Drawing on extensive material from the Sight and Sound and Monthly Film Bulletin archives, Ghosts is the second in a major new series exploring the history of horror onscreen
Ghosts takes us from the first apparitions in early cinema, through the comical and sad ghosts that tended to proliferate in the decades following, before we reach the truly chilling spectres that have abounded in cinema since the worldwide revival of gothic cinema in the late fifties.
It includes reviews of significant films such as The Innocents, The Woman in Black, Carnival of Souls, Poltergeist, Onibaba, The Orphanage, Sixth Sense, and Ring; plus numerous features and interviews with key directors such as Guillermo del Toro, David Lowery, Jack Clayton, Rose Glass and David Robert Mitchell.
Contents:
Introduction
Spectres of the Past by Roger Clarke
Tellers of Tales by Lisa Kerrigan
A Message from the Other Side by Simon McCallum
Cine-Camera Ghost-Hunting and Buried Alive by Harry Price
Festive Spirits by Bryony Dixon
Chapter 1: Haunted Britain
This Spectred Isle (A Field in England) by Kim Newman
The Gospel of Rose Glass (Saint Maud) by Mike Williams
Look into the Dark (TV horror) by Jonathan Rigby
Endings: Dead of Night by Edward Parnell
Case Study: The Innocents
The Innocents by Penelope Houston
The Haunting of Deborah by Nathalie Morris
Endings: The Innocents by Christopher Frayling
Plus reviews ofFrom Beyond the Grave, Ghostwatch, Saint Maud, The Woman in Black, Ghost Stories, Host, The Innocents, The Turning, The Haunting of Bly Manor
Chapter 2: Haunted America
Bring Back the Cat (The Curse of the Cat People) by Kim Newman
Spiralling Fear (The Haunting) by Brian Yuzna
The Cage of Reason (Sleepy Hollow) by Kim Newman
Tainted Love (It Follows) by Michael Blyth
Ghost Hunter (Crimson Peak) by Mar Diestro-Dópido
Enduring Love (A Ghost Story) by Philip Concannon
Case Study: The Shining
Dark Mirror: The Cinema of Stephen King by Roger Luckhurst
The Overlook Hotel by Paul Mayersberg
Resident Phantoms by Jonathan Romney
Plus reviews of Carnival of Souls, The Haunting (1963), Poltergeist, The Gate, Lady in White, Jacob’s Ladder, Candyman, The Blair Witch Project, The Sixth Sense, What Lies Beneath, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, Sleepy Hollow, The Amityville Horror, 1408, The Innkeepers, It Follows, Crimson Peak, A Ghost Story, The Shining, Doctor Sleep
Chapter 3: Haunted World
Desperation and Desire (Don’t Look Now) by Leslie Dick
Work and Play in the House of Fiction (Céline and Julie Go Boating) by Jonathan Rosenbaum
Dread Again (The Others) by Nick James
The Nature of Death (An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge) by Frances Morgan
Case Study: Japanese Ghost Stories
Classical Virtues (Shindō Kaneto) by Alexander Jacoby
Spirit Levels (Dark Water) by Mark Kermode
Endings: Pulse by Matt Turner
Plus reviews of Kill, Baby… Kill!, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, Don’t Look Now, Céline and Julie Go Boating, Possessed, The Others, The Devil’s Backbone, The Eye, A Tale of Two Sisters, The Orphanage, Under the Shadow, Onibaba, House, Ring, Dark Water, The Grudge
