Horror at the Drive-In: Essays in Popular AmericanaGary D. Rhodes McFarland, 2003 M01 13 - 312 pages Drive-in movie theaters and the horror films shown at them during the 1950s, 60s, and early 70s may be somewhat outdated, but they continue to enthrall movie buffs today. More than just fodder for the satirical cannons of Joe Bob Briggs and Mystery Science Theatre 3000, they appeal to knowledgeable fans and film scholars who understand their influence on American popular culture. This book is a collection of eighteen essays by various scholars on the classic drive-in horror film experience. Those in Section One emphasize the roles of the drive-in theater in the United States--and its cultural cousin, Australia. Section Two examines how horror operated at the drive-in, the rhetoric used in coming attraction trailers, horror film premieres at drive-ins, double features, and the preproduction, production, and marketing of Last House on the Left. Section Three addresses the effects of the Vietnam War and counter-culture on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the Cold War on Cat Women of the Moon. Section Four explores gender issues and sexuality, two of the most common and most important subjects of horror film analysis. Section Five covers drive-in culture via Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte, 2000 Maniacs, and the films of Mario Bava. Section Six investigates a variety of issues, such as the drive-in horror film's embrace of DNA, the use of cinematic form to create a non-Hollywood look in Wizard of Gore, and the many different prints and running times of I Drink Your Blood. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
INTERPRETING GENDER AND SEXUALIZED IDENTITIES | 5 |
Surf Sand and Sisters | 25 |
Naked Screaming Terror The Rhetoric of Hype and DriveIn | 41 |
Ideology and Style in the Double Feature I Married a Monster from | 67 |
THE PRESSURES OF | 95 |
Cat Women | 113 |
Ed Wood Glen or Glenda and the Limits of Foucauldian Discourse | 141 |
Publicity Posters of DriveIn Horrors | 169 |
Gender Politics in Samson versus | 187 |
Monsters and Mayhem Below the MasonDixon | 201 |
The Intercultural Horrors | 211 |
EXAMINING TECHNOLOGY IN BEHIND AND BEYOND THE DRIVEIN | 239 |
Wizards of Gore Dances of Life and Hidden Dimensions | 259 |
Drinking Blood with Walter Benjamin and David Durston | 277 |
About the Contributors | 297 |
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actors Amarillo American ANNOUNCER appears audience aura Australian drive-in Benjamin Bill Cat Women Chain Saw Massacre character cinema classic color Craven critical cult cultural Daughter of Horror depicted director Drink Your Blood drive-in horror films drive-in movie trailers drive-in theater Ed Wood essay example exploitation face fiction film noir film's filmmakers gender genetic material girl Glen or Glenda gore segments Hideous Sun Demon Holden Hollywood horror films horror movies human Ibid images Italian Karswell Kill Killer Shrews Krug Last House Living Dead male Marge Mario Bava ment Monster from Outer Montag NAN PETERSON narrative Night picture played popular posters produced rhetorical road movie Robert Clarke role scene scientists screams screen sexual shot shrews sion social star story style Szulkin Tascosa teenagers threat tion Tourneur vampire women victim Vietnam viewers violence visual Wizard of Gore Woman Wood York