The Vampire Cinema

by David Pirie

First Edition bound in red cloth. Illustrated through-out. A fine copy in near fine dust jacket. DJ has light wear at the upper edge of the front panel.

176 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

David Pirie was a journalist and film critic before he became a screenwriter. Just a few of his numerous credits are the BAFTA nominated adaptation for the BBC of The Woman in White and his collaboration with Lars Von Trier on the script of the Oscar nominated film Breaking the Waves. David Pirie lives in Somerset.

Reviews

[EmBe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Großformatiger Band. Sieht mit dem Cover (siehe andere Editionen) selbst wie ein Kultobjekt aus. Ist reich bebildert, das ist das eine große Plus des Buches. Das andere ist dass man viel über Vampir-Filme erfährt, die nur den Spezialistien bekannt sind. Die Entwicklung, die der Titel schon thematisiert, ist der Zeitgeschichte geschuldet. Vampirfilme werden von der Zeit geprägt, auch wenn sich Autoren-Filmer wie Jean Rollin sich dieses Genres annehmen. "Nosferatu" von Werner Herzog ist nicht mehr aufgenommen worden. Mitte der siebziger Jahre endet der Überblick.

[Mark Leeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A seminal work that describes the changes seen in the portrayal of Dracula snd vampires throughout cinematic history (up until the mid 1970s). The real strength of the book is how it contextualises those changes in relation to changes and events in wider society. The link between vampirism and sex is explored to great effect, illustrating how changing wider societal attitudes enabled film makers to continually push boundaries (or was it the other way round, or maybe a bit of both?). Similarly, the acts of violence within (and futility of) modern wars (e.g. Vietnam) are explored in relation to films such as Night of the Living Dead, exploring themes such as ‘who are the real monsters’? Us or them? The latter sections of the book move away from US/UK horror movies to explore Latin horror, including Jean Rollin, Jess Franco and Mario Bava. Of course, when the book was published (mid 1970s) these were current film makers. But were struggling (along with many others) to attract a popular audience. The book concludes that maybe the modern audience has grown tired of vampires? Perhaps they are no longer relevant to modern society? We await their popular return…

[S117 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The text is a tad dated and a bit flat, beautiful images though.