The Cinema of John Carpenter - (Directors' Cuts) by Ian Conrich & David Woods (Paperback)

About the Book

This book gives Carpenter's output the sustained critical treatment it deserves. It contains essays by an international group of scholars that address the whole of Carpenter's work, as well as others which focus on a smaller number of key films. Some essays take on wide-ranging issues such as Carpenter's approach to remakes and the question of genre, while others are organized around a specific theme or technical aspect of Carpenter's filmmaking. The book also features an exclusive interview with John Carpenter.

Book Synopsis

John Carpenter is a seminal figure in the history of horror and science fiction filmmaking. His work in these genres has been highly influential in their ongoing development. This book gives Carpenter's output the sustained critical treatment it deserves. It comprises essays that address the whole of Carpenter's work, as well as others which focus on a smaller number of key films. Some essays take on wide-ranging issues such as Carpenter's approach to remakes and the question of genre, while others are organized around a specific theme or technical aspect of Carpenter's film-making. The text's key strength is that it draws upon an international group of scholars offering a variety of expertise. Films discussed include Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), Halloween (1978) and its subsequent sequels, Escape from New York (1981), Escape from L.A.(1996), The Fog (1980), The Thing (1982), Village of the Damned (1995) and Ghosts of Mars(2001). The book also features an exclusive interview with John Carpenter.

Review Quotes

These authors...provide much meaningful commentary about a worthwhile group of films truly deserving of this rigorous examination.-- "Fangoria"

Well-grounded and unpretentious.--Brett Taylor "Video Watchdog"

4 Stars-- "Empire"

About the Author

Ian Conrich is senior lecturer in Film Studies at University of Surrey, Roehampton and is coeditor of seven books, including the forthcoming Horror Zone: The Cultural Experience of Contemporary Horror Cinema. He has written extensively on the horror genre, with his work appearing in A Handbook to Gothic Literature, The Modern Fantastic: The Films of David Cronenberg, The Horror Film Reader, and British Horror Cinema.David Woods is senior lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at Nottingham Trent University. He is the coeditor of New Zealand--a Pastoral Paradise? and he has contributed to Translation, Theory and Latin America: Dimensions of the Third Term and The Background to Critical Theory: From Kant to Levi-Strauss.