Recreational Terror by Isabel Cristina Pinedo

Final Destination is loaded with scare tactics that closely resemble the characteristics described by Pinedo. While the movie does not apply to all four elements, the characteristics of the three present are strong enough to allow the film to still be considered a horror film. The movie Final Destination (2000) is a more recent horror film that consists of three out of four of Pinedo’s elements. Today’s successful films constitute a violent disruption of the everyday world, transgress and violate boundaries, throw into question the validity of rationality, and repudiate narrative closure. Horror movies date back all the way to the 1890’s so what is it exactly that keeps viewers wanting more? According to Isabel Cristina Pinedo, there are four key elements to the success of the contemporary horror film. Her insistence on contextualizing both the films and what has been said about them by reviewers and film critics and theorists is consistent with the best work now being done by social scientists, historians, literary scholars, and students of film.' - Michael E.Characteristics of the Postmodern Horror Film In our world today, box offices are flooded with giddy teenagers seeking a thrill from horror movies.

She makes distinctions that are neither obvious nor trivial, and 'reads' these films as texts with the sophistication of someone whose interdisciplinary background includes film studies, sociology, and psychoanalysis. 'Pinedo has seen some 600 films, and the wealth of this experience is reflected in the book. Bathrick, Professor Emeritus, Hunter College Through an examination of this contradictory and complex dynamic we are persuaded to look again at the horror film and ourselves.' -Serafina K. Pinedo also persuades us to look at how subversive elements of female subjectivity-within specific films and within contemporary audiences-have informed the genre and its reception. With enthusiastic attention to detail, her work uncovers an irrational world where the mutilated female body is the site of a collapsed social order that viewers recognize and fear. In an original contribution to genre/audience study, the author focuses on an important shift in narrative structure and devices within the postmodern horror film. 'For those who are disgusted by and afraid to look at this 'disreputable' genre, Pinedo explains why, and for fans, she provides critical attention to the fears we bring to this bloody spectacle. Chancer, Sociology, Barnard College, Columbia University Her excellent book is remarkably readable and yet sophisticated, written well enough to satisfy both general readers and film theory aficionados.' - Lynn S. 'Isabel Pinedo's Recreational Terror provides a superb analysis not only of women's greater agency within and outside the horror genre, but also of why people enjoy horror films in general.

Recreational Terror by Isabel Cristina Pinedo