Product Description

Most critical writings on horror films conceptualise woman as victim. Creed challenges this view with a feminist psychoanalytic critique, discussing films such as Alien, I Spit on Your Grave and Psycho.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24118 in Books
• Published on: 1993-09-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

From the Back Cover
In almost all critical writings on the horror film, woman is conceptualised only as victim. In The Monstrous-Feminine Barbara Creed challenges this patriarchal view by arguing that the prototype of all definitions of the monstrous is the female reproductive body. With close reference to a number of classic horror films including the Alien trilogy, The Exorcist and Psycho, Creed analyses the seven 'faces' of the monstrous-feminine that are represented as archaic mother, monstrous,--- womb,vampire, witch, possessed body, monstrous mother and castrator. Her argument that man fears woman as castrator, rather than as castrated, questions not only Freudian theories of sexual difference but existing theories of spectatorship and fetishism, providing a provocative re-reading of classical and contemporary film and theoretical texts of interest to all teachers and students of film, feminist theory and cultural studies.

Customer Reviews

A new look at the horror movie
Creed's book draws on Freudian psychoanalysis to examine the horror film. She performs close textual analysis of key horror films including Carrie, The Exorcist, Psycho and Alien.

This book is sometimes hard to read, and the concepts of psychoanlaysis that she draws on are often dubious. However, some of her arguments regarding the construction of the monstrous feminine in horror in relation to women as mothers, witches, vampires and so on is certainly interesting.

One word of warning to potential readers is that the book, being a decade old, does not consider more recent horror films. Other than that though, this is an indispensable read for anyone interested in the horror genre, or in film studies in general.