Gary D. Rhodes

Joseph H. Lewis enjoyed a monumental career in many genres, including film noir and B-movies (with the East Side Kids) as well as an extensive and often overlooked TV career. In The Films of Joseph H. Lewis, editor Gary D. Rhodes, PhD. gathers notable scholars from around the globe to examine the full range of Lewis's career. While some studies analyze Lewis's work in different areas, others focus on particular films, ranging from poverty row fare to westerns and "television films." Overall, this collection offers fresh perspectives on Lewis as an auteur, a director responsible for individually unique works as well as a sustained and coherent style. Essays in part 1 investigate the texts and contexts that were important to Lewis's film and television career, as contributors explore his innovative visual style and themes in both mediums. Contributors to part 2 present an array of essays on specific films, including Lewis's remarkable and prescient Invisible Ghost and other notable films My Name Is Julia Ross, So Dark the Night, and The Big Combo. Part 3 presents an extended case study of Lewis's most famous and-arguably-most important work, Gun Crazy. Contributors take three distinct approaches to the film: in the context of its genre as film noir and modernist and postmodernist film; in its relationship to masculinity and masochism; and in terms of ethos and ethics. The Films of Joseph H. Lewis offers a thorough assessment of Lewis's career and also provides insight into film and television making in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. Scholars of film and television studies and fans of Lewis's work will appreciate this comprehensive collection.

The Films of Joseph H. Lewis

Tom Weaver

Gary D. Rhodes guides a ghostly ship through the bayous and backwaters of Louisiana, casting his lantern’s light on the vampires of Universal’s 1943 classic Son of Dracula. Also illuminated are the film’s production history and its original script. Unmoored from the errors of the past, Rhodes, Tom Weaver, Robert Guffey and Robert J. Kiss do that research voodoo that they do so well. “An engaging, thoroughly researched and accessible book that will appeal to film researchers and fans alike. Son of Dracula is finally receiving the attention it deserves.” - Dr. Alison Peirse, After Dracula: The 1930s Horror Film “This is the ultimate tribute to Son of Dracula, an underrated jewel in Universal’s 1940s horror pantheon: a reproduction of director Robert Siodmak’s annotated script, plus some superb bonuses. Sink y9our fangs into it now!” - Steve Kronenberg, Universal Terrors 1951 - 1955 Contains the script, production history, fun facts, the pressbook, and essays by Robet Siodmak and Curt Siodmak.

Son of Dracula

Robert Guffey

Between 1941 and 1944, Bela Lugosi starred in a series of low-budget films released by Monogram Pictures. To many viewers at the time and during the decades that followed, the “Monogram Nine” were overacted and underproduced, illogical and incoherent. But their increasing age has recast such condemnations into appropriate praise: in the 21st century, they seem so different not only from modern cinema, but also from Classical Hollywood, enough so as to make the aforementioned deficits into advantages. The entries in the Monogram Nine are bizarre and strange, populated by crazy, larger-than-life characters who exist in wacky, alternative worlds. In nine films, the improbable chases the impossible. This book, in turn, chases them. “Gary Rhodes has become my favorite nonfiction author, while the subject of some of his writings, Bela Lugosi, has long been one of my favorite actors. Now Gary has teamed up with co-author Robert Guffey to present, for the first time, a collection of in-depth and insightful essays evaluating those lesser ‘classics’ that comprise the so-called ‘Monogram Nine.’ If you are a Lugosi fan and also a fan of old ‘B’ horror films, you will love this book.” – Donald F. Glut, filmmaker, Marvel Comics writer, and author of The Empire Strikes Back novelization “An extraordinary volume. Rhodes and Guffey refract these films through the lens of surrealism, detailed genre study, auteurist-informed close readings, star studies, and vigorous historicism to name a few of the kaleidoscope of methods employed. This book provides a breakthrough model for serious work on films that have to date received very little scholarly attention.” – Michael Lee, Ph.D. (University of Oklahoma), editor at the journal Horror Studies

Bela Lugosi and the Monogram Nine

With trowel and brush in hand, noted film archaeologist Gary D. Rhodes excavates the cinematic sepulcher of Ed Wood's unproduced scripts for Bela Lugosi, The Vampire's Tomb and The Ghoul Goes West. Joining Rhodes on the expedition are pith-helmeted horror movie expert Tom Weaver, plus Lugosi's original biographer Robert Cremer. These Raiders of the Lost Archives dig deep into the desert of unfilmed films, unearthing all manner of previously unknown artifacts and unseen relics. Ed Wood and the Lost Lugosi Screenplays puts these treasures on exhibit for the very first time. "Ed Wood would shout, 'Perfect!' if he saw this book. An amazing collection of unproduced work from the low budget maestro, lovingly curated and explained. Worth buying for the intros alone. These guys know their stuff." - Larry Karaszewski, screenwriter of Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994) "Hot on the heels of Gary D. Rhodes' Bride of the Monster script book comes Ed Wood and the Lost Lugosi Screenplays. Delving into the most mythical aspects of the Wood saga, this book examines the facts and mysteries of these unproduced works. Essential for genre enthusiasts." - Jan Alan Henderson, author of Speeding Bullet, The Legendary Lydecker Brothers, and Crypt 39 - a Novel "Gary D. Rhodes, a living breathing encyclopedia of all things Bela Lugosi, now takes us into 'what might have been' territory ... Rhodes' research is, as always, impressively meticulous. How does he find some of this stuff?" - David-Elijah Nahmod, journalist and film critic "Anyone interested in film production history will find this book fascinating. Those who seek insights into the intriguing lives of Ed Wood and Bela Lugosi will be doubly rewarded. But I'm thinking right now of the number of readers who are increasingly interested in screenplay origins, screenplay histories: for that growing number of readers this book will prove to be a true gem!" - Graeme Harper, Dean of the Honors College, Oakland University, Michigan

Ed Wood and the Lost Lugosi Screenplays

Explores American Joseph H. Lewis's eclectic career, including his best-known film, "Gun Crazy."

Best Book of the Year (2017) - Classic Images The Merrill T. McCord Research Award 2017 - from Classic Images and Best Cover of the Year 2017 - Classic Images Shovel in hand, the redoubtable Gary D. Rhodes returns to the Graveyard of Forgotten Facts, unearthing a treasure trove of terrific illustrations and a casket-full of new information and insights on Bela Lugosi, Ed Wood and Bride of the Monster (1956). Also exhumed are Bride’s shooting script and a vault full of decaying extras. Accompanying him in this 60th anniversary “Bela-bration” of the film’s release is partner-in-crime Tom Weaver, as well as contributors Sam Sherman, Robert J. Kiss and Michael Lee. “Brings back a lot of good memories... That's what I live for. This is history, and I'm living it all over again.” – Conrad Brooks, Ed Wood’s friend and actor in Bride of the Monster “Ed Wood’s Bride of the Monster isn’t the director’s most famous film, or the most beloved, either, but it is the best work the obsessive and resourceful Wood ever did. Loopy and retro even in its own day, Bride gets fabulous treatment in this engrossing volume, with Gary D. Rhodes’s carefully researched account of the picture’s development, shoot, and exhibition. I enjoyed exploring details of the film’s tangled chronology, Bela Lugosi’s casting and performance, and differences between script and finished film. Plus, images and extras I never imagined I’d see. I love Ed, I love Bela and I love Bride of the Monster.” —David J. Hogan, author of Dark Romance: Sexuality in the Horror Film and Film Noir FAQ. “When it comes to throwing the spotlight on American cinema’s dark corners that have been forgotten or ignored by critics, few people possess the breadth of knowledge, archival research expertise and ability to construct fascinating histories as Gary D. Rhodes. In this volume, and continuing his long-standing work on Bela Lugosi, Rhodes unearths and contextualizes with his usual, meticulous scholarship a wealth of material related to the final film in which Lugosi starred. A real treat not just for Lugosi fans, but also for those with an interest in the way American filmmaking was practiced in the periphery of Hollywood.” – Yannis Tzioumakis, Senior Lecturer at the University of Liverpool and author of Hollywood’s Indies: Classics Divisions, Specialty Labels, and the American Film Market

Ed Wood's Bride of the Monster

This book analyzes the film text from nearly every possible viewpoint, using both academic and popular film theories. Also supplied is an extensive intellectual history of the predecessor works to White Zombie, as well as information on the significance it carried for subsequent books and films, its theatrical release around the country, its modern cultural influence, and the attempts to restore the film to its original state.

Anatomy of a Horror Film

White Zombie

Imagination can lead to a gateway of imaginary worlds of adventure and fantasy especially for Little Eli. Little Eli is a wonderful highly-spirited spiritual little boy who was born with a physical condition, cerebral palsy, that has restricted him to a lifetime in a wheelchair. He does not have the ability to go out and make friends and play with the other little kids in the neighborhood or do any of the other things that kids his age would normally do, although he does not let this sway his faith or stop him from enjoying his life to the fullest. He is a very positive, fun-loving and energetic little boy who has figured out a way to create his own fun and entertain himself by escaping off into his own imaginary worlds filled with fantasy and adventures. With each adventure Little Eli will go on amazing journeys to different places far from his home. During his different adventures, he will spend the entire day traveling around meeting new friends who will often help guide him along a sacred path back to a spiritual gateway, which he must use after each journey to return home in time for dinner because he does not want his parents to worry. Having love and faith can be wonderful, and Little Eli is a courageous and inspirational little boy who has a tremendous amount of both.

The Adventures of Little Eli in Cuba

Bill Kaffenberger

“Gary Rhodes and Bill Kaffenberger have added the final chapter to Bela Lugosi’s career, combining fascinating unknown details of his film and stage activities with post-WWII film history. Superbly researched and written as an engrossing story of an actor’s struggle against professional decline. A must-read!” – Robert Cremer, author of Lugosi: The Man Behind the Cape (Henry Regnery, 1976). “Gary Rhodes represents that elusive Gold Standard in narrative research into the full depth and breadth of Bela Lugosi’s complicated career. Rhodes’ devotion to the banishment of myth, and to its replacement with frank and humanizing truth, has provided a wealth of historical storytelling that, in turn, renders the actor’s known body of work all the more fascinating and comprehensible. Just when I catch myself believing I know all there is to be known about Lugosi — along comes Gary Rhodes and Bill Kaffenberger with a fresh brace of revelations. The process advances immeasurably in No Traveler Returns: The Lost Years of Bela Lugosi.” – Michael H. Price, coauthor of the Forgotten Horrors series. In No Traveler Returns, Bela Lugosi scholar extraordinaire Gary D. Rhodes and Bill Kaffenberger provide a fascinating time travel journey back to the late 1940s/early 1950s, when Lugosi – largely out of favor in Hollywood – embarked on a Gypsy-like existence of vaudeville, summer stock, and magic shows. While many historians have considered this era a limbo in Lugosi’s career, with precious few facts unearthed, Rhodes and Kaffenberger take the reader along for a wide-eyed ride as Bela performs in a nightclub so notorious that armed guards keep watch on the roof, dresses as Dracula in a magic show where he and a gorilla (a man in a suit) play football with the guillotined head of a woman (a dummy), and races from one stock engagement to another without ever missing a cue. Never in his American career was Bela so busy, and never did his light shine so brightly as he valiantly troupes to support his family, dominate age and illness, and please his audiences. It’s a fastidiously researched education in the show business world of the time – and a stirring tribute to the charm, brilliance and inexhaustible professionalism of the star who was Dracula. – Gregory William Mank, author of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: The Expanded Story of a Haunting Collaboration (McFarland, 2009). “With preeminent Bela Lugosi scholar Rhodes as co-author, and a foreword by 90-something Schnitzer, who worked with Lugosi at Monogram Studios during the 1940s, No Traveler Returns is a valuable history lesson. For decades it’s been said that Bela was unemployable for most of the late 1940s until his death in 1956. This book sets the record straight. “While Hollywood may have tossed the actor aside, live theater remained an open door for him. Authors Rhodes and Kaffenberger trace Bela’s path through those postwar years up until 1951, when Lugosi was still able to earn a living, appearing not only in revivals of Dracula but in original plays performed in big-city houses. The book in fact derives its title from a same-named play which starred Lugosi in the immediate aftermath of his collapsed Hollywood career. The play was not well received at the time, but it now sounds like the kind of fun thriller that makes Lugosi fans drool. “With admirable meticulousness, the authors trace every step Bela took during those years. Just about every theater he appeared in, from major venues like the Curran in San Francisco to summer stock productions, is fully documented, complete with original publicity photographs, newspaper clippings, and a wealth of jaw-dropping behind-the-scenes information. Rhodes and Kaffenberger have done their homework. Through it all, an impressive portrait of Bela Lugosi is painted. “He was an actor who loved his craft and took his work very seriously. Whether he was appearing in a B-grade melodrama, another revival of Dracula, or in a classical theater piece, he gave his all. As the authors point out, this was a man in his mid-to-late 60s, maintaining a hectic tour schedule that would have exhausted most people, including those much younger than himself. Your respect for Lugosi, both as an actor and a man, can only grow after reading how hard he worked. “Most movingly, the book concludes with a few words from Bela Lugosi, Jr., the actor’s son, who spent those years in a military academy. It’s quite touching to read his newfound understanding as to why his parents left him behind during that period of his young life. They went where they had to go in order to provide for him. “One can only hope that, wherever in the universe his spirit might be, Bela Sr. knows how well remembered, loved and respected he is.” --David-Elijah Nahmod for VideoScope

No Traveler Returns: The Lost Years of Bela Lugosi

Few movies in film history have resonated with audiences as deeply and for as many years as Universal's original 1931 version of Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi as the vampire count. Filmmaker and film historian Gary D. Rhodes brings years of research to fruition, providing conclusive answers to everything you ever wanted to know this iconic film. Overflowing with newly unearthed information and fresh analysis, and fully illustrated, Tod Browning's Dracula is one of the most in-depth books ever published on a single film. Tod Browning's Dracula by Gary D. Rhodes is the first in a collectible series of books on the world's most iconic, classic horror films. -- Gary D. Rhodes

Tod Browning's Dracula

The 1932 horror film White Zombie starring Bela Lugosi has received controversial attention from film reviewers and scholars—but it is unarguably a cult classic worthy of study. This book analyzes the film text from nearly every possible viewpoint, using both academic and popular film theories. Also supplied is an extensive intellectual history of the predecessor works to White Zombie, as well as information on the significance it carried for subsequent books and films, its theatrical release around the country, its modern cultural influence, and the attempts to restore the film to its original state. Other noteworthy features of this work include an in-depth biography of White Zombie director Victor Halperin, the first complete study of his life and career, and 244 images and photographs.

Seventeen essays examine the career and films of director Stanley Kubrick from a variety of perspectives. Part I focuses on his early career, including his first newsreels, his photography for Look magazine, and his earliest films (Fear and Desire, Killer’s Kiss). Part II examines his major or most popular films (Paths of Glory, The Shining, 2001: A Space Odyssey). Part III provides a thorough case study of Eyes Wide Shut, with four very different essays focusing on the film’s use of sound, its representation of gender, its carnivalesque qualities, and its phenomenological nature. Finally, Part IV discusses Kubrick’s ongoing legacy and his impact on contemporary filmmakers. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Essays on His Films and Legacy

Stanley Kubrick

Best Film Book - The Phantom's Annual "B"wards 2017 With trowel and brush in hand, noted film archaeologist Gary D. Rhodes excavates the cinematic sepulcher of Ed Wood's unproduced scripts for Bela Lugosi, The Vampire's Tomb and The Ghoul Goes West. Joining Rhodes on the expedition are pith-helmeted horror movie expert Tom Weaver, plus Lugosi's original biographer Robert Cremer. These Raiders of the Lost Archives dig deep into the desert of unfilmed films, unearthing all manner of previously unknown artifacts and unseen relics. Ed Wood and the Lost Lugosi Screenplays puts these treasures on exhibit for the very first time. "Ed Wood would shout, 'Perfect!' if he saw this book. An amazing collection of unproduced work from the low budget maestro, lovingly curated and explained. Worth buying for the intros alone. These guys know their stuff." – Larry Karaszewski, screenwriter of Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994) "Hot on the heels of Gary D. Rhodes’ Bride of the Monster script book comes Ed Wood and the Lost Lugosi Screenplays. Delving into the most mythical aspects of the Wood saga, this book examines the facts and mysteries of these unproduced works. Essential for genre enthusiasts." – Jan Alan Henderson, author of Speeding Bullet, The Legendary Lydecker Brothers, and Crypt 39 – a Novel "Gary D. Rhodes, a living breathing encyclopedia of all things Bela Lugosi, now takes us into 'what might have been' territory ... Rhodes' research is, as always, impressively meticulous. How does he find some of this stuff?" – David-Elijah Nahmod, journalist and film critic "Anyone interested in film production history will find this book fascinating. Those who seek insights into the intriguing lives of Ed Wood and Bela Lugosi will be doubly rewarded. But I'm thinking right now of the number of readers who are increasingly interested in screenplay origins, screenplay histories: for that growing number of readers this book will prove to be a true gem!" – Graeme Harper, Dean of the Honors College, Oakland University, Michigan "It is an intriguing work of literary-filmic archeology. In London After Midnight: A New Reconstruction Based on Contemporary Sources, Mann offers a reconstruction based on his transcription of a rediscovered 11,000-word fictionalization of the film published in Boy’s Cinema, an English publication, a year after the film was released. Mann’s detailed comparison of surviving sources sheds new light on various “unsettling” aspects of the film, like the discovery of a second murder victim, a plot element not in the final film. Mann’s transcription of the story is included in the new book." - Thomas Gladysz, The Huffington Post

Seventeen essays examine the career and films of director Stanley Kubrick from a variety of perspectives. Part I focuses on his early career, including his first newsreels, his photography for Look magazine, and his earliest films (Fear and Desire, Killer's Kiss). Part II examines his major or most popular films (Paths of Glory, The Shining, 2001: A Space Odyssey). Part III provides a thorough case study of Eyes Wide Shut, with four very different essays focusing on the film's use of sound, its representation of gender, its carnivalesque qualities, and its phenomenological nature. Finally, Part IV discusses Kubrick's ongoing legacy and his impact on contemporary filmmakers.

Michael Lee

David Colton

Cross and wooden stake in hand, Dr. Gary D. Rhodes re-enters the sepulcher of supernatural cinema, casting his lantern's light on Universal’s 1936 classic Dracula’s Daughter. With fellow tomb raiders Tom Weaver and Michael Lee, he discovers long-forgotten lore, presented herein with the film’s original shooting script, pressbook and a large array of other freshly exhumed extras. "A comprehensive tribute to one of Hollywood's classic horror films. My grandmother, Gloria Holden, was a legend in her time, and would have been so very proud.” – Laurie Holden, costar of The Walking Dead “As he always does (better than anyone), Gary D. Rhodes chronicles the convoluted history of the film (how the budget grew while still having the look of a “B” film; how Bela Lugosi came and went in the cast – but still had to be paid), and why it took two years to finally get produced. Bravo, Gary. There is a reason your film scholarship is lauded everywhere. Dracula’s Daughter is another feather in your cap!” – Richard Klemensen, editor of Little Shoppe of Horrors magazine “Rhodes' coverage of this classic production and the endless minutiae with which he showers readers and fans are a credit to this book yet typical of Rhodes' acumen as a film scholar historian. His attention to detail opens floodgates for scholars and academics engaged in theory who rely on the sort of archival work that Rhodes makes appear effortless. Buy two copies of this volume – for one the shelf, and the other for notations, research, dog-earing, and pleasure-reading.” – John Edgar Browning, Ph.D., coauthor of Dracula in Visual Media and editor of The Forgotten Writings of Bram Stoker "Everything you could possibly want to know about the making of Dracula’s Daughter, and the long process that led to its production, can be found in this definitive volume. Rhodes provides a fascinating account of how the seemingly obvious idea of a sequel to Dracula became a drawn-out process. It involved changing regimes at Universal Pictures, several top screenwriters, and Bela Lugosi, who at one time was set to appear in the film. Tom Weaver adds pages of trivia notes—some less trivial than others—and Michael Lee contributes an erudite discussion of the music score and its evolution. The book also includes several unused treatments (by John L. Balderston, Kurt Neumann, and R.C. Sheriff), a facsimile of Zacherle’s television send-up of the picture, and much of the original Universal pressbook. This is a cornucopia of goodies for any horror movie buff. The highest compliment I can offer is that it made me want to watch Dracula’s Daughter again…which I intend to do." - Leonard Maltin "The Scripts from the Crypt gang strikes again with another exhaustively researched, generously illustrated and entertainingly written winner." - VideoScope Holy flashback – where are my Garbage Pail Kids and Nintendo? I felt like it was 1990 all over again when I received the newest book in BearManor’s Scripts from the Crypt series and it turned out to be Dracula’s Daughter (BearManor Media, hardcover $34.95 / softcover $24.95). The reason for my flashback: To date, the Scripts from the Crypt series has concentrated on 1950s schlock (The Hideous Sun Demon, Indestructible Man, Bride of the Gorilla, Bride of the Monster, more), so holding a new volume on a classic 1930s Universal gave me a déjà vu moment: I was back in the late 80s-early 90s when individual books on the monster flicks of Universal’s Golden Age were being cranked out hot and heavy (cold and clammy?) by MagicImage author Gregory Mank. Dracula’s Daughter wasn’t part of the MagicImage collection, but now that gap has been filled by Gary D. Rhodes. His 42-page essay on the making of this movie begins by charting the history of some of the vampire (and “vamp”) movies of the silent era and then tackles the convoluted story of the on-again off-again process of planning and making Dracula’s Daughter. Multiple writers, multiple scripts, multiple directors (including James Whale) attached to the project, Bela Lugosi coming and going from the proposed cast, the 1930s Horror Ban looming, Universal on the verge of being sold – the tale is as intricate as one of Castle Dracula’s most ornate spider webs, but Rhodes slow-walks us through it and backs everything up with quotes from Universal memos, trade paper announcements, etc. A premier horror historian, Rhodes is in good form here, as always. Scripts from the Crypt curator Tom Weaver weighs in with 29 pages of “Fun Facts,” each item separated by clip art of a bat. Many are interesting, some are arcane (the make and model of the foreign car driven by Marguerite Churchill’s character!). The best part might be a series of factoids about Gloria Holden, who plays the title role. It appears that the lady was quite age-conscious: She had a son in the early 1920s but in later years, apparently embarrassed by this giveaway as to her age, passed him off in Hollywood as her brother! In the 40s, she married a man young enough to BE her son (he died only a few years ago), and may have kept her true age from him. Holden lied about her age her whole long life and even afterwards: On her grave marker, her birth year is 1917 (which would make her a teenager in Dracula’s Daughter). That’s shaving off quite a number of years, as she was actually born around the turn of the twentieth century. Some of my favorite photos are in the “Fun Facts” part of the book, including a delightful one of Nan Grey – no, not as Dracula’s Daughter’s victim Lili, but one taken in 1969, decades after her retirement from the screen. In it, she’s shooting pool with husband Frankie Laine. The reproduced script has a few pages missing (Rhodes acknowledges this), but we get compensation in the form of short sections of early scripts that are nothing like the eventual movie. One, rather gory and daring for its day, even features Dracula (the role that, of course, Lugosi would have played). The everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink treatment continues with a chapter on the music, the pressbook, a 1953 treatment titled Carmilla (it would have been Universal’s second “lady vampire” movie—and Marlene Dietrich was considered for the lead) – even the script that John Zacherle used on the night in 1958 when Philadelphia’s WCAU-TV ran Dracula’s Daughter with Zacherle horror-hosting. At about 350 pages (perhaps the thickest Scripts from the Crypt book yet), Dracula’s Daughter tells you everything you ever wanted to know and lots that you didn't know that you wanted to know. (William Holden, nee Bill Beadle, was named after Gloria Holden??) BearManor previously (2009) published a thoroughly dispensable book on Dracula’s Daughter so remember when ordering this one to specify that you want the Gary D. Rhodes Scripts from the Crypt book. You’re in for a bloody good time. -- -- Classic Images

Dracula's Daughter

Although early cinema has long been a key area of research in film studies, the origin and development of the horror film has been a neglected subject for what is arguably one of the world's most popular film genres. Using thousands of primary sources and long-unseen illustrations, The Birth of the American Horror Film examines a history that begins in colonial Salem, taking an interdisciplinary approach to explore the influence of horror-themed literature, theatre and visual culture in America, and how that context established an amorphous structural foundation for films produced between 1895 and 1915. Exhaustively researched, bridging scholarship on Horror Studies and Early Cinema, The Birth of the American Horror Film is the first major study dedicated to this vital but often overlooked subject.

The Birth of the American Horror Film

Drive-in movie theaters and the horror films shown at them during the 1950s, 60s, and early 70s may be somewhat outdated, but they continue to enthrall movie buffs today. More than just fodder for the satirical cannons of Joe Bob Briggs and Mystery Science Theatre 3000, they appeal to knowledgeable fans and film scholars who understand their influence on American popular culture. This book is a collection of eighteen essays by various scholars on the classic drive-in horror film experience. Those in Section One emphasize the roles of the drive-in theater in the United States—and its cultural cousin, Australia. Section Two examines how horror operated at the drive-in, the rhetoric used in coming attraction trailers, horror film premieres at drive-ins, double features, and the preproduction, production, and marketing of Last House on the Left. Section Three addresses the effects of the Vietnam War and counter-culture on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the Cold War on Cat Women of the Moon. Section Four explores gender issues and sexuality, two of the most common and most important subjects of horror film analysis. Section Five covers drive-in culture via Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte, 2000 Maniacs, and the films of Mario Bava. Section Six investigates a variety of issues, such as the drive-in horror film’s embrace of DNA, the use of cinematic form to create a non–Hollywood look in Wizard of Gore, and the many different prints and running times of I Drink Your Blood.

Gary D. Rhodes

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