
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN:

Combining both volumes of the original print editions, The Official Splatter Movie Guide, Volumes I & II is a dream come true for splatter aficionados: a film-by-film guide to more than eight hundred masterworks of blood and gore. Each listing contains the film's movie studio, date of release, running time, director, producer, writer, and actors, along with a synopsis and review of the film.

The Gorehound's Guide to Splatter Films of the 1960s and 1970s

The Gorehound's Guide to Splatter Films of the 1960s and 1970s
Author: Scott Aaron Stine
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2015-11-20
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 078649140X

For the uninitiated the author has obligingly supplied a definition for the slasher/splatter film: "Any motion picture which contains scenes of extreme violence in graphic and grisly detail...." For those film viewers who think this is a good thing and are more likely to select The Texas Chainsaw Massacre than The Remains of the Day, or for those who are not quite sure but are nevertheless drawn to the phantasmagoric, or for those horrified by gratuitous violence and blood for blood's sake but are researching this filmic phenomenon, this reference book provides all the gory details. From At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul Away to Zombie 2: The Dead Are Among Us, this book is an exhaustive study of the splatter films of the 1960s and 1970s. After a history of the development of the genre, the main meat of the book is a filmography. Each entry includes extensive credits, alternate names and foreign release titles; availability of the film on videocassette; availability of soundtracks and film novelization; and reviews. Extensive cross-referencing is also included.

The Gorehound's Guide to Splatter Films of the 1980s

The Gorehound's Guide to Splatter Films of the 1980s
Author: Scott Aaron Stine
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 399
Release: 2015-09-18
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1476611327

Reviews of The Gorehound's Guide to Splatter Films of the 1960s and 1970s: "recommended"--Booklist; "exhaustive...useful"--ARBA; "a solid reference work"--Video Watchdog; "bursting with information, opinion and trivia...impeccably researched"--Film Review; "interesting and informative"--Rue Morgue; "detailed credits...entertaining"--Classic Images. Author Scott Aaron Stine is back again, this time with an exhaustive study of splatter films of the 1980s. Following a brief overview of the genre, the main part of the book is a filmography. Each entry includes extensive technical information; cast and production credits; release date; running time; alternate and foreign release titles; comments on the availability of the film on videocassette and DVD; a plot synopsis; commentary from the author; and reviews. Extensive cross-referencing is also included. Heavily illustrated.

Creature Features

Creature Features
Author: John Stanley
Publisher: Berkley
Total Pages: 612
Release: 2000-08
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN:

Updated to include the most movie mega-hits, this sci-fi, fantasy, and horror movie guide has it all--the shockers, schlockers, blockbusters, bombs, cult faves, rare gems, classics, groundbreakers, gorefests, space operas, sorcery, Euro-splatter, and everything in between.

Going to Pieces

Going to Pieces
Author: Adam Rockoff
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2016-03-04
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0786491922

John Carpenter's Halloween, released on October 25, 1978, marked the beginning of the horror film's most colorful, controversial, and successful offshoot--the slasher film. Loved by fans and reviled by critics for its iconic psychopaths, gory special effects, brainless teenagers in peril, and more than a bit of soft-core sex, the slasher film secured its legacy as a cultural phenomenon and continues to be popular today. This work traces the evolution of the slasher film from 1978 when it was a fledgling genre, through the early 1980s when it was one of the most profitable and prolific genres in Hollywood, on to its decline in popularity around 1986. An introduction provides a brief history of the Grand Guignol, the pre-cinema forerunner of the slasher film, films such as Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and cinematic trends that gave rise to the slasher film. Also explained are the slasher film's characteristics, conventions, and cinematic devices, such as the "final girl," the omnipotent killer, the relationship between sex and death, the significant date or setting, and the point-of-view of the killer. The chapters that follow are devoted to the years 1978 through 1986 and analyze significant films from each year. The Toolbox Murders, When a Stranger Calls, the Friday the 13th movies, My Bloody Valentine, The Slumber Party Massacre, Psycho II, and April Fool's Day are among those analyzed. The late 90s resurrection of slasher films, as seen in Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, is also explored, as well as the future direction of slasher films.

Horror Film Aesthetics

Horror Film Aesthetics
Author: Thomas M. Sipos
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2014-01-10
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0786458348

This richly informed study analyzes how various cinematic tools and techniques have been used to create horror on screen--the aesthetic elements, sometimes not consciously noticed, that help to unnerve, frighten, shock or entertain an audience. The first two chapters define the genre and describe the use of pragmatic aesthetics (when filmmakers put technical and budgetary compromises to artistic effect). Subsequent chapters cover mise-en-scene, framing, photography, lighting, editing and sound, and a final chapter is devoted to the aesthetic appeals of horror cinema. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

At a Theater or Drive-in Near You

At a Theater or Drive-in Near You
Author: Randall Clark
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2013-12-17
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1317929098

Millions of Americans have been thrilled, scared, titillated, and shocked by exploitation movies, low budget films with many scenes of sex, violence, and other potentially lurid elements. The term derives from the fact that promoters of such films exploit the contents in advertising that plays up the sexual or violent aspects of the films. This is the first comprehensive study of the American exploitation film to be published. It discusses five distinct genres: the teen movie, the sexploitation film, the martial arts movie, the blaxploitation film and the lawbreaker picture. Contained within these genres are many popular American film types, including beach movies, biker pictures, and women's prison movies. The study provides a history and sociopolitical analysis of each genre, focusing on significant films in those genres. It also discusses the economics of exploitation films and their place in the motion picture industry, the development of drive-in theaters, the significance of the teenage audience, and the effect of the videocassette. Finally, the book applies major film and cultural theories to establish an aesthetic for evaluating the exploitation film and to explore the relationship between film and audience.