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Creatively spent and politically irrelevant, the American horror film is a mere ghost of its former self-or so goes the old saw from fans and scholars alike. Taking on this undeserved reputation, the contributors to this collection provide a comprehensive look at a decade of cinematic production, covering a wide variety of material from the last ten years with a clear critical eye. Individual essays profile the work of up-and-coming director Alexandre Aja and reassess William Malone's muchmalignedFeardotcom in the light of the torture debate at the end of President George W. Bush's administration. Other essays look at the economic, social, and formal aspects of the genre; the globalization of the U.S. film industry; the alleged escalation of cinematic violence; and the massive commercial popularity of the remake. Some essays examine specific subgenres-from the teenage horror flick to the serial killer film and the spiritual horror film-as well as the continuing relevance of classic directors such as George A. Romero, David Cronenberg, John Landis, and Stuart Gordon.Essays deliberate on the marketing of nostalgia and its concomitant aesthetic, and the curiously schizophrenic perspective of fans who happen to be scholars as well. Taken together, the contributors to this collection make a compelling case that American horror cinema is as vital, creative, and thought-provoking as it ever was.

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover
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  1. Frontmatter
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  1. CONTENTS
  2. pp. v-vi
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  1. INTRODUCTION: They Don’t Make ’Em Like They Used: To On the Rhetoric of Crisis and the Current State of American Horror Cinema
  2. pp. vii-xxxii
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  1. Part One: BLOODY AMERICA: Critical Reassessments of the Trans/-national and of Graphic Violence
  1. THE AMERICAN HORROR FILM: Globalization and Transnational U.S.-Asian Genres
  2. pp. 3-14
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  1. A PARISIAN IN HOLLYWOOD: Ocular Horror in the Films of Alexandre Aja
  2. pp. 15-34
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  1. "THE POUND OF FLESH WHICH I DEMAND": American Horror Cinema, Gore, and the Box Office, 1998–2007
  2. pp. 35-57
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  1. A (POST)MODERN HOUSE OF PAIN: FearDotCom and the Prehistory of the Post-9/11 Torture Film
  2. pp. 58-74
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  1. Part Two: THE USUAL SUSPECTS: Trends and Transformations in the Subgenres of American Horror Film
  1. TEENAGE TRAUMATA: Youth, Affective Politics, and the Contemporary American Horror Film
  2. pp. 77-102
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  1. TRAUMATIC CHILDHOOD NOW INCLUDED: Todorov’s Fantastic and the Uncanny Slasher Remake
  2. pp. 103-118
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  1. WHITHER THE SERIAL KILLER MOVIE?
  2. pp. 119-141
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  1. A RETURN TO THE GRAVEYARD: Notes on the Spiritual Horror Film
  2. pp. 142-158
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  1. Part Three: LOOK BACK IN HORROR: Managing the Canon of American Horror Film
  1. AUTEURD
  2. pp. 161-192
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  1. HOW THE MASTERS OF HORROR MASTER THEIR PERSONAE: Self-Fashioning at Play in the Masters of Horror DVD Extras
  2. pp. 193-220
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  1. "THE KINDS OF TODAY SHOULD DEFEND THEMSELVES AGAINST THE '70S": Simulating Auras and Marketing Nostalgia in Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s Grindhouse
  2. pp. 221-233
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  1. AFTERWORD: Memory, Genre, and Self-Narrativization; Or, Why I Should Be a More Content Horror Fan
  2. pp. 235-242
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  1. CONTRIBUTORS
  2. pp. 243-246
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  1. INDEX
  2. pp. 247-253
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