Review: Cultural Studies: The Horror Film: An Introduction

The burgeoning corpus of literature on the horror genre in film studies has surpassed the western as the most written about genre by genre critics (Jancovich 2002). With such interest in the horror film, myriad studies have examined the genre’s social, cultural and political meanings and functions; gender issues; aesthetics; psychological impacts; thematic and generic development, and countless other issues. Rick Worland’s (2007) The horror film, touching upon many of these issues, is an introduction to the ‘history, stylistic development and social reception’ of the horror film (2). Tracing the horror film’s development throughout history, ‘from the earliest period of the genre’s importance to the present’, Worland explores the ‘ways in which horror movies have been produced, received and interpreted by filmmakers, audiences and critics’ (2)