October is a month of frights and pranks. Check out the latest University of Minnesota Press books: Cutting Edge Art-Horror and the Horrific Avant-garde by Joan Hawkins ³Cutting Edge incisively explores the way in which social anxieties are refracted by horror films. For instance: Was the murderous plastic surgeon in Eyes Without a Face really a metaphor for smoldering French guilt over collaboration with the Nazis? Did the thalidomide scare enhance the appeal of Freaks at the time of its re-release in the 60s? Hawkins is at her strongest when she explores how the historical reception of specific films shook up critics¹ assumptions. Examining the dorky downtown art snobs who dismissed the gross-out humor of Andy Warhol¹s Frankenstein in their efforts to discredit the popularity of its director, Paul Morrissey, Hawkins skewers the art-vs.-pulp mentality.² ‹‹Variety $19.95 Paperback ISBN 0-8166-3414-9 $49.95 Hardcover ISBN 0-8166-3413-0 For more information, visit the book's webpage: http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/H/hawkins_cutting.html Comedy Is a Man in Trouble Slapstick in American Movies by Alan Dale ³This is a selective, appreciative survey of the diverse masters of physical comedy. Rejecting the notion that slapstick necessarily involves pathos, the author deftly combines criticism and biography, offering keen insight and lively prose. This book deserves a place next to Walter Kerr¹s The Silent Clowns and other classics on film comedy.² ‹‹Library Journal $25.95 Hardcover ISBN 0-8166-3657-5 For more information, visit the book's webpage: http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/D/dale_comedy.html These books are available at bookstores and from the University of Minnesota Press at: (773)568-1550 ____________________________________________________________________________ You may post it yourself. You do not have to be a member of Screen-L in order to post to it. Please send it to [log in to unmask] ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite