Description:
This book brings together three areas of study that have received consistent academic attention in recent years - affect theory, horror cinema, and performance studies - to make a significant contribution to the study of moving images of mutilation and audience reception.
Review Quotes:
Challenging theories of abjection, complicating cognitivism and recalibrating approaches to identification, this work brilliantly embodies the future of Horror Studies. Xavier Aldana Reyes slashes through received wisdoms: whether tackling New French Extremity, digital found footage, or the multiplex 3D movie, Horror Film and Affect is never less than razor sharp.
--Matt Hills, Professor of Film and TV Studies at Aberystwyth University and author of The Pleasures of Horror (2005)
Aldana Reyes presents a powerful, directly experiential approach to body horror which will have lasting impact on the field of horror film spectatorship. His innovative "affective-corporeal" somatic model considers how the affective encounter with abject images of torture, pain and dismemberment works not just to frighten and repel but to mobilise our emotional empathy.
--Anna Powell, Research Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University and author of Deleuze and Horror Film (2005)
Aldana Reyes' book gathers insightful excursions into the twisted realm of affect and horror cinema, and finally manages to re-evaluate and fuse influential body theories in his courageous and very original genre criticism.
--Marcus Stiglegger, Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of Siegen, Germany, and author of Terrorkino: Angst/Lust und Körperhorror (2010)