Massacred by Mother Nature: Exploring the Natural Horror Film

by Lee Gambin

Lee Gambin examines the extremely popular subgenre of the ecologically themed horror film, or, the natural horror film. Since Alfred Hitchcock gave us The Birds, the natural horror film (where animals or insects cause tremendous damage to the human population) is a much-loved subgenre, but one seldom referenced. This book offers insightful critiques on numerous films such as Them!, Squirm, Orca, The Pack, The Day of the Animals, Prophecy, Tentacles and many more. Over 100 titles are discussed and Gambin thoroughly scrutinizes the social and political impact of these films, dissects fundamental stock standards of this subgenre, as well as offers informative anecdotes relating to the production of these diverse movies. He critiques specific narrative devices and offers an analysis of performance, audience appreciation and filmmaking craft.

Genres: Horror, Nonfiction, Animals, Media Tie In

222 pages, Paperback

First published October 8, 2012

Reviews

[Marcus Carr · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't waste your money on this drivel. Dull, factually inaccurate/erroneous prose and pointless, rambling tangents from one of the most overrated cinema "writers" of all time.

[Mfaiella2 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love the topic, and I appreciate the author's enthusiasm for movies that have often been derided. Unfortunately, this feels like a rough draft. The tone is very casual and sentences get quite sloppy, which gives the whole book an unpleasant air of amateurism. It lacks organization and fails to provide the necessary intro/conclusion/transitions/structure to drive home the key points and keep the reader focused. It often drifts off on tangents that make it hard to follow. Also, it's much too difficult to get a clear picture of each film's merits because everything is "perfect", "beautiful", or a "wonder" followed by several exclamation marks. I'm happy the author loves the subject, but what does any of that mean in the context of film?

You know when you ask a kid a question about something they are obsessed with and their face lights up as they go off trying to explain it to you, completely unable to read that you were just being polite and aren't following them at all, and you are left totally lost, regretting that you showed interest in the first place? That is this book.

[Xiana · Rating 1 out of 5]

No acabo de entender bien la estructura ni la tesis de este libro, más allá de ser un catálogo meramente descriptivo de las películas que le gustan al autor. No hay análisis (ni una sola frase se acerca ni de lejos a ningún tipo de planteamiento crítico antiespecista, a pesar del tema) y la prosa es demasiado coloquial y repetitiva. Me molesta especialmente, además, que siempre califica el físico de las actrices (beautiful, sensual, glamorous) de forma totalmente innecesaria, por no decir otra cosa. Para leer sobre el cine de terror de animales, mucho mejor “Animal Horror Cinema” de 2016.

[David Matte · Rating 1 out of 5]

The horrendously overblown ego of the author has deluded himself that every single word he writes is genius. Whereas in reality his writing is on par with some high school kid rambling on and on about their favourite mediocre pop band for a school assignment. One for the recycling bin. Worthless.

[Molly Baines · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though I had to read this for my horror film class- I actually really enjoyed myself. Don't mess with Mother Nature!