Texas Film and Media Studies Series: The Dread of Difference

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An undying procession of sons of Dracula and daughters of darkness has animated the horror film genre from the beginning. In this pioneering exploration of the cinema of fear, Barry Keith Grant and twenty other film critics argue that horror is deeply rooted in gender, particularly in anxieties about sexual difference and gender politics. The book opens with influential theoretical works by Linda Williams, Carol J. Clover, and Barbara Creed. Subsequent essays examine the genre's history, from classics like King Kong and Bride of Frankenstein to more recent films such as Fatal Attraction and Bram Stoker's Dracula. Topics include the contributions of horror auteurs like David Cronenberg, Dario Argento, and George Romero; the Aliens trilogy; and the significance of gender in horror marketing and reception. Contributors such as Vera Dika, Thomas Doherty, Lucy Fischer, and others employ a range of critical methods, from psychoanalysis to feminism and postmodernism, balancing theoretical insights with close film analyses. The Dread of Difference illustrates that horror is not a uniformly masculine discourse; these essays reveal that horror films address patriarchy's fear of the feminine while also offering feminist critique and pleasure.