ReFocus : The films of William Castle / edited by Murray Leeder.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Leeder, Murray, Author.

Contributor:

Leeder, Murray, editor.

Series:

ReFocus, the American directors series.

ReFocus, the American directors series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Castle, William--Criticism and interpretation.

Castle, William.

Motion picture producers and directors--United States.

Motion picture producers and directors.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (221 pages).

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, [2018]

Summary:

The first collection of essays devoted to Hollywood director William CastleOften described as ‘the Master of Gimmicks’, William Castle is best known for the outrageous publicity stunts that characterised his genre films in the 1950s and ‘60s, including offers for an insurance policy against death by fright, vibrating seats, a skeleton that flew over the audience, and a ‘punishment poll’ to determine a film’s conclusion. But far from being ‘the world’s craziest filmmaker’, Castle was also a dependable studio director who made more than 50 films between 1944 and 1974, and who produced films for Orson Welles and Roman Polanski. ReFocus: The Films of William Castle assembles fourteen essays on the full sweep of Castle’s career, including his horror films, westerns, film noirs and more. With an influence felt on directors like Joe Dante, Robert Zemeckis and John Waters, this volume reappraises Castle’s legacy as an innovator as much as a showman.ContributorsHugh S. Manon (Clark University)Zachary Rearick (Georgia State University)Anthony Thomas McKenna (Shanghai Jiao Tong University)Murray Leeder (University of Calgary)Beth Kattelman (Ohio State University)Eliot Bessette (University of California, Berkeley)Alexandra Heller-Nicholas (University of Melbourne) Steffen Hantke (Sogang University)Michael Brodski (University of Mainz) Caroline Langhorst (University of Mainz)Michael Petitti (University of Southern California)Peter Marra (Wayne State University)Kate J. Russell (University of Toronto)

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Figures

Notes on Contributors

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Many Castles

Part 1 The Early Castle

1 When Strangers Marry: Film Noir as Mediated Gothic

2 Gender in William Castle’s Westerns

Part 2 The Gimmick Cycle

3 He Earned Our Forgiveness: William Castle and American Movie Showmanship

4 Collective Screams: William Castle and the Gimmick Film

5 Ghost Show Ballyhoo: Castle’s Macabre Will Scare You to Death

6 How to View 13 Ghosts

7 Chaos Made Flesh: Mr. Sardonicus (1961) and the Mask as Transformative Device

Part 3 Castle, Authorship, and Genre

8 A Sick Mind in Search of a Monstrous Body: William Castle and the Emergence of Psychological Horror in the 1960s

9 “What a Wicked Game to Play?” Playfulness, Generic Hybridity, and Cult Appeal in Castle’s 1960s Films

10 “Where Did Our Love Go?” The Case of William Castle’s The Night Walker

Part 4 Castle’s Legacy

11 Homo/cidal: William Castle’s 1960s Killer Queers

12 The Cinematic Pandemonium of William Castle and John Waters

Index

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-4744-2427-9

1-4744-2428-7

OCLC:

1312725719