The stylistic and bloody excesses of the films of Dario Argento are instantly recognizable—his films lock violent deaths in a twisted embrace with an almost sexual beauty. Narrative and logic are often lost in a constant bombardment of atmosphere, technical mastery, and provocative imagery. Setting the tone with earlier gialli films such as The Animal Trilogy and Deep Red, Argento has steadily pushed the boundaries; through his elaborately gothic fairytales Suspiria

From America's most trusted and highly visible film critic, 100 more brilliant essays on the films that define cinematic greatness.Continuing the pitch-perfect critiques begun in The Great Movies, Roger Ebert's The Great Movies II collects 100 additional essays, each one of them a gem of critical appreciation and an amalgam of love, analysis, and history that will send readers back to films with a fresh set of eyes and renewed enthusiasm—or perhap...

“I call this book The Intent to Live because great actors don’t seem to be acting, they seem to be actually living.”–Larry Moss, from the IntroductionWhen Oscar-winning actors Helen Hunt and Hilary Swank accepted their Academy Awards, each credited Larry Moss’s guidance as key to their career-making performances. There is a two-year waiting list for his advanced acting classes. But now everyone–professionals and amateurs alike–can discover Moss’s passionate, in-depth teachin...

Created by the famous Italian graphic artist Guido Crepax, Valentina is one of the most iconic, sexy graphic novel heroines of all time. With her distinctive black bob and demure, reserved exterior, Valentina is the very essence of European sophistication. However, below the surface burns a passionate young woman eager to inhabit another world; a world where she can explore her dark attraction to that which most frightens her. In VALENTINA AND THE MAGIC LANTERN, Crepax takes us deep into t...

A concise guide to playwriting to awaken creativity, from a playwright who has taught the subject for over a decade."If you want to be a playwright, here's your bible." —David Lindsay-Abaire, author of Fuddy Meers and Wonder of the WorldDuring the more than ten years that Sturt Spencer has taught playwriting, he has struggled to find an effective handbook for his courses. Although most of the currently popular guides contain...

In the first full-scale life of the mostimportant composer-lyricist at work in musical theatre today, Meryle Secrest, the biographer of Frank Lloyd Wright and Leonard Bernstein, draws on her extended conversations with Stephen Sondheim as well as on her interviews with his friends, family, collaborators, and lovers to bring us not only the artist--as a master ofmodernist compositional style--but also the private man.Beginning with his early childhood on New York's pros...

Now over twenty years old, the original edition of Nightmare Movies has retained its place as a true classic of cult film criticism. In this new edition, Kim Newman brings his seminal work completely up-to-date, both reassessing his earlier evaluations and adding a second part that assess the last two decades of horror films with all the wit, intelligence and insight for which he is known. Since the publication of the first edition, horror has been on a gradual upswing, and taken ...

Often subject to more cuts at the hands of the censor than a serial killer's razor, the horror film has a fascinating history, not only as film study but also as a look at what has been considered acceptable for the public to view, and what the state will allow its citizens to see. But for the most part horror films are about entertainment—consistently profitable, eminently enjoyable. From horror cinema's beginnings in the late 19th century to the latest splatter films, from the c...

Musicals are the most popular form of stage entertainment today, with the West End and Broadway dominated by numerous long-running hits. But for every Wicked or Phantom of the Opera, there are dozens of casualties that didn't fare quite so well. In this book, Julian Woolford explores the musical-theatre canon to explain why and how some musicals work, why some don't, and what you should (and shouldn't) do if you're thinking of writing your own.Drawing on his exper...

Bob Fosse (19271987), the director and choreographer of Chicago and Sweet Charity, has never been more popular than he is right now. Here is the less-publicized side of his story-his surprising ascent from the world of sleazy Chicago strip joints to the glitter of Broadway. A legend's memory is preserved in this eloquent biography.

A lively and authoritative journey into the world of a cinema masterWith the revolutionary 8 1/2, Federico Fellini put his deepest desires and anxieties before the lens in 1963, permanently impacting the art of cinema in the process. Now, more than forty years later, film critic and Fellini confidant Tullio Kezich has written the work by which all other biographies of the filmmaker are sure to be measured. In this moving and intimately revealing account of ...

Nicolas Roeg is one of the most distinctive and influential film-makers of his generation. The generation of film-makers who define contemporary movie-making - Danny Boyle, Kevin Macdonald ( The Last King of Scotland), Christopher Nolan ( The Dark Knight), James Marsh ( Man on Wire), and Guillermo Del Toro ( Pan's Labyrinth), all acknowledge their debt to the work of Nicolas Roeg.Roeg began as a cameraman, working for such masters as Francois Tru...