What in contemporary cinema is a horror film or a science fiction movie? "Blade Runner" (1982) is as much film-noir as science fiction - and it is a literary adaptation. The remake of "The Mummy" (1999) is more an effects fantasy or action/adventure than a straightforward horror. Whatever your viewpoint, the best of these movies have generated cults and imitations and the worst have a wonderfully perverse appeal all of their own. This volume, part of the Sight and Sound Readers series, provides a diverse overview of trends that have shaped sci-fi/horror since the 1990s. It explores how films like "The Fight Club" and "The Truman Show" have impinged on more traditional territory and have tested the limits of conventional understandings of two central film genres. Topics covered include: vampire movies, body horror, the nuclear "threat", childhood terror, artificial worlds, and postmodern horror. The book also takes a fresh look at such classic movies as "Rosemary's Baby", "Psycho", "Halloween", "Nosferatu" and "Blade Runner", as well as coving 90s highlights such as the "Scream" series, "I know What You Did Last Summer", "Strange Days", "Existenz" and "Cube".

Author Biography

Kim Newman is a novelist, critic and broadcaster. His fiction has been translated into many languages and he is a past recipient of, among others, the Horror Writers of America Bram Stoker Award and the International Horror Critics' Guild Award for Best Novel. He is also the editor of The BFI Companion to Horror.