Grief in Contemporary Horror Cinema: Screening Loss Erica Joan Dymond 9781793633934

Over the course of the past two decades, horror cinema around the globe has become increasingly preoccupied with the concept of loss. Grief in Contemporary Horror Cinema: Screening Loss examines the theme of grief as it represented both indie and mainstream films, including works such as Jennifer Kent's watershed film The Babadook, Juan Antonio Bayona's award-sweeping El orfanato, Ari Aster's genre-straddling Midsommar, and Lars von Trier's visually stunning Melancholia. Analyzing depictions of grief ranging from the intimate grief of a small family to the collective grief of an entire nation, the essays illustrate how these works serve to provide unity, catharsis, and-sometimes-healing.

About the Author

Erica Joan Dymond is assistant professor of English at East Stroudsburg University.

Reviews

Grief in Contemporary Horror Cinema: Screening Loss is an accessible and wide-ranging exploration of grief as represented in many of the most interesting recent horror films on the topic. Of particular interest is the collection's inclusion of insightful essays addressing the socialization of grief through gender, sexuality, the family, and colonialism and how these complexities manifest in the themes and aesthetics of horror films.

-- Johanna Isaacson, Modesto Junior College

Grief in Contemporary Horror Cinema: Screening Loss offers a welcome multinational approach to the role played by, and complex and contradictory representations of, grief and loss in this genre. The various contributions demonstrate how universal themes of grief and loss are particularised in individual films and are often deployed to examine legacy and contemporary issues of national, familial and individual vulnerability. The book ultimately provides a valuable lens through which to examine a wide range of subgenres from arthouse to gothic horror.

-- Sarah Arnold, Maynooth University and author of Maternal Horror Film: Melodrama and Motherhood



Book Information
ISBN 9781793633934
Author Erica Joan Dymond
Format Hardback
Page Count 230
Imprint Lexington Books
Publisher Lexington Books
Series Lexington Books Horror Studies
Weight(grams) 490g
Dimensions(mm) 239mm * 159mm * 21mm