Description
As is
well known, the horror film generally presents a situation where
normality is threatened by a monster. From this premise, this book
argues that scary movies often create their terrifying effects
stylistically and structurally through a radical break with the realism
of normality in the form of monstrous theatricality. Theatricality in
the horror film expresses itself in many ways. First and foremost, it
comes across in the physical performance of monstrosity; the
over-the-top performance of a chainsaw-wielding serial killer who
performs his nefarious acts to terrify both his victims within the film
and the audience in the cinema. Theatrical artifice can also appear as a
stagy cemetery with broken-down tombstones and twisted, gnarly trees,
or through the use of violently aberrant filmic techniques, or in the
oppressive claustrophobia of a single-room setting reminiscent of
classical drama. All these are examples of the cinematic theatricality
of horror. Any performative element of a film that flaunts its
'difference' from what is deemed realistic or normal on screen might
qualify as an instance of theatrical artifice, creating an intense
affect in the audience. The artificiality of the frightening spectacle
is at the heart of the dark pleasures of horror.
The ultimate goal of 'Theatricality in the Horror Film' is to suggest
that the theatricality of horror cinema echoes the genre's roots in
ancient tragedy. Like Greek tragedy, horror cinema allows spectators to
confront their deepest fears within the safe space of the auditorium,
thus affording the audience a cathartic experience. In addition to
catharsis, the horror film's dichotomy between the stable status quo of
normality and the shockingly disruptive moment of horror also rehearses
tragedy's genealogy famously articulated by Nietzsche: the terrifying
carnal pleasures of Dionysian excess formalized through a dialectic
confrontation with the static Apollonian principles of order, civility
and normality. Tragic theatricality, this book contends, is the essence
of horror cinema.
About the Author
André Loiselle is dean of humanities and professor
of film studies at St. Thomas University, Fredericton, Canada. He has
published over 40 refereed articles and chapters in anthologies, as well
as a dozen books.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction: Of Monsters
and Monstration; 2. Horror, Realism and Theatricality; 3. The
Theatricality of Monstrous Villainy in Film Adaptations of Horror Plays;
4. The Theatre as Locus Horribilis: Staging the Paradox of Tragic
Horror; 5. The Theatricality of Horror: Characters, Unities and Styles;
6. Conclusion: The Theatricality of Horror Spectatorship; Bibliography;
Index.