Grief in Contemporary Horror Cinema - (Lexington Books Horror Studies) by Erica Joan Dymond (Paperback)

About the Book

Grief in Contemporary Horror Cinema: Screening Loss examines bereavement as it appears in horror films of the last two decades. This book addresses global hits such as Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth and Jennifer Kent's The Babadook as well as lauded arthouse films such as Lars von Trier's Melancholia and Ari Aster's Midsommar.

Book Synopsis

Grief in Contemporary Horror Cinema: Screening Loss examines bereavement as it appears in horror films of the last two decades. This book addresses global hits such as Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth and Jennifer Kent's The Babadook as well as lauded arthouse films such as Lars von Trier's Melancholia and Ari Aster's Midsommar.

Review Quotes

Grief in Contemporary Horror Cinema: Screening Loss offers a welcome multinational approach to the role played by, and complex and contradictory representations of, grief and loss in this genre. The various contributions demonstrate how universal themes of grief and loss are particularised in individual films and are often deployed to examine legacy and contemporary issues of national, familial and individual vulnerability. The book ultimately provides a valuable lens through which to examine a wide range of subgenres from arthouse to gothic horror.

This collection is fascinating, poignant, and timely, a true gift to scholars and horror fans living in a grieving world that has been subjected to a deadly pandemic for more than two years. In her introduction, editor Erica Joan Dymond begins with the premise that ldquo;horror cinema has become more nuanced over the last twenty years.rdquo; The chapters that follow provide compelling arguments for why this is the case. As contributor Asper Taylor Ballas contends, ldquo;Grief and the elaborate human response to it, stands as one of the most defining human qualities, and, therefore, contending with grief means a deep, thoughtful, and even horrifying look into humanityrsquo;s core.rdquo; Focusing on new, cutting-edge films about which little has been written, and international in scope, Grief in Contemporary Horror Cinema is sure to set the stage for future discussions of grief, loss, and horror.

About the Author

Erica Joan Dymond is assistant professor of English at East Stroudsburg University.