Horror Film and Psychoanalysis
Freud's Worst Nightmare

This volume explores the subject of psychoanalysis and film.

Steven Jay Schneider (Edited by)

9780521107853, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 29 January 2009

320 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.47 kg

Review of the hardback: 'This superb collection offers its readers a roller-coaster ride through contemporary film theory and the question of horror. Psychoanalysis is the central issue for many contributors, with essays exploring not only its place in relation to the Gothic Imagination at the heart of horror but also its consequent role in both forming and analysing the horror film. Sparks fly across the pages as the philosophical and epistemological premises of theories of horror are themselves subjected to analysis and evaluation as well as, in some cases, rejection. All the while the horror film, in all its gory glory, both uncanny and irrepressible, remains centre stage throughout the wide-ranging discussions and analyses of films from Nosferatu to Scream. The essays in The Horror Film and Psychoanalysis: Freud's Worst Nightmares are exemplary philosophical and aesthetic discussions, their complex and subtle arguments are both challenging and thought-provoking.' Elizabeth Cowie, University of Kent, Canterbury

Psychoanalytic theory has been the subject of attacks from philosophers, cultural critics and scientists who have questioned the cogency of its reasoning as well as the soundness of its premises. Nevertheless, when used to shed light on horror cinema, psychoanalysis in its various forms has proven to be a fruitful and provocative interpretative tool. This volume seeks to find the proper place of psychoanalytic thought in critical discussion of cinema in a series of essays that debate its legitimacy, utility and validity as applied to the horror genre. It distinguishes itself from previous work in this area through the self-consciousness with which psychoanalytic concepts are employed and the theorization that coexists with interpretations of particular horror films and subgenres.

Preface: what lies beneath? Robin Wood
Introduction: Psychoanalysis in/and/of the horror film Steven Jay Schneider
Part I. The Question of Horror-Pleasure: 1. 'What's the matter with Melanie?': reflections on the merits of psychoanalytic approaches to modern horror cinema Cosimo Urbano
2. A fun night out: horror and other pleasures of the cinema Michael Levine
3. Excerpt from 'Why Horror? The New Pleasures of a Popular Genre' (with a new afterword by the author) Andrew Tudor
4. Philosophical problems concerning the concept of pleasure for future psychoanalytical theories of (the horror) film Malcolm Turvey
Part II. Theorizing the Uncanny: 5. Explaining the uncanny in The Double Life of Véronique Cynthia Freeland
6. Manifestations of the literary double in modern horror cinema Steven Jay Schneider
7. Heimlich maneuvers: on a certain tendency of horror and speculative cinema Harvey Roy Greenberg
8. 'It was a dark and stormy night …': horror films and the problem of irony Jonathan L. Crane
Part III. Representing Psychoanalysis: 9. 'What does Dr. Judd want?': transformation, transference and divided selves in Cat People William Paul
10. 'Ultimate formlessness': cinema, horror, and the limits of meaning Michael Grant
11. Freud's worst nightmare: dining with Dr Hannibal Lecter Barbara Creed
Part IV. New Directions: 12. Doing things with theory: from Freud's worst nightmares to (disciplinary) dreams of horror's cultural value Matt Hills
13. The darker side of genius: the (horror) auteur meets Freud's theory Linda Badley
14. Violence and psychophysiology in horror cinema Stephen Prince
Afterword: psychoanalysis and the horror film Noël Carroll.

Subject Areas: Films, cinema [APF]