Behind the Couch

The latest review of my Devil’s Advocates book on The Company of Wolves comes courtesy of journalist and academic, Emily Turner. According to Turner, ' Gracey is adept at identifying key themes in the 1984 film and exploring them in an accessible but thorough manner, forging links between images and ideas, and wider theoretical concepts [...]  a useful and interesting overview of the myriad references and inspirations which conjured the film from the minds of Jordan and Carter.' I’ve copied the full review below, and you can also check it out over at Emily’s blog ... Cinematic lycanthropy and monstrous femininity: a review of James Gracey’s The Company of Wolves  By Emily Turner The Company of Wolves is a title in Auteur Publishing’s Devil’s Advocate series, which showcases a range of critical approaches to horror cinema. James Gracey’s text explores how the 1984 Neil Jordan film of the same name evokes fairy tales, horror, werewolf films, Freudian symbolism, and t...

The latest review of my Devil’s Advocates book on The Company of Wolves comes courtesy of Jeremy Carr over at Film International , and it’s another really positive one. According to Carr, 'Gracey does his part to add to the legacy of The Company of Wolves, strengthening the film’s importance with a thoughtful monograph that is detailed and accessible, presenting arguments with deliberation and validity, never forcefully or self-righteous. Jordan’s film isn’t perfect by any means, but Gracey’s ultimate achievement is in making the case that it still warrants and welcomes further examination.' I’ve copied the full review below, and you can also check it out (along with a wealth of other film related reviews, news and features) over at Film International ... Review (by Jeremy Carr) James Gracey’s Devil’s Advocates entry on The Company of Wolves (Auteur Publishing, 2017) does everything a book of its scope should do. In about 120 pages, Gracey takes what is a generally...

The latest review of my Devil’s Advocates book on The Company of Wolves comes courtesy of the lovely folks over at FrightFest , and it’s another really positive one. According to critic Steven West, book is a ‘multi-faceted, intelligent and highly accessible study’. I’ve copied the full review below, and you can also check it out (along with a wealth of other film related reviews, news and features) over at FrightFest … Review The early 80’s saw a mini-boom of werewolf movies reflecting the revolutionary advances in transformative make-up effects, which ensured that David Naughton did not have to disappear behind a conveniently placed desk while morphing into AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. The John Landis movie and Joe Dante’s THE HOWLING brought a substantial degree of self-awareness and knockabout character-based humour to the sub-genre and have endured as modern horror classics. Other wolfman movies from the same period have enjoyed less latter-day attention, including...

The latest review of my Devil’s Advocates book on The Company of Wolves comes courtesy of the lovely folks over at Warped Perspective (formerly Brutal as Hell ). And I’m absolutely delighted that it’s another good one! According to critic Keri O’Shea, book is ‘lucid, detailed and meticulous, with exhaustive knowledge of the film, its inception and its interpretation [...] effectively crosses the divide between academia and fandom.’ I’ve copied the full review below, and you can also check it out (along with a wealth of other film related reviews, news and features) over at Warped Perspective . The Company of Wolves (1984) really is a force of nature – a vivid array of stories-within-stories which capture the insurrectionist tendencies of Angela Carter’s book, The Bloody Chamber, a collection of familiar fairy stories reworked into unfamiliar forms. The film brings several of Carter’s tales to the screen, albeit via a new, modern framing device, one which links the humdrum wit...

If you go down to the woods today, be sure to pick up a copy of my new book on Neil Jordan's Gothic fantasy The Company of Wolves . The book is part of Auteur’s Devil’s Advocates series, and can be bought from any of these fine places: Hive: hive.co.uk Wordery: wordery.com Columbia University Press: cup.columbia.edu A recent review (courtesy of author and critic Jon Towlson over at Starburst) said it was 'A meticulously researched, beautifully written and fascinating book...' Book includes chapters on the ‘making of’ the film, the evolution of folk and fairy tales in our culture, an examination of the tale of Red Riding Hood, the figure of the werewolf in folklore, literature and cinema, the powerful feminist message of the film (and the short stories by Angela Carter upon which it is based), and the representation of female monsters and werewolves in literature and cinema. Stay tuned for news of how you can enter a competition to win a copy of the book (cou...

The first review of my Devil’s Advocates monograph on The Company of Wolves is in, courtesy of Starburst . And it’s a good one! According to author and critic Jon Towlson, it is ‘ a meticulously researched, beautifully written and fascinating book .’ I’ve copied the full review below, and you can also check it out (along with a wealth of other film related reviews, news and features) over at Starburst , the world’s longest running magazine of cult entertainment. At the time of its release in 1984, Neil Jordan’s The Company of Wolves received mixed reviews: it’s not a children’s film, critics complained, but it’s about fairytales; werewolves feature heavily but it’s not a horror film. Indeed, it’s a strange beast, as pointed out in this excellent new study by James Gracey (author of Kamera Books’ Dario Argento). ‘Part fairy tale, part werewolf film, part horror film, part feminist coming of age allegory’, Gracey approaches his monograph from all these angles; and from a beguiling...

My monograph on The Company of Wolves was launched this weekend at the Gothic Feminism Conference in Kent. Auteur Publishing had a stall with a selection of titles on Gothic horror from their Devil's Advocates series, including advance copies of my contribution. Gothic Feminism is a research project based at the University of Kent which ‘ seeks to re-engage with theories of the Gothic and reflect specifically upon the depiction of the Gothic heroine in film. The project raises questions of representation, interpretation and feminist enquiry in relation to the Gothic heroine throughout film history including present day incarnations. This project will illuminate the concerns, contradictions and challenges posed by the Gothic heroine on-screen. ’ This year’s conference, the second, took place on 24th – 26th May. Entitled Women-in-Peril or Final Girls? Representing Women in Gothic and Horror Cinema , it featured a plethora of papers and presentations including: ‘The Pres...

I’ve just submitted the final proofs of my monograph on The Company of Wolves (part of Auteur’s ‘ Devil’s Advocates ’ series), so it won’t be too long before it’s available to pre-order. I also wanted to share a preview of the beautiful cover design (right). Here’s a little snippet from the intro: The Company of Wolves is a dark fantasy film quite unlike any other. A meditation on the horrors of the adult world, and of adult sexuality, as glimpsed through the dreams of an adolescent girl, it amalgamates aspects of horror, the Female Gothic, fairy tales, werewolf films and coming of age parables. Drenched in atmosphere and an eerily sensual malaise, it boasts striking imagery immersed in fairy tale motifs and startling Freudian symbolism.  The Company of Wolves was Irish filmmaker Neil Jordan’s second film, and his first foray into the realms of Gothic horror. Jordan co-wrote the screenplay with British novelist Angela Carter, and it is based upon several short stories fro...

Dario Argento’s Suspiria needs little introduction. A nightmarish, hallucinatory carousel of a film, it is known to admirers of horror cinema for its exquisite cinematography, ear-shattering score, opulent production design and fiendish violence. Any sense of conventional narrative or characterisation takes a back seat to a full-on assault on the senses as the viewer is plunged head-first into a neon-Gothic nightmare of light, colour, sound and shadow. Regarded (and rightly so) as a horror classic, Suspiria is the subject of a new book by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, a film critic from Melbourne, Australia. No stranger to extreme cinema, Alexandra is the author of ' Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study ' (2011), and ' Found Footage Horror Films: Fear and the Appearance of Reality ' (2014). She is also co-editor of the film journal Senses of Cinema , and a critic on Radio Triple R’s film programme, Plato's Cave . Alexandra very kindly agreed to a quick chat ab...

Released just days after the end of the Second World War and a dozen years ahead of the first full-blooded Hammer Horror, the Ealing Studios horror anthology film Dead of Night featured contributions from some of the finest directors, writers and technicians ever to work in British film. Since its release it has become evermore widely regarded as a keystone in the architecture of horror cinema, both nationally and internationally. A new book from Auteur Publishing, written by Jez Conolly and David Owain Bates, marks the first time a single book has been dedicated to an analysis of the film. Co-author Jez Conolly has also written a monograph on John Carpenter’s classic chiller The Thing and is co-editor, with Caroline Whelan, of three books in the World Film Locations series (Dublin, Reykjavik and Liverpool) published by Intellect. He regularly writes for The Big Picture magazine and website and has contributed to numerous other cinema books and journals. He very kindly agreed...

Few films of any genre have had the influence and impact of The Blair Witch Project (1999). Its arrival was a horror cinema palette-cleanser after a decade of serial killers and postmodern tongue-in-cheek intertextuality, a bare bones ‘found footage’ trend-setter. In this Devil’s Advocate monograph, Peter Turner tells the story of the film from its conception to its pioneering internet marketing campaign and critical reception. He provides a unique analysis of the mockumentary/non-fiction film-making techniques deployed by the film, its appeal to audiences and the themes that helped make it such an international hit (it made more than $140 million in the US alone). Turner also explores the film's lasting impact on the horror genre with a look at other found footage phenomena, such as the Paranormal Activity series, that followed in the wake of The Blair Witch Project . Head over to Exquisite Terror to read my review .

Devil's Advocates is a book series devoted to exploring the classics of horror cinema. Contributors to Devil's Advocates come from the worlds of academia, journalism and fiction, but all have one thing in common: a passion for the horror film and for sharing that passion. Each instalment delves into a specific horror film, exploring everything from its conception to its impact on genre cinema and wider popular culture. Titles thus far include Let the Right One In by Anne Billson, Witchfinder General by Ian Cooper, SAW by Benjamin Poole, The Descent by James Marriott and Carrie by Neil Mitchell. Despite its reputation as one of the greatest and most influential of all horror films, there is surprisingly little literature dedicated to Mario Bava’s Black Sunday (1960), and Martyn Conterio's contribution to the Devil’s Advocates series is the first single book devoted to it. Head over to Exquisite Terror to read my review . 

Devil's Advocates is a book series devoted to exploring the classics of horror cinema. Contributors to Devil's Advocates come from the worlds of academia, journalism and fiction, but all have one thing in common: a passion for the horror film and for sharing that passion. Each instalment delves into a specific horror film, exploring everything from its conception to its impact on genre cinema and wider popular culture. Titles thus far include Let the Right One In by Anne Billson, Witchfinder General by Ian Cooper, SAW by Benjamin Poole, The Descent by James Marriott and Carrie by Neil Mitchell. Excitingly, a forthcoming addition to the series will peer into Dario Argento’s occult classic, Suspiria . Author Alexandra Heller-Nicholas is a visiting fellow at the Institute of Social Research at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. Her other books include Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study (McFarland, 2011) and Found Footage Horror Films: Fear...