Beginning in the 1950s, "Euro Horror" movies materialized in astonishing numbers from Italy, Spain, and France and popped up in the US at rural drive-ins and urban grindhouse theaters such as those that once dotted New York's Times Square. Gorier, sexier, and stranger than most American horror films of the time, they were embraced by hardcore fans and denounced by critics as the worst kind of cinematic trash. In this volume, Olney explores some of the most popular genres of Euro Horror cinema—including giallo films, named for the yellow covers of Italian pulp fiction, the S&M horror film, and cannibal and zombie films—and develops a theory that explains their renewed appeal to audiences today.

Essays focusing on European horror cinema from 1945 to the present. Features new contributions by distinguished international scholars exploring British, French, Spanish, Italian, German and Northern European and Eastern European horror cinema.

From bloodsucking schoolgirls to flesh-eating zombies, and from psychopathic killers to beasts from hell, '100 European Horror Films' provides a lively and illuminating guide to a hundred key horror movies from the 1920s to the present day. Alongside films from countries particularly associated with horror production - notably Germany, Italy, and Spain and movies by key horror filmmakers such as Mario Bava, Dario Argento, and Lucio Fulci, '100 European Horror Films' also includes films from countries as diverse as Denmark, Belgium, and the Soviet Union, and filmmakers such as Bergman, Polanski and Claire Denis, more commonly associated with art cinema. The book features entries representing key horror subgenres such as the Italian 'giallo' thrillers of the late 60s and 70s, psychological thrillers, and zombie, cannibal, and vampire movies. Each entry includes a plot synopsis, major credits, and a commentary on the film's significance, together with its production and exhibition history. Films covered in the book include early classics such as Paul Wegener's 'The Golem,' Robert Wiene's 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,' and 'Murnau's Nosferatu'; 70s horror favorites such as 'Daughters of Darkness, The Beast,' and 'Suspiria'; and notable recent releases such as 'The Devil's Backbone, Malefique,' and 'The Vanishing.'

A DETAILED STUDY OF THE CLASSICS OF CONTINENTAL HORROR CINEMA! From the Expressionist reveries of the Weimar Republic to the transgressive nightmares smuggled past the Franco regime, via surrealist Gallic fever-dreams and psychedelic shockers from Cinecittà, Jonathan Rigby brings his incisive scrutiny to bear on more than 100 key films, starting in the aftermath of World War I and winding up with the video revolution of the early 1980s.

From bloodsucking schoolgirls to flesh-eating zombies, and from psychopathic killers to beasts from hell, '100 European Horror Films' provides a lively and illuminating guide to a hundred key horror movies from the 1920s to the present day. Alongside films from countries particularly associated with horror production - notably Germany, Italy, and Spain and movies by key horror filmmakers such as Mario Bava, Dario Argento, and Lucio Fulci, '100 European Horror Films' also includes films from countries as diverse as Denmark, Belgium, and the Soviet Union, and filmmakers such as Bergman, Polanski and Claire Denis, more commonly associated with art cinema. The book features entries representing key horror subgenres such as the Italian 'giallo' thrillers of the late 60s and 70s, psychological thrillers, and zombie, cannibal, and vampire movies. Each entry includes a plot synopsis, major credits, and a commentary on the film's significance, together with its production and exhibition history. Films covered in the book include early classics such as Paul Wegener's 'The Golem,' Robert Wiene's 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,' and 'Murnau's Nosferatu'; 70s horror favorites such as 'Daughters of Darkness, The Beast,' and 'Suspiria'; and notable recent releases such as 'The Devil's Backbone, Malefique,' and 'The Vanishing.'

The Couch and the Silver Screen is a collection of original contributions which explore European cinema from psychoanalytic perspectives. Both classic and contemporary films are presented and analysed by a variety of authors, including leading cinema historians and theorists, psychoanalysts with a specific expertise in the interpretation of films, as well as the filmmakers themselves. This composite approach offers a fascinating insight into the world of cinema. The Couch and the Silver Screen is illustrated with stills throughout and Andrea Sabbadini's introduction provides a theoretical and historical context for the current state of psychoanalytic studies of films. The book is organised into four clear sections - Set and Stage, Working Through Trauma, Horror Perspectives and Documenting Internal Worlds - which form the basis for engaging chapters including: easily readable and jargon-free film reviews. essays on specific subjects such as perspectives on the horror film genre and adolescent development. transcripts of live debates among film directors including Bernardo Bertolucci, actors, critics and psychoanalysts discussing films. The cultural richness of the material presented, combined with the originality of multidisciplinary dialogues on European cinema, makes this book appealing not only to film buffs, but also to professionals, academics and students interested in the application of psychoanalytic ideas to the arts.

During the 1960s abd '70s, the European horror film went totally crazy. It began to go kinky--creating a new type of cinema that blended eroticism and terror. Immoral Tales illuminates an entire world of sexy, gory, arty and sleazy films that are only now gaining recognition in the U.S. Photos, many in color.