Becoming Nosferatu

<p>We all have fond memories of movie screenings that ignited our interests and shaped our tastes. With so much in cinema history to celebrate there's something about German Expressionist films that connects to our dreams and nightmares. Written by specialists in horror science fiction/fantasy and noir this book's stories and poems indicate a love of silent German horror films and the creativity they kindle. In addition to F.W. Murnau's classic vampire film the text salutes a variety of works in the <em>Nosferatu </em>tradition.</p><p></p><p><strong>Reviews</strong></p><p><em>The editors ... have not only given us an insightful tribute to all that's gone before but also opened the door to reconsider these great horror films and see them in a new and inspirational light.</em></p><p>-C. Courtney Joyner Writer-Director of <em>Lurking Fear </em>(1994)</p><p></p><p><em>An entertainingly eclectic and often electric collection of short fiction and poems that reflect the German film industry its makers and celluloid fantasy characters between the horrors of World Wars. Hard to pick favorites here all offer delights. Recommended!</em></p><p>-Mark Redfield writer director and star of <em>The Death of Poe </em>(2004)</p><p></p><p>The collection opens on a long shot. The protagonist of Susan Hammerman's A New You is a midlifer in crisis seeking a reset at a spa promoting skin-deep rejuvenation. The outside chance that another reset is underway and that she is in fact fulfilling while under hypnosis her death wish to get even fits the projection dynamic of Doctor Caligari and his inner avenger Cesar. Although no German name or frame is given in the story the spa is after all in Los Angeles where the refugees from the equation Kracauer drew between Caligari and Hitler faced another version of the problem they thought they had left behind. The closing story Totenkopf by Gary D. Rhodes is a direct hit and in the splinters scattered across the environs of Berlin we encounter all the figments and figures of German horror cinema fictional and historical dead and alive made in Babelsberg and made in Hollywood. That the protagonist in charge of this projection is a Hollywood private eye fits the collection's bicoastal dynamic -- in which the other Coast is of course Germany.</p><p>-Laurence A. Rickels author of <em>The Case of California</em> and <em>The Vampire Lectures</em></p><p></p><p>Featuring stories by Steve Berman Stephen R. Bissette Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Jeffrey Ford Donald F. Glut Argyle Goolsby Robert Guffey Susan Hammerman Alexandra Heller-Nicholas J. D. Horn Tingting Hu Pedro Iniguez Martyn Pedler Ana Teresa Pereira Charles Rammelkamp Andy Rausch Gary D. Rhodes Jayaprakash Satyamurthy Cynthia L. Shepard Gregory Shepard Michael L. Shuman Robert Singer Matthew Sorrento John Talbird George Toles J. M. Tyree Robb T. White</p><p></p><p></p><p></p>