The Horror Genre: From Beelzebub to Blair Witch (review)

Book Reviews | Regular Feature and the exploration of its surface. This film, however, never had the resonance of Metropolis. Hollywood also contributed to silent science fiction production , but it did not have nearly the success that its European counterparts had. By far, Hollywood's most ambitious silent era project was 1925's The Lost World, which pioneered the use of life-size models, this time of dinosaurs populating a lost South American valley. Lost World's model designer, Marcel Delgado, later gave "King Kong his lifelike appearance" (18). However, as Benson appears to imply, Hollywood's best sci-fi films came with the advent of sound in the late 1920s. Hollywood was especially good at producing various kinds of monster movies. Of course, the "king" of all these films was 1933's King Kong, one of Hollywood's great success stories. There were other monsters, however, who were almost as popular. Chief among them was the Frankenstein monster, about whom a slew offilms were made in the 1930s and 1940s. Although there was a silent version produced in 1910, it was not nearly as well received as the 1931 sound version starring Boris Karloff. Frankenstein, the movie, spawned numerous sequels featuring stars like Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr. Benson spends a great deal of space narrating the careers ofthese actors in the 1930s and 1940s. Lugosi and Chaney were also famous for their portrayals of Dracula and the Wolf-man, although Benson only briefly mentions those movies . Benson's overview of sound sci-fi films is the least valuable part of his book, since numerous other studies have covered the same ground. The most valuable chapter in Vintage Science Fiction Films is about serials from 1915 to 1949. Before the age of television, most moviegoers saw a serial, along with other shorts, before the feature was shown. Serials told a continuous story that might last an entire summer, with each episode ending in a "clifrhanger." In contrast to sci-fi feature films, serials tended to have stark black and white character typologies. As Benson states: "With good guys in white and bad guys in black, the entire world was at stake. (89)" The most popular sci-fi serial was undoubtedly Flash Gordon (1936), starring Buster Crabbe. Other popular serials were Buck Rogers (1939), Dick Tracy (1937), CaptainAmerica (1943), Batman and Robin (1949) and Superman (1948). During World War II, sci-fi serials took on a distinct political dimension, especially those about super heroes, who now fought againstAxis villains . Yet, aside from his chapter on serials, Benson does not give a political, social or cultural context to his chronicle of sci-fi film production. Vintage Science Fiction Films simply narrates and is virtually devoid of any serious analysis of the films it discusses. Benson's book also lacks an introduction and conclusion to "frame" his study. Considering that the era he discusses saw two cataclysmic world wars, one would think that connecting sci-fi film production to political events might prove fruitful. Benson cursorily passes over the FirstWorldWar with the statement: "With the world racked by war, the volume ofsfcinema dwindled. Sadly, many fearful visions of science fiction were becoming scientific fact" [13]. With regard to the Nazi sci-fi feature Der Herrn der Welt (1935), one ofthe few non-English speaking films mentioned in the chapter on sound films, Benson does not even mention that the film was produced under the auspices of Joseph Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry. Because of a lack of analysis and context, Vintage Science Fiction Films can only be recommended as a reference work for scholars of science fiction films. Benson's book is certainly dated, but his chapter on serials remains valuable and worth the read. Andrew Gaskievicz Mansfield University agaskiev@wheat.mnsfld.edu Paul Wells. The Horror Genre: From Beelzebub to Blair Witch. Columbia University Press, 2001. 144 pages; paper $16.95. Ideal Text As part oftheWallflower Press Short Cuts Series, PaulWells has created a succinct primer for studying horror films, including an overview of theoretical frameworks, a two-part history, a filmography of almost 350 titles, a briefglossary, and abibliography with suggested readings. This Series is designed to provide a library ofteaching...