Monster Cinema introduces readers to a vast menagerie of movie monsters. Some are gigantic, like King Kong or the kaiju in Pacific Rim, while others are microscopic. Some monsters appear uncannily human, from serial killers like Norman Bates to the pod people in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. And of course, other movie monsters like demons, ghosts, vampires, and witches emerge from long folklore traditions. Film expert Barry Keith Grant considers what each type of movie monster reveals about what it means to be human and how we regard the world. Armed with an encyclopedic knowledge of film history, Grant presents us with an eclectic array of monster movies, from Nosferatu to Get Out. As he discovers, although monster movies might claim to be about Them!, they are really about the capacity for horror that lurks within each of us.

Monster Cinema introduces readers to a vast menagerie of movie monsters, from gigantic beasts to microscopic parasites, from grotesque demons to normal-looking serial killers. Film expert Barry Keith Grant considers what each type of movie monster might reveal about how we regard the natural, the supernatural, and the human.

In 1975, after his two Godfather epics, Francis Ford Coppola went to the Philippines to film Apocalypse Now. He scrapped much of the original script, a jingoistic narrative of U.S. Special Forces winning an unwinnable war. Harvey Keitel, originally cast in the lead role, was fired and replaced by Martin Sheen, who had a heart attack. An overweight Marlon Brando, paid a huge salary, did more philosophizing than acting. It rained almost every day and a hurricane wiped out the set. The Philippine government promised the use of helicopters but diverted them at the last minute to fight communist and Muslim separatists. Coppola filmed for four years with no ending in the script. The shoot threatened to be the biggest disaster in movie history. Providing a detailed snapshot of American cinema during the Vietnam War, this book tells the story of how Apocalypse Now became one of the great films of all time.

From cinema's earliest days, being scared out of your wits has always been one of the best reasons for going to the movies. From B-movie bogeymen and outer space oddities to big-budget terrors, Monsters in the Movies by horror film maestro John Landis celebrates the greatest monsters ever to creep, fly, slither, stalk or rampage across the Silver Screen. Landis also surveys the historical origins of archetypal monsters, such as vampires, zombies and werewolves, and takes you behind the scenes to discover the secrets of the special-effects wizards who created such legendary frighteners as King Kong, Dracula, the Alien, and Freddy Krueger. Monsters in the Movies by John Landis is filled with the author's own fascinating and entertaining insights into the world of movie-making, and includes memorable contributions from leading directors, actors and monster-makers. The book is also stunningly illustrated with 1000 movie stills and posters drawn from the unrivaled archives of the Kobal Collection. Contents Introduction by John Landis... Explore a timeless world of fears and nightmares as John Landis investigates what makes a legendary movie monster • Monsters, chapter by chapter... Feast your eyes upon a petrifying parade of voracious Vampires, flesh-eating Zombies, slavering Werewolves, gigantic Apes and Supernatural Terrors • Spectacular double-page features... Thrill to the strangest, scariest, weirdest, and craziest movie monsters ever seen • The ingenious tricks of movie-making... Marvel as the special-effects wizards reveal how they create movie magic • A monster-movie timeline... Discover John Landis's personal selection of landmark horror films

Monsters are the manifestation of our fears and social paranoias, and an effective watchdog for making sure we all toe the line. Through literature, the monster has found a lasting legacy but, through cinema, it has developed from black & white into full Technicolor glory, making the Monster Movie an enduring document of social times, movements, fears and desires. This book peels back the flesh on a few of the monsters that have tingled our spines and caused more than a nightmare over the past 100 years.

The Kaiju (strange monster or strange beast) film genre has a number of themes that go well beyond the "big monsters stomping on cities" motif. Since the seminal King Kong 1933) and the archetypal Godzilla (1954), kaiju has mined the subject matter of science run amok, militarism, capitalism, colonialism, consumerism and pollution. This critical examination of kaiju considers the entirety of the genre--the major franchises, along with less well known films like Kronos (1957), Monsters (2010) and Pacific Rim (2013). The author examines how kaiju has crossed cultures from its original folkloric inspirations in both the U.S. and Japan and how the genre continues to reflect national values to audiences.

The first systematic examination in English of Cronenberg's feature films, from Stereo (1969) to Crash (1996).