Modern Ghost Melodramas
'What Lies Beneath'
1st Edition
Will be published approx. on 1. December 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
484 pages
978-1-041-18298-6 (ISBN)
Description
The popular and critical successes of films like The Sixth Sense and The Ring and its sequels in the late 1990s led to an impressive international explosion of scary films dealing with ghosts. This book takes a close look at a number of those films from different countries, including the United States, Japan, South Korea, Spain, and Great Britain. Making a crucial distinction between these atmospheric films and conventional horror, Michael Walker argues that they are most productively seen as ghost melodramas, which opens them up to a powerful range of analytic tools from the study of melodrama, including, crucially, psychoanalysis.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Academic
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Weight
900 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-041-18298-6 (9781041182986)
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
10/2025
Routledge
€60.99
Available for download
E-Book
10/2025
Routledge
€60.99
Available for download
Book
02/2017
Amsterdam University Press
€207.50
Shipment within 10-20 days
Person
Michael Walker is an independent writer and member of the editorial board of Movie magazine.
Content
1. Introduction 2. Three major predecessors 3. The fallow years: an assortment of ghosts SEMINAL FILMS 4. Ghosts in the city 5. Ghosts in the machine 6. Schoolgirl angst 7. Childhood abuse EVOLUTION OF THE CYCLE 8. Generic developments 1: Messages from the dead 9. Spain and history 1: Politics and war 10. Hollywood reinflections 11. Asian variations 12. Generic developments 2: Ghosts in the woman's film 13. Ghosts and institutions 1: South Korea 14. Ghosts and institutions 2: The West 15. National variations 16. Anatomy of the ghost melodrama 17. Spain and history 2: The Franco legacy and the Catholic church 18. Return of the British ghost film 19. Recent US developments and conclusion, Filmography, Bibliography