Affective Intensities and Evolving Horror Forms

Explores theories of cinematic embodiment and affect in relation to horror film

• Examines cutting-edge new media forms of horror through distinct and progressive theoretical lenses
• Integrates theoretical insights from neuroscience into the study of horror media
• Outlines the burgeoning new field of virtual reality cinema, and argues for innovative theoretical approaches to this new modality
• Considers textual works that have had limited scholarly analysis, such as Youtube horror media series and recent found footage films (e.g. the Creep films and #Screamers)

Horror cinema is a genre that is undergoing constant evolution, from the sub-genre of ‘found footage,’ to post-cinematic new media forms such as Youtube horror, horror video games and cinematic virtual reality horror. By investigating how these new forms alter the dynamics of spectatorship, this book charts how cinema’s affective capacities have shifted in relation to these modifications in the forms of cinematic horror. It applies a rich theoretical synthesis of phenomenological and Deleuzian approaches to a number of case studies, including films like The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity and Creep as well as video games such as Alien: Isolation and new media forms such as Youtube horror and virtual reality horror.