When a lust demon possesses a convent, the nuns discover the pleasure of sin. Ivy was a promiscuous young woman whose parents despaired of ever being able to marry her off, so they consigned her to the Sisters of Temperance Convent hoping the nuns could correct her sinful ways. Little did they know how wrong they were, for within those holy walls dwelled a most unholy power. This is the Confession of Sister Ivy, in which she describes the sexual perversion that step-by-step corrupted the hearts, minds, and bodies of the nuns of her convent. It is a tale of sin, dark magic, demon possession, and most of all, uncontrollable lust.

There is no cinema with such effect as that of the hallucinatory Italian horror film. From Riccardo Freda's I Vampiri in 1956 to Il Cartaio in 2004, this work recounts the origins of the genre, celebrates at length ten of its auteurs, and discusses the noteworthy films of many others associated with the genre. The directors discussed in detail are Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava, Mario Bava, Ruggero Deodato, Lucio Fulci, Umberto Lenzi, Antonio Margheriti, Aristide Massaccesi, Bruno Mattei, and Michele Soavi. Each chapter includes a biography, a detailed career account, discussion of influences both literary and cinematic, commentary on the films, with plots and production details, and an exhaustive filmography. A second section contains short discussions and selected filmographies of other important horror directors. The work concludes with a chapter on the future of Italian horror and an appendix of important horror films by directors other than the 50 profiled. Stills, posters, and behind-the-scenes shots illustrate the book.

Focuses specifically on the concept and role of islands in the medieval world. The main characteristic of an island is, of course, that of being isolated from the rest of the world; in geography by waters, in more abstract and symbolic meanings by other kinds of separating borders. Islands were the place 'on the other side', of difference, otherness and remoteness. As one of the articles in this volume puts it, islands are often depicted "as sites for extraordinary events and happenings".