Horror Franchise Cinema (Routledge Advances in Film Studies)

This book explores horror film franchising from a broad range of interdisciplinary perspectives and considers the horror film’s role in the history of franchising and serial fiction. Comprising 12 chapters written by established and emerging scholars in the field, Horror Franchise Cinema redresses critical neglect toward horror film franchising by discussing the forces and factors governing its development across historical and contemporary terrain while also examining text and reception practices. Offering an introduction to the history of horror franchising, the chapters also examine key texts including Universal Studio monster films, Blumhouse production films, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre , A Nightmare on Elm Street , Alien , I Spit on Your Grave , Let the Right One In , Italian zombie films, anthology films, and virtual reality. A significant contribution to studies of horror cinema and film/media franchising from the 1930s to the present day, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of film studies, media and cultural studies, franchise studies, political economy, audience/reception studies, horror studies, fan studies, genre studies, production cultures, and film histories. Introduction: The death and resurrection show: horror franchise cinema and the romanticization of cult / William Proctor and Marc McKenna -- Building imaginary horror worlds: transfictional storytelling and the Universal monster franchise cycle / William Proctor -- Section I: Slasher and post-slashers -- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: a 'peculiar, erratic' franchise / Mark Bernard -- If I were a Carpenter: prestige and authorship in the Halloween franchise / Murray Leeder -- If Nancy doesn't wake up screaming: the Elm Street series as recurring nightmare / Steve Jones -- Allowing 'Us just to LIVE there': atmosphere and audience evaluation of the Alien film series / Kate Egan -- Section II: Millennial franchises -- Cut-price creeps: the Blumhouse model of horror franchise management / Todd Platts -- When the subtext becomes text: the Purge takes on the American nightmare / Stacey Abbott -- Section III: Cult franchises -- "What film is your film like"? negotiating authenticity in the distributive seriality of the Zombi Franchise / Mark McKenna -- Horror heroine or symbolic sacrifice: defining the I spit on your grave franchise as horror / Sarah Cleary -- Section IV: Complicating franchising -- Seriality between the horror franchise and the horror anthology film -- When is a franchise not a franchise: the case of let the right one in / Simon Bacon -- 'A match made in heaven (or hell)': franchise experiments between the horror film genre and virtual reality media (2014-2020) / Sara Thomas Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of figures List of contributors Introduction: The death and resurrection show: horror franchise cinema and the romanticization of cult 1. Building imaginary horror worlds: Transfictional storytelling and the Universal Monster franchise cycle PART I: Slasher and post-slashers 2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A ‘peculiar, erratic’ franchise 3. If I were a carpenter: Prestige and authorship in the Halloween franchise 4. If Nancy doesn’t wake up screaming: The Elm Street series as recurring nightmare 5. Allowing ‘us just to LIVE there’: Atmosphere and audience evaluations of the Alien film series PART II: Millennial franchises 6. Cut-price creeps: The Blumhouse model of horror franchise management 7. When the subtext becomes text: The Purge takes on the American nightmare PART III: Cult franchises 8. ‘What film is your film like’? Negotiating authenticity in the distributive seriality of the Zombi franchise 9. Horror heroine or symbolic sacrifice: Defining the I Spit on Your Grave franchise as horror PART IV: Complicating franchising 10. Seriality between the horror franchise and the horror anthology film 11. When a franchise is not a franchise: The case of Let the Right One In 12. ‘A match made in heaven (or hell)’: Franchise experiments between the horror film genre and virtual reality media (2014–2020) Index "This book explores horror film franchising from a broad range of interdisciplinary perspectives and considers the horror film's role in the history of franchising and serial fiction. Comprising twelve chapters written by established and emerging scholars in the field, Horror Franchise Cinema redresses critical neglect towards horror film franchising by discussing the forces and factors governing its development across historical and contemporary terrain while also examining text and reception practices. Offering an introduction to the history of horror franchising, the chapters also examine key texts including Universal Studio monster films, Blumhouse production films, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Alien, I Spit on Your Grave, Let the Right One In, Italian zombie films, anthology films, and virtual reality. A significant contribution to studies of horror cinema and film/media franchising from the 1930s to present day, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of film studies, media and cultural studies, franchise studies, political economy, audience/reception studies, horror studies, fan studies, genre studies, production cultures, and film histories"-- Provided by publisher