Gothic Cinema
Starts Wed 15 Oct
18:30 – 20:30
8 weeks
The vampires, zombies, werewolves, mummies and madmen of the gothic
tradition have over-run popular culture. Nowhere is this more clearly seen
than on our cinema screens.
This course offers a concise yet thorough introduction to gothic cinema,
covering key texts and movements from German Expressionism and
Universal Horror to homespun Hammer and beyond. It will address key
questions related to the complex nature of genre, the role of sexuality and the
gothic’s ability to engage with national trauma.
By the end of the course you will have a comprehensive knowledge of gothic
films, their cultural contexts and significance. We promise an intellectually
stimulating, dark encounter with a number of generically seminal films,
ranging from Hollywood super-productions to low-budget independents
Beginners’ level, no prior knowledge necessary
Course Screenings
Although all sessions will include clips from various films, there are two full
screenings:
Wed 29 Oct, 18:15 Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940)
Wed 19 Nov, 18:15 The Elephant Man (David Lynch, 1980)
Led by
Dr Linnie Blake (Director of the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies and
Principal Lecturer in Film, Manchester Metropolitan University)
www.hssr.mmu.ac.uk/gothicmmu
Dr Xavier Aldana Reyes (Lecturer in English, Manchester Metropolitan
University)
Week 1 – Wed 15 Oct
Topic: From German Expressionism to Universal Horrors
Tutor: Xavier
Venue: The Annexe
This session will introduce you to the
concept of gothic cinema: how do we
define it? Do we recognise it when we
see it?
Starting with the ‘fantastique’ trick films of
Georges Méliès and moving on to the
first significant adaptation of a gothic
novel, Edison’s Frankenstein (1910), we
will trace the important link between
gothic cinema and the gothic literary tradition, and discuss its iconic
aesthetics. Working our way through German Expressionism and finishing
with the monsters of Universal Pictures, we will show you that the gothic has
been part of filmic history from its inception and that it has consistently
returned to a group of recognisable stock characters and key literary works.
Films discussed in this session may include:
The Haunted Castle (Méliès, 1896), Frankenstein (Edison, 1910), The
Student of Prague (Heinz Ewers and Rye, 1913), The Cabinet of Dr Caligari
(Wiene, 1920), Nosferatu (Murnau, 1922), Phantom of the Opera (Julian,
1925), Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Mamoulian, 1931), Frankenstein (Whale,
1931), Dracula (Browning, 1931), White Zombie (Halperin, 1932), Bride of
Frankenstein (Whale, 1935).
Week 2 - Wed 22 Oct
Topic: The British Gothic Tradition
Tutor: Linnie
Venue: The Annexe
It has been said that, whilst the US
has given the world a number of
nationally specific genres, such as the
Western, the British have no
distinctive cinematic genre to call their
own. This session takes issue with
such claims, exploring the rapid
evolution of the gothic genre in the
1940s and paying close attention to
three classic films: Halfway House
(Dearden and Cavalcanti, 1943),
Dead of Night (Dearden at al., 1945) and Queen of Spades (Dickinson, 1948).
It will consider the ways in which the gothic allowed contemporary audiences
to engage with the trauma of war and the radical changes of the post-war
period.
Films discussed in this session may include:
Faust and Mephistopheles (Smith, 1898), The Duality of Man (Irving, 1910),
Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (Brenon, 1913), The Monkey’s Paw (Manning Haynes,
1923), Castle Sinister (Newman, 1932), The Ghoul (Hayes Hunter, 1933), The
Clairvoyant (Elvey, 1934); The Man Who Changed His Mind (Stevenson,
1936), Sweeney Todd – the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (King, 1936), The
Face at the Window (King, 1939), The Ghost Train (Forde, 1941).
Week 3 - Wed 29 Oct
Screening of Rebecca (Hitchcock, 1940)
Venue: Cornerhouse Cinema (screen TBC)
Rarely shown on the big screen, Rebecca
is undoubtedly one of Hitchcock’s
masterpieces. Haunting, deeply evocative
and supremely directed, this adaptation of
Daphne du Maurier’s gothic classic
contains all the claustrophobia and erotic
tension of the original. Follow the story of
its main protagonist (Joan Fontaine) as
she becomes the new Mrs de Winter and
falls prey to Manderley’s dark spell.
Week 4 – Wed 5 Nov
Topic: The English Tradition Continued: Hammer / Tigon / Amicus
Tutor: Xavier
Venue: The Annexe
This session continues our journey
through British cinema by considering the
highlights of the work of the Hammer,
Amicus and Tigon studios. These three
production companies were incredibly
important for gothic film, not just because
of their incredibly prolific output, but also
because their success signalled a return
to the unashamed genre pieces of the
Universal days.
We will start by focusing on Hammer and its ground-breaking films. We will
look at how the films’ excesses run parallel to a loosening up of screen taboos
surrounding nudity and violence. The session will consider the role of genre,
its audiences and the role of horror films within the cinema industry.
Films discussed in this session may include:
Curse of Frankenstein (Fisher, 1957), Dracula (Fisher, 1958), Hound of the
Baskervilles (Fisher, 1959), The Mummy (Fisher, 1959), Dr Terror’s House of
Horrors (Francis, 1964), Witchfinder General (Reeves, 1968), The Vampire
Lovers (Ward Baker, 1970), The House that Dripped Blood (Duffell, 1970),
Blood on Satan’s Claw (Haggard, 1971), Tales from the Crypt (Francis, 1972),
And Now the Screaming Starts (Ward Baker, 1973).
Week 5 – Wed 12 Nov
Topic: US Horror: 50s/60s/70s
Tutor: Linnie
Venue: The Annexe
The years from the end of WW2 to
the defeat of the US in Vietnam
gave rise to a phenomenal array of
films that adopted the conventions
of the gothic genre to address the
concerns that characterised the
period. These ranged from the fear
of nuclear annihilation and the
threat of the communist world to
the demands for civil rights by
women,
black
people
and
homosexuals. Gothic (and gothic-inflected) films from the fifties to the
seventies, in other words, charted the nation’s anxieties – presenting a picture
of a highly troubled nation struggling with rapid social and economic change.
This session will focus on a number of iconic films from the period. We will
look at the SF-Gothic of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Siegel, 1956), Roger
Corman’s Poe-influenced classics like The Tomb of Ligea (1964), at the new
female gothic of Rosemary’s Baby (Polanski, 1968) and Carrie (De Palma,
1976), and at the period’s classic monsters, from the zombies of Night of the
Living Dead (Romero, 1968) to the demons of The Exorcist (Friedkin, 1973)
and the ravening hillbillies of Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Hooper, 1975).
Week 6 – Wed 19 Nov
Screening of The Elephant Man (Lynch, 1980)
Venue: Cornerhouse Cinema (screen TBC)
Nominated for eight Oscars, David Lynch’s monochrome homage to
nineteenth century urban gothic tells the tale of Joseph Merrick, a man with
serious deformities exhibited as a ‘freak’ in Victorian London. With breathtaking cinematography and outstanding
performances by John Hurt – supported by
a range of stars from British and American
cinema including John Gielgud, Anne
Bancroft and Wendy Hiller – Elephant
Man raises interesting questions about
society’s ‘casting off’ of those perceived as
different, about the human body and
about the ethics of modern societies.
Week 7 – Wed 26 Nov
Topic: Gothic Horror 1970-2000
Tutor: Linnie
Venue: The Annexe
This session moves us on to the last twenty years
of the twentieth century – the ‘eighties and
‘nineties. We will focus on some now-classic
updates of the gothic genre to explore the ways in
which each generation refashions the gothic in its
own image. The highlights include: Poltergeist
(Hooper, 1982), The Lost Boys (Schumacher,
1987), Jacob’s Ladder (Lyne, 1990), Bram Stoker’s
Dracula (Ford Coppola, 1992) and Interview with
the Vampire (Jordan, 1994).
Other films discussed in this session may include:
The Shining (Kubrick, 1980), An American
Werewolf in London (Landis, 1981), The Fly
(Cronenberg, 1986), Near Dark (Bigelow, 1987),
Dead Ringers (Cronenberg, 1988), The Silence of the Lambs (Demme, 1991),
Frankenstein (Branagh, 1994), From Dusk Till Dawn (Rodriguez and Kelly,
1996), The Craft (Fleming and Kaplan, 1996), The Sixth Sense (Shyamalan,
1999).
Week 8 – Wed 3 Dec
Topic: Contemporary Gothic Film
Tutor: Xavier
Venue: The Annexe
This session will bring our discussion of gothic cinema right into present times.
What are the benefits and limitations of labelling films gothic? Should we be
talking about gothic readings of films?
Working our way through the first two
decades of the twenty-first century, we
will consider topics such as national
trauma and the horror boom,
contemporary adaptations, the rise of
found footage, and the profusion of
vampires that already plagued the
millennium before the unprecedented
success of Twilight. Along the way, we
will try to work out if this new gothic
cinema has a distinctive flavour or whether, as some have claimed, the genre
is now truly exhausted.
Films discussed in this session may include:
The Others (Amenábar, 2001), Underworld (Wiseman, 2003), Call of Cthulhu
(Leman, 2005), Pan’s Labyrinth (del Toro, 2006), Sweeney Todd (Burton,
2007), REC (Balagueró and Plaza, 2007), Paranormal Activity (Peli, 2007),
Twilight (Hardwicke, 2008), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I
(Yates, 2010),The Wolfman (Johnston, 2010), The Monk (Moll, 2011), The
Woman in Black (Goldman, 2012), Only Lovers Left Alive (Jarmusch, 2013).
Further Reading
Abbott, Stacey, Celluloid Vampires: Life after Death in the Modern World
(Austin: University of Texas Press, 2007).
Aldana Reyes, Xavier, Body Gothic: Corporeal Transgression in
Contemporary Literature and Horror Film (Cardiff: University of Wales
Press, 2014).
Auerbach, Nina, Our Vampires, Ourselves (Chicago and London: University of
Chicago Press,1995).
Bell, James (ed.), Gothic: The Dark Heart of Film (London: BFI, 2013).
Benshoff, Harry M., Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality in the Horror Film
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1997).
Blake, Linnie, The Wounds of Nations: Horror Cinema, Historical Trauma and
National Identity (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2008).
---, and Xavier Aldana Reyes, Digital Horror: Haunted Technologies, Network
Panic and the Found Footage Phenomenon (London: I. B. Tauris,
2015, forthcoming).
Botting, Fred (ed.), Gothic, 2nd edn (1996; London: Routledge, 2013).
---, The Gothic (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer. 2000).
Carroll, Noël, The Philosophy of Horror: or, Paradoxes of the Heart (London
and New York: Routledge, 1990).
Clover, Carol J., Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in Modern Horror
Film (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993).
Creed, Barbara, The Monstrous Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis
(London and New York: Routledge, 1993).
Crow, Charles L., American Gothic (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2009).
Egan, Kate, Trash or Treasure? Censorship and the Changing Meanings of
the Video Nasties (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007).
Forshaw, Barry, British Gothic Cinema (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave,
2013).
Freeland, Cynthia, The Naked and the Undead: Evil and the Appeal of Horror
(New York: Perseus, 2002).
Grant, Barry Keith (ed.), The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film
(Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996.)
Halberstam, Judith, Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters
(Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1995).
Hills, Matt, The Pleasures of Horror (London: Continuum, 2005).
Hopkins, Lisa, Screening the Gothic (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005).
Hunt, Leon, Sharon Lockyer and Milly Williamson (eds), Screening the Undead:
Vampires and Zombies in Film and Television (London: I. B. Tauris,
2014).
Hutchings, Peter, The Horror Film (Harlow: Longman, 2004).
Jones, David J., Gothic Machine: Textualities, Pre-Cinematic Media and Film
in Popular Visual Culture (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2011).
McEvoy, Emma, and Catherine Spooner (eds), Companion to the Gothic
(London: Routledge, 2008).
Newman, Kim, Nightmare Movies: Horror on Screen since the 1960s (London:
Bloomsbury, 2011).
Peirse, Alison, After Dracula: The 1930s Horror Film (London: I. B. Tauris,
2013).
Pirie, David, A New Heritage of Horror: The English Gothic Cinema (London:
I. B. Tauris, 2009).
Rigby, Jonathan, American Gothic: Sixty Years of Horror Cinema (London:
Reynolds and Hearn, 2007).
---, English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema (London: Reynolds and
Hearn, 2000).
Sage, Victor, and Allan Lloyd-Smith, Modern Gothic: A Reader (Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 1996).
Skal, David J., The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror, rev. edn
(London: Faber and Faber, 2001).
Spooner, Catherine, Contemporary Gothic (London: Reaktion, 2006).
Tudor, Andrew, Monsters and Mad Scientists: A Cultural History of the Horror
Movie (Cambridge, MA: Willey-Blackwell, 1991).
Pages of Interest and Electronic Resources:
The Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies:
http://www.hssr.mmu.ac.uk/gothicmmu/
Gothic Studies journal (Manchester University Press, 1362-7937; 2050-456X
on-line).
Horror Studies journal (Intellect, 2040-3275; 2040-3283 on-line).
The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies and the Gothic Imagination
(Trinity College Dublin, 2009-0374 on-line). Available at:
http://irishgothichorrorjournal.homestead.com/
The Gothic Imagination website (University of Stirling):
http://www.gothic.stir.ac.uk/