Grand-Guignol Cinema and the Horror Genre

Sinister Tableaux of Dread, Corporeality and the Senses

By: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare

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Hardcover | 14 February 2023

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Hardcover
272 Pages

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22.8 x 15.2 x 2.5

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Grand-Gugignol Cinema and the Horror Genre traces important contributions of the Parisian Grand-Guignol theatre's Golden Age as theoretical considerations of embodiment and affect in the development of horror cinema in the twentieth century. This study traces key components of the Grand-Guignol stage as a means to explore the immersive and corporeal aspects of horror cinema from the sound period to today. The book is a means to explore the Grand-Guignol not only as a historical place and genre, but also, theoretically, as a conceptual framework that opens up an affective mapping of Grand-Guignol attractions in cinema.

This study's restoration of a long Grand-Guignol tradition in cinema makes it a significant contribution to new theorizations of horror. It brings seemingly disparate traditions into conversation, as American, Canadian, French, and Italian cinema are all important sites for thinking through cinematic embodiment. These four countries have developed their own important genres and movements of Grand-Guignol cinema: the slasher, the "French Films of Sensation," Canadian "body horror" and the giallo. The Grand-Guignol famously operated in a dead-end of Chaptal Street, in the Pigalle district of Paris; this study offers affective and corporeal readings that open up new byways beyond the dead-end of psychoanalytic readings that continues to be dominant in horror genre scholarship.

Industry Reviews

"To reckon with the horror film's connections to the Grand Guignol theatre is to refigure our understanding of the horror genre. DeGiglio-Bellemare stages this reckoning with the sort of ambition, enthusiasm and a wide range of references that enrich horror studies. This is a stimulating and provocative book"- Adam Lowenstein, author of Horror Film and Otherness, Professor of English and Film/Media Studies, University of Pittsburgh, USA.

"This is a terrific book. While horror scholars frequently use the term 'Grand-Guignol' as a sort of shorthand - 'Grand-Guignol effects,' or 'Guignol Treatment' - we haven't devoted the time and scholarship to fully unpack the Grand-Guignol's lingering influence and affect in horror cinema. If that were all this book did, that would be enough to make it a necessary addition to the field. But DeGiglio-Bellemare also provides a rich and thick theoretical horror discussion - invoking Bataille, cultural studies, Marx and the rich scholarly history of the field. Well-written and immensely readable, this is a smart, sophisticated, well-conceived book - by a terrific scholar. Belongs on the bookshelf of every horror scholar and horror lover, and definitely belongs on the syllabus" - Joan Hawkins, author of Cutting-Edge: Art-Horror and the Horrific Avant-garde.

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