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The Most Dangerous Cinema: People Hunting People on Film
People hunting people for sport--an idea both shocking and fascinating. In 1924 Richard Connell published a short story that introduced this concept to the world, where it has remained ever since--as evidenced by the many big- and small-screen adaptations and inspirations. Since its publication, Connell's award-winning "The Most Dangerous Game" has been continuously anthologized and studied in classrooms throughout America. Raising questions about the nature of violence and cruelty, and the ethics of hunting for sport, the thrilling story spawned a new cinematic subgenre, beginning with RKO's 1932 production of The Most Dangerous Game , and continuing right up to today. This book examines in-depth all the cinematic adaptations of the iconic short story. Each film chapter has a synopsis, a "How Dangerous Is It?" critique, an overall analysis, a production history, and credits. Five additional chapters address direct to video, television, game shows, and almost "dangerous" productions. Photographs, extensive notes, bibliography and index are included.
296 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
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About the author
Bryan Senn
19 books9 followersBryan Senn's work has appeared in Filmfax, Cult Movies, Shivers, Midnight Marquee Press and Monsters from the Vault. The author of numerous books on the history of cinema, he lives in Montana.
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October 18, 2014
Sometimes you come across a book and the idea behind it is so simple that you're convinced there must have been dozens of similar ones before it but - no, nay, never - it is indeed the first of its kind.
The Most Dangerous Cinema is one such example. It gives a run-down of all the movies and TV episodes that adapted or were "inspired" by Richard Connell's short story The Most Dangerous Game about a Big Game Hunter using humans as targets.
That concept has been used so many times since the first adaptation from 1932, however, my buddy Bryan Senn is the first to have tackled that sub-genre in book form.
He mainly focuses in-depth on films where hunting humans is done for sport but in subsequent chapters (and somewhat shorter reviews) also looks at movies with a different human hunting motivation (THE NAKED PREY), hunting humans as a game show (RUNNING MAN) or Aliens hunting humans (PREDATOR) as well as a range of other similar concepts and individual episodes of TV shows (e.g. Star Trek's THE SQUIRE OF GOTHOS).
The controversial German TV movie MILLIONENSPIEL from the 1960s is somehow overlooked but all in all this appears to be an otherwise complete overview over a very entertaining sub-genre that has recently become popular again with THE HUNGER GAMES.
I was also able to assist Bryan with the writing in a small capacity by providing a review for French flick COPLAN SAUVE SA PEAU, a film that had not become available for him.
The Most Dangerous Cinema is one such example. It gives a run-down of all the movies and TV episodes that adapted or were "inspired" by Richard Connell's short story The Most Dangerous Game about a Big Game Hunter using humans as targets.
That concept has been used so many times since the first adaptation from 1932, however, my buddy Bryan Senn is the first to have tackled that sub-genre in book form.
He mainly focuses in-depth on films where hunting humans is done for sport but in subsequent chapters (and somewhat shorter reviews) also looks at movies with a different human hunting motivation (THE NAKED PREY), hunting humans as a game show (RUNNING MAN) or Aliens hunting humans (PREDATOR) as well as a range of other similar concepts and individual episodes of TV shows (e.g. Star Trek's THE SQUIRE OF GOTHOS).
The controversial German TV movie MILLIONENSPIEL from the 1960s is somehow overlooked but all in all this appears to be an otherwise complete overview over a very entertaining sub-genre that has recently become popular again with THE HUNGER GAMES.
I was also able to assist Bryan with the writing in a small capacity by providing a review for French flick COPLAN SAUVE SA PEAU, a film that had not become available for him.
Displaying 1 of 1 review