The Good Book Guide has been gentle with me: BRITISH GOTHIC CINEMA Barry Forshaw Vampires, werewolves, meanly lit streets and louring castles, bloody killings and corrupted virgins, a spinetingling combination of horror and eroticism, history and legend, British Gothic cinema casts a long and frightening shadow over modern culture. From classic early Hammer Films, beginning with The Curse of Frankenstein, to modern zombie thrillers typified by Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later or retro ghost stories like Hammer’s recent The Woman in Black, the genre has entertained and terrified generations of cinema-goers. Leading crime fiction and film expert Barry Forshaw turns his attention to Gothic Cinema and its debt to the seminal literature, such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which provided potent inspiration for 20th-century filmmakers. Lively, intriguing and authoritative, this is a fascinating history of a popular genre, enriched with revealing interviews with directors, writers and actors, and enlivened by the author’s enthusiasm for his grisly subject. Palgrave Macmillan 240pp Pb. £16.99
