Japanese Horror Cinema

A much-needed critical introduction to some of the most important Japanese horror films produced over the last fifty years This book provides an insightful examination of the tradition’s most significant trends and themes. It looks at the genre’s dominant aesthetic, cultural, political and technological underpinnings, while individual chapters address key topics such as the debt Japanese horror films owe to various Japanese theatrical and literary traditions; the popular ‘avenging spirit’ motif; the impact of atomic warfare, rapid industrialisation and apocalyptic rhetoric on Japanese visual culture; and the developing relations between Japanese and ‘Western’ horror film tropes and traditions. Extensive coverage of the central thematic concerns and stylistic traits of Japanese horror cinema makes this volume an indispensable text for a myriad of film and cultural studies courses. This new series introduces diverse and fascinating movements in world cinema. Each volume concentrates on a set of films from a different national or regional (in some cases cross-cultural) cinema which constitute a particular tradition.