Randy Loren Rasmussen's Books

Children of the Night

The Six Archetypal Characters of Classic Horror Films

By: Randy Rasmussen

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Children of the Night

The Six Archetypal Characters of Classic Horror Films

By: Randy Rasmussen

There are six of them: heroines, heroes, wise elders, mad scientists, servants and monsters. One of the most fascinating and also endearing aspects of horror films is how they use these six clearly defined character types to portray good and evil. This was particularly true of the classics of the genre, where actors often appeared in the same type of role in many different films. The development of the archetypal characters reflected the way the genre reacted to social changes of the time. As the Great Depression yielded to the uncertainty of World War II, flawed but noble mad scientists such as Henry Frankenstein gave way to Dr. Nieman (The Ghost of Frankenstein) with his dreams of revenge and world conquest. This work details the development of the six archetypes in horror films and how they were portrayed in the many classics of the 1930s and 1940s.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

278

Publisher

McFarland

Published Date

ISBN 10

0786427256

ISBN 13

9780786427253

Psycho, The Birds and Halloween

The Intimacy of Terror in Three Classic Films

By: Randy Rasmussen

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Psycho, The Birds and Halloween

The Intimacy of Terror in Three Classic Films

By: Randy Rasmussen

Horror films come in a wide variety of styles and subject matter. Three of the most intimate explorations of terror are examined in this study. Intimate in terms of settings (small towns and an isolated motel) and in the emotional links between the characters and the terrors they face. In Psycho, Norman Bates is a darker reflection of his victim Marion Crane and her lover Sam Loomis. They share frustrations, fears and compulsions, albeit at different levels of intensity. In The Birds, Melanie Daniels and her new acquaintances in Bodega Bay share emotional problems which can impel them to act in destructive ways that are echoed, and then overwhelmed by violence from the natural world. Halloween features a monster, Michael Myers, who has more in common with one of his victims, heroine Laurie Strode, than is evident at first glance. Beyond the link between normality and the violently aberrant, all three films give glimpses of emotional intimacy that is threatened and sometimes tragically destroyed by horror.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

221

Publisher

McFarland

Published Date

ISBN 10

0786478837

ISBN 13

9780786478835

Orson Welles

Six Films Analyzed, Scene by Scene

By: Randy Rasmussen

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Orson Welles

Six Films Analyzed, Scene by Scene

By: Randy Rasmussen

Orson Welles, a self-conscious storyteller who often invited his audience to question the methods and veracity of what they see and hear. He was that rare magician who both pulled the wool over our eyes, for our delight, and unravelled the wool before our eyes, encouraging us to ponder the nature of the magic itself. Many of the characters in Welles's movies can also be seen as magicians of a sort, creating impressions intended to manipulate other characters, or even themselves, in one direction or another. But unlike Welles, few of them voluntarily expose their tricks to the scrutiny of their victims. Six major Welles films--Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Lady from Shanghai, Touch of Evil, The Trial, and Chimes at Midnight--receive a scene by scene analysis in this critical study. From a viewer's perspective it illuminates the dramatic rhythms of each film as they unfold on screen and from the soundtrack. Frequent analogies to other movies and pertinent quotations from the impressions of other commentators broaden the text, but always within the scene by scene progression dictated by the film under discussion.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

277

Publisher

McFarland

Published Date

ISBN 10

0786482354

ISBN 13

9780786482351

Stanley Kubrick

Seven Films Analyzed

By: Randy Rasmussen

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Stanley Kubrick

Seven Films Analyzed

By: Randy Rasmussen

Stanley Kubrick had a great talent for creating memorable images--such as his famous jump cut from a bone tossed into the prehistoric sky to a spaceship orbiting the earth in 2001. Like the composer of a great symphony, Kubrick also had the ability to draw his memorable moments into a lyrical whole. Balancing harmony with discord, he kept viewers on edge by constantly shifting relationships among the dramatic elements in his movies. The results often confounded expectations and provoked controversy, right up through Eyes Wide Shut, the last film of his life. This book is an intensive, scene-by-scene analysis of Kubrick's most mature work--seven meticulously wrought films, from Dr. Strangelove to Eyes Wide Shut. In these films, Kubrick dramatized the complexity and mutability of the human struggle, in settings so diverse that some critics have failed to see the common threads. Rasmussen traces those threads and reveals the always shifting, always memorable, always passionately rendered pattern. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

369

Publisher

McFarland

Published Date

ISBN 10

1476613761

ISBN 13

9781476613765

Book's by Randy Loren Rasmussen

Children of the Night

Children of the Night

Psycho, The Birds and Halloween

Psycho, The Birds and Halloween

Orson Welles

Orson Welles

Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick

Username

Password

Username

Password

Password again

Birthday

Email