Interview with Jon Towlson, Author of Subversive Horror Cinema
![Image](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq183rG0T2j2iq9H_Jz2xCM4de_-h5Z-PLbr7xyoTD9n8KQd6U-tPUMRdw15VOMYSJTfqlo2vEwiJ4jG8BKIUawJXJhnixa1L0XYZYBBYKo1qp6XlvclfZcjZULlolcpCASQhbN21U9_Ur/s1600/Shocks+to+the+System+Subversive+Horror+cover.jpg)
Horror cinema flourishes in times of ideological crisis and national trauma - the Great Depression, the Cold War, Thatcher-era Britain, the Vietnam War, Western society post-9/11; since the dawn of the silver screen, the genre has held a mirror up to society, throwing back a shocking reflection to provoke and perturb huddled masses in darkened rooms; who more often than not, may see nothing but the horror of reality itself staring back at them from the screen. Subversive Horror Cinema: Countercultural Messages of Films from Frankenstein to the Present , a fascinating, meticulously researched and compellingly written new book by Jon Towlson, argues that a succession of filmmakers working in horror - from James Whale to twisted twins Jen and Sylvia Soska - have used the genre, and the shock value it affords, to challenge the dominant ideologies of these times. Jon recently took the time to have an in-depth chat with me about his new book, the subversive nature of horror cinema, and