Fun and fright have long been partners in the cinema, dating back to the silent film era and progressing to the Scary Movie franchise and other recent releases. This guide takes a comprehensive look at the comedy-horror movie genre, from the earliest stabs at melding horror and hilarity during the nascent days of silent film, to its full-fledged development with The Bat in 1926, to the Abbott and Costello films pitting the comedy duo against Frankenstein's Monster, the Mummy and other Universal Studio monsters, continuing to such recent cult hits as Shaun of the Dead and Black Sheep. Selected short films such as Tim Burton's Frankenweenie are also covered. Photos and promotional posters, interviews with actors and a filmography are included.
1974 was a busy year for Mel Brooks. Although still recovering after a series of failed projects threatened his career, he pulled off a one-two punch that saw the release of two of the most beloved American comedies ever made: Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. Although both films are well-known, the stories beyond the making of each movie are less so. How did they come to be, and how did the era’s culture and politics not only permit them to be made, but help them to become enduring comedy classics? With their riotous parodies of Westerns and classic horror movies, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein were not only hilarious. They played with charged social and cultural themes in an inimitable way, raising the bar for modern comedies even as they reshaped the two genres they were sending up. Blazing Saddles Meets Young Frankenstein: The 50th Anniversary of the Year of Mel Brooks explores in depth the zeitgeist and cinematic alchemy that led to 1974 becoming “the year of Mel Brooks.”
The name of Hammer has long been synonymous with horror, but the legendary British film company was also responsible for some of the best fantasy and science fiction films made in the UK. From the terrors of The Quatermass Xperiment through the prehistoric menace of One Million Years BC to the prophetic satire of Moon Zero Two, Hammer put every bit as much style and creativity (and more money) into its fantasy features as it did into its Gothic horrors. In Hammer Fantasy & Sci-Fi, Bruce G Hallenbeck explores the history of Hammer s many ventures into science-fantasy, setting them in the context of the genre as a whole and providing the reader with a wealth of intriguing background detail, as well as dozens of rare photos from private collections.Foreword by Martine Beswick.
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1974 was a busy year for Mel Brooks. Although still recovering after a series of failed projects threatened his career, he pulled off a one-two punch that saw the release of two of the most beloved American comedies ever made: Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. Although both films are well-known, the stories beyond the making of each movie are less so. How did they come to be, and how did the era’s culture and politics not only permit them to be made, but help them to become enduring comedy classics? With their riotous parodies of Westerns and classic horror movies, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein were not only hilarious. They played with charged social and cultural themes in an inimitable way, raising the bar for modern comedies even as they reshaped the two genres they were sending up. Blazing Saddles Meets Young Frankenstein: The 50th Anniversary of the Year of Mel Brooks explores in depth the zeitgeist and cinematic alchemy that led to 1974 becoming “the year of Mel Brooks.”
Fun and fright have long been partners in the cinema, dating back to the silent film era and progressing to the Scary Movie franchise and other recent releases. This guide takes a comprehensive look at the comedy-horror movie genre, from the earliest stabs at melding horror and hilarity during the nascent days of silent film, to its full-fledged development with The Bat in 1926, to the Abbott and Costello films pitting the comedy duo against Frankenstein's Monster, the Mummy and other Universal Studio monsters, continuing to such recent cult hits as Shaun of the Dead and Black Sheep. Selected short films such as Tim Burton's Frankenweenie are also covered. Photos and promotional posters, interviews with actors and a filmography are included.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Amicus Films was one of the main rivals to Hammer in the horror stakes. But rather than copy the castles and cobwebs of Hammer Gothic, Amicus carved out a niche for itself by producing a series of 'portmanteau' or anthology films, which encased a handful of short horror stories within a 'wraparound' narrative. Bruce Hallenbeck examines the history of the anthology film as well as providing a detailed run-down of the significant contribution that Amicus made to this unique sub-genre of horror cinema.
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