The Laughing Dead
eBook - ePub

The Laughing Dead

The Horror-Comedy Film from Bride of Frankenstein to Zombieland

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

The Laughing Dead

The Horror-Comedy Film from Bride of Frankenstein to Zombieland

About this book

Hybrid films that straddle more than one genre are not unusual. But when seemingly incongruous genres are mashed together, such as horror and comedy, filmmakers often have to tread carefully to produce a cohesive, satisfying work. Though they date as far back as James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein (1935), horror-comedies have only recently become popular attractions for movie goers.

In The Laughing Dead: The Horror-Comedy Film from Bride of Frankenstein to Zombieland, editors Cynthia J. Miller and A. Bowdoin Van Riper have compiled essays on the comic undead that look at the subgenre from a variety of perspectives. Spanning virtually the entire sound era, this collection considers everything from classics like The Canterville Ghost to modern cult favorites like Shaun of the Dead. Other films discussed include Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Beetlejuice, Ghostbusters, House on Haunted Hill, ParaNorman, Scream, Vampire's Kiss, and Zombieland.

Contributors in this volume consider a wide array of comedic monster films—from heartwarming (The Book of Life) to pitch dark (The Fearless Vampire Killers) and even grotesque (Frankenhooker). The Laughing Dead will be of interest to scholars and fans of both horror and comedy films, as well as those interested in film history and, of course, the proliferation of the undead in popular culture.

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Yes, you can access The Laughing Dead by Cynthia J. Miller,A. Bowdoin Van Riper in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Media & Performing Arts & Film & Video. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Contents
  2. Acknowledgments
  3. Introduction
  4. Part I: Playing with Genre
  5. Chapter 1: “Oy, Have You Got the Wrong Vampire”
  6. Chapter 2: Zany Zombies, Grinning Ghosts, Silly Scientists, and Nasty Nazis
  7. Chapter 3: “The Limeys Are Coming, Barbara, and They’re Laughing!”
  8. Chapter 4: Undead in the City
  9. Chapter 5: Beyond Fear in The Book of Life
  10. Part II: Horror, in Theory
  11. Chapter 6: The Humor of William Castle’s Gimmick Films
  12. Chapter 7: “We’re Not All Dead Yet”
  13. Chapter 8: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
  14. Chapter 9: Humor in Vampire Films
  15. Chapter 10: Queerness and the Undead Female Monster
  16. Chapter 11: Rules for Surviving a Horror Comedy
  17. Part III: There Goes the Neighborhood
  18. Chapter 12: Better Living through Zombies
  19. Chapter 13: “Who You Gonna Call?”
  20. Chapter 14: The Queer and the Dead
  21. Chapter 15: Undead in Suburbia
  22. Chapter 16: Some Assembly Required
  23. About the Contributors
  24. About the Editors