This book argues for the importance of Gothic in understanding one of the key elements within the films of Sam Peckinpah (1925-1984). Although occasionally noted in the past, the Gothic has been generally overlooked when most critics consider the work of Sam Peckinpah with the exception of the Freudian based Crucified Heroes (1979) by Terence Butler. This work not only examines the films made after that date, especially the often dismissed The Osterman Weekend (1983) and the two music videos he made for Julian Lennon, but also places the director within the context of the developing work on Gothic that has since appeared. Peckinpah has been identified as the director of one undisputed masterpiece, The Wild Bunch (1969). By focussing on the key role Gothic plays in most of the director’s work, this book offers a way to see Peckinpah beyond The Wild Bunch and the Western, viewing him as a director who had the potential of evolving further, had circumstances permitted, to continue his critique of American life within the developing lens of the Gothic.

Covers authors who are currently active or who died after December 31, 1959. Profiles novelists, poets, playwrights and other creative and nonfiction writers by providing criticism taken from books, magazines, literary reviews, newspapers and scholarly journals.

Body Gothic assesses the role and relevance of corporeal transgression in literature and film of the last three decades, from splatterpunk and body horror to torture porn and surgical horror.

Containing 220 entries, this aims to cover every significant film-maker in world cinema in the 20th century and discusses films in the context of the director's other works. From Buster Keaton to Ridley Scott, a whole century of directors are discussed and many film-makers listed.

Macabre tale of one of the darkest and most enduring alternative rock cults.

This lavishly-illustrated collection of writings on western movies covers close to a century of American cinematic achievement and includes almost a half-century of essays, commentary, and interviews. The history, mythology, and landscape of the western are skillfully explored.

A handbook of horror cinema