Post-9/11 horror in American cinema / Kevin J. Wetmore.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wetmore, Kevin J., Jr., 1969-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Horror films--United States--History and criticism.

Horror films.

Motion pictures.

History.

United States.

Motion pictures--United States--History--21st century.

Terrorism in motion pictures.

September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001--Influence.

September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001.

Physical Description:

x, 231 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Other Title:

Post-September 11 horror in American cinema

Post-September 11th horror in American cinema

Place of Publication:

New York : Continuum, 2012.

Summary:

Kevin J. Wetmore has developed a book about recent US horror films based on a simple premise: the September 11th terrorist attacks were the greatest source of trauma any American has experienced in recent times; therefore, it is impossible to understand any horror film after 9/11 without considering 9/11. This is fundamentally a book of personal reflections on seeing recent American terror films as tropes on terrorism. Wetmore's analysis defines terrorism here, in filmic terms, as terror, helplessness, and bodily harm inflicted by foreigners, monsters, or random outsiders on normative Americans. For films like the Hostel series, this analysis is useful; the author explores at length how the trope evolves to justify Americans inflicting such harm, and to cover Americans inflicting it on other Americans. Where fear images depend instead on terror being domestic (domestic violence, US right-wing cults), as in the work of Stephen King, Wetmore's reflections become more difficult to follow. Wetmore argues from subgenres such as "torture porn" and the nihilistic "everybody dies" film. These, he argues, should be seen as attempts by American audiences to come to terms with meaningless violence and torture, and with the experience of seeing actual violent death on live television. The links he creates can be compelling. But as the author occasionally recognizes, these subgenres date back not to 9/11 but the 1970s. Older readers may wonder what Wetmore would say, were he to look past the Twin Towers to Vietnam. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Contents:

Introduction: terror and horror

9/11 as horror

Documenting the horror

"Because you were home": anonymous and random death

"Torture porn" and what it means to be American

Hopeless bleak despair or how I learned to stop worrying and love The mist

Fear of/from religion

They won't stay dead: the ghosts, zombies and vampires of 9/11

Manufacturing fear

Horrific nostalgia: remaking the slasher film

Conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [218]-224), filmography (pages [209]-217), and index.

ISBN:

9781441132956

1441132953

9781441197979

1441197974

OCLC:

744289422