Grande Dame Guignol Cinema: A History of Hag Horror from Baby Jane to Mother

by Peter Shelley

This critically analytical filmography examines 45 movies featuring "grande dames" in horror settings. Following a history of women in horror before 1962's What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? , which launched the "Grande Dame Guignol" subgenre of older women featured as morally ambiguous leading ladies, are all such films (mostly U.S.) that came after that landmark release. The filmographic data includes cast, crew, reviews, synopses, and production notes, as well as recurring motifs and each role's effect on the star's career.

Genres: Nonfiction, Film

340 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2009

Reviews

[Mark Chesnut · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was only about 12 years old the first time I saw "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" on TV, and it simultaneously freaked me out and fascinated me. I've been hooked on what I call "aging actress exploitation movies" ever since. This is the most complete guide I've ever found to this obscure movie genre, and I appreciated the great detail that went into the author's explanation of every film — including a bunch of movies that I wasn't aware of. Peter Shelley has a great comprehension of the genre and this is a must-read reference guide for anyone looking to build up their viewing list of this type of movie.

[Joe Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exhaustive - and sometimes exhausting - history of the ‘hag horror’ genre launched by ‘Whatever Happened to Baby Jane’ in 1962. The success of that Bette Davis/Joan Crawford melodrama inspired other Golden Age Hollywood stars such as Olivia de Haviland to try for comebacks in similar potboilers.
The author goes into so much plot detail in each film that reading the book straight through can be wearing, but this is a good reference tome on a very odd horror sub genre.
Some will argue with the writer’s modern choices (especially the 1980s era thrillers ‘Windows’ & ‘The Fan’ neither of which features washed-up ‘hags’) but the research behind the book is very impressive.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating subject. It's actually amazing how boring the author makes the discussions of such over the top films.