
Games of Terror
Halloween, Friday the 13th and the Films of the Stalker Cycle
Vera Dika(Author)
University of Wales Press
Published on 15. May 2025
Book
Hardback
272 pages
978-1-83772-258-7 (ISBN)
Description
This is a historical and structural study of the Stalker Film. As a subcategory of the more general Slasher Film, the Stalker Film is often characterised by an off-screen presence that dominates the visual field, and by a recuring combination of character and plot functions. The Stalker Film responds to an ongoing cultural conflict narrativised as the fight to protect self and community, and does so within a specific 1978-81 historical period. As a postmodern work, the surface material of the Stalker Film alludes to past and ongoing cultural forms, to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, for example, to the theories of Sigmund Freud, or even to Laura Mulvey on the male gaze. These forms are not used to enlighten but are exploited to maximum visceral effect. Positioned at the rise of the Reagan era, the Stalker Film questions the Horror Film genre and engages a mass audience response.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Wales
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Laminated cover
Illustrations
Not illustrated
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 138 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
417 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-83772-258-7 (9781837722587)
DOI
10.1234/b11932
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
05/2025
1st Edition
University of Wales Press
€33.99
Available for download
Person
Vera Dika has taught at UCLA, USC, NYU, and Universit Iuav di Venezia. She is currently Visiting Associate Professor of Cinema Studies at Pratt Institute, and Editor-in Chief of Quarterly Review of Film and Video.
Content
Acknowledgements
Foreword
The Pressure of a Name: Slashers, Stalkers, Semantics
Preface
The Stalker Film and Repeatability
Games of Terror: Halloween, Friday the 13th and the Films of the Stalker Cycle
Introduction: Methods for Classification and Analysis
Halloween: The Beginning of the Stalker Cycle
Paradigms: The Basic Elements of the Stalker Formula
The Most Successful Recombinations: Friday the 13th and Friday the 13th Part 2
The Films of the Stalker Cycle
Conclusion: A Psychological and Sociological Evaluation
Selected Writings on the Stalker Film
An Introduction to the Selected Writings on the Stalker Film
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
To Destroy the Sign
Endnotes
Bibliography
Foreword
The Pressure of a Name: Slashers, Stalkers, Semantics
Preface
The Stalker Film and Repeatability
Games of Terror: Halloween, Friday the 13th and the Films of the Stalker Cycle
Introduction: Methods for Classification and Analysis
Halloween: The Beginning of the Stalker Cycle
Paradigms: The Basic Elements of the Stalker Formula
The Most Successful Recombinations: Friday the 13th and Friday the 13th Part 2
The Films of the Stalker Cycle
Conclusion: A Psychological and Sociological Evaluation
Selected Writings on the Stalker Film
An Introduction to the Selected Writings on the Stalker Film
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
To Destroy the Sign
Endnotes
Bibliography