Film Genres

Shocking Cinema of the 70s

Julian Petley, Brunel University London, UK & Xavier Mendik, Birmingham City University, UK Shocking Cinema of the 70s casts a transnational net to focus on films from a variety of countries, and from the marginal to the mainstream, which, by tackling various ‘difficult’ subjects, have proved to be controversial in one way or another. Julian Petley and Xavier Mendik assess how the production values, narrative features and critical receptions of these 'controversial' films can be linked to the wider historical and social forces that were dominant during this decade and continue to resonate in our current historical moment.

UK June 2021 • US June 2021 • 320 pages HB 9781350136311 • £85.00 / $115.00 ePub 9781350136304 • £76.50 / $94.85 ePdf 9781350136298 • £76.50 / $94.85 Bloomsbury Academic

The Mummy on Screen

Orientalism and Monstrosity in Horror Cinema Basil Glynn, Middlesex University, UK This book explores the history of the Mummy movie, tracing the Mummy’s development on screen from silent cinema, through Universal Studio’s iconic presentation of the monster, to Hammer Horror’s reimaginings. Basil Glynn argues that the Mummy genre needs to be understood in terms of changing discourses of race (in particular Orientalism), trangressive romance and monstrosity in order to appreciate its continued appeal to global industries and audiences in the face of critical hostility or indifference. PB 9781350194830 • £28.99 / $39.95 Previously published in HB 9781788314084 ePdf 9781350129375 • £76.50 / $94.85 Bloomsbury Academic

Horror Films for Children

Fear and Pleasure in American Cinema Catherine Lester Horror Films for Children examines the history, aesthetics and generic characteristics of children’s horror films, and identifies the ‘horrific child’ as one of the defining features of the genre, where it is as much a staple as it is in adult horror but with vastly different representational, interpretative and affective possibilities. Through analysis of case studies including blockbuster hits (Gremlins), cult favourites (The Monster Squad) and indie darlings (Coraline), Catherine Lester asks, what happens to the horror genre, and the horrific children it represents, when children are the target audience?

Steampunk Film

A Critical Introduction Robbie McAllister, Staffordshire University, UK A concise and accessible overview of steampunk’s indelible impact within film, acting as a case study for examining the ways with which genres hybridize and coalesce into new forms. As the first book to consider cinema’s unique relationship with steampunk, it places this burgeoning genre in the context of ongoing debates within film theory. Rather than acting as a niche subculture, Robbie McAllister argues that steampunk’s proliferation in mainstream filmmaking reflects a desire to reassess contemporary relationships with technology and navigate the intense changes that the medium itself is experiencing in the 21st century.

UK September 2020 • US September 2020 • 264 pages • 62 bw illus PB 9781501368608 • £28.99 / $39.95 Previously published in HB 9781501331213 ePub 9781501331220 • £88.50 / $108.00 ePdf 9781501331237 • £88.50 / $108.00

UK May 2021 • US May 2021 • 216 pages • 15 bw illus ePub 9781350129382 • £76.50 / $94.85 Bloomsbury Academic

Deleuze and the Gynesis of Horror

From Monstrous Births to the Birth of the Monster Sunny Hawkins, University in Indianapolis, USA Applying Deleuze’s schizoanalytic techniques to film theory, Deleuze and the Gynesis of Horror demonstrates how an embodied approach to horror film analysis can help us understand how film affects its viewers and distinguishes those films which reify static, hegemonic, “molar” beings from those which prompt fluid, nonbinary, “molecular” becomings. It does so by analyzing the politics of reproduction in contemporary films such as Ex Machina; Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; Mad Max: Fury Road; the Twilight saga; and the original Alien quadrilogy and its more recent prequels, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.

UK October 2020 • US October 2020 • 208 pages HB 9781501358456 • £90.00 / $120.00 ePub 9781501358449 • £88.50 / $108.00 ePdf 9781501358432 • £88.50 / $108.00

Bloomsbury Academic

UK May 2021 • US May 2021 • 256 pages HB 9781350135260 • £85.00 / $115.00 ePub 9781350135284 • £76.50 / $94.85 ePdf 9781350135277 • £76.50 / $94.85 Bloomsbury Academic

Joss Whedon vs. the Horror Tradition

The Production of Genre in Buffy and Beyond Edited by Kristopher Karl Woofter, Dawson College, Canada & Lorna Jowett, University of Northampton, UK Joss Whedon vs. the Horror Tradition looks at the ways in which writer-director-producer Joss Whedon derives inspiration from the horror genre in order to create a unique aesthetic and perform a cultural critique. Chapters provide the historical context of horror as well as the particular production backgrounds that by turns support, constrain or transform this mode of filmmaking. Informed by a wide range of theory from within philosophy, film studies, queer studies, psychoanalysis, feminism and other fields, the expert contributions to this volume prove the enduring relevance of Whedon’s genre-based universe to the study of film, television, popular culture and beyond.

UK September 2020 • US September 2020 • 344 pages • 33 bw illus PB 9781350201224 • £28.99 / $39.95 Previously published in HB 9781788311021 ePub 9781786725417 • £67.50 / $83.76 ePdf 9781786735416 • £67.50 / $83.76 Bloomsbury Academic www.bloomsbury.com • USA, Canada, Latin America • 888-330-8477 • customerservice@mpsvirginia.com