Horror, The Film Reader brings together key articles to provide a comprehensive resource for students of horror cinema. Mark Jancovich's introduction traces the development of horror film from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari to The Blair Witch Project, and outlines the main critical debates. Combining classic and recent articles, each section explores a central issue of horror film, and features an editor's introduction outlining the context of debates.

General Introduction. Part One: Theorising Horror - Introduction 1. Robin Wood , The American Nightmare: Horror in the 70s 2. Noel Caroll , Why Horror? 3. Andrew Tudor , Why Horror: The Peculiar Pleasures of a Popular Genre Part Two: Gender, Sexuality and the Horror Film - Introduction 4. Linda Williams , When the Woman Looks 5. Barbara Creed , Horror and the Monstrous Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection 6. Carol Clover , Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film 7. Harry M. Benshoff , Introduction: The Monster and the Homosexual Part Three: Producing Horrors - Introduction 8. Paul O'Flinn , Productions and Reproductions: The case of Frankenstein 9. Peter Hutchings , The Problem of Horror 10. Joan Hawkins , Sleaze Mania, Euro-trash and High Art: The Place of European Art Films in American Low Culture Part Four: Consuming Fears - Introduction 11. Rhona Berenstein , Horror for Sale: The Marketing and Reception of Classic Horror Cinema 12. Mark Jancovich , Genre and the Audience: Genre Classification and Cultural Distinctions in the Mediation of The Silence of the Lambs 13. Linda Williams , Learning to Scream 14. Brigid Cherry , Refusing to Look: Female Viewers of the Horror Film. Bibliography