"They call her film noir. Black film. Personified as a woman, lady noir is a clever, darkly beautiful femme fatale who executes the grimmest and most mysterious decrees of fate. Death and lust attend her, murder and obsession are her companions...
...But wait, noir has a twisted sister, a twin of even blacker reputation. Morbid and irrational, she is even more depraved and given to violence than her sibling. She also travels in dark realms of fate and death, madness and murder, but journeys even deeper into blackness. She consorts with mounters out of hell and demons of the void. She is horror itself."
- Paul Meehan, Horror Noir: "Introduction" (McFarland; 2010; page 3).
Sounds very intriguing, John. Looking forward to another book review. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteSo funny you are reading this. . .I just watched and reviewed Lord of Illusions, a true horror-noir in every sense.
ReplyDeleteSo far, does this book go into the reinvention of the horror-noir or is it horror existing in the noir period of film making (30s-50s)?
I may have to check this out myself.
Hi everyone!
ReplyDeleteThe scope of Meehan's book is very impressive. I'm still early in the reading, but it does cover all periods of horror noir, including the 1990s version (movies like Lord of Illusions...).
It's very good so far. I am a big admirer of Meehan's work. He did Tech Noir a few years back and that is an AMAZING book that I highly recommend.
best,
JKM