Overview

In 2012, a book debuted that would go on to canonical status and usher in a new way of writing about film. Kier-La Janisse's HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN explored hundreds of films through a daringly personal lens. In this pioneering work, anecdotes and memories interweave with film history, criticism, trivia and confrontational imagery to create a reflective personal history and an examination of female madness, both onscreen and off. Cinema is full of neurotic personalities, but few things are more transfixing than a woman losing her mind onscreen. Horror as a genre provides the most welcoming platform for these histrionics: crippling paranoia, desperate loneliness, masochistic death-wishes, dangerous obsessiveness, apocalyptic hysteria. Unlike her male counterpart - 'the eccentric' - the female neurotic lives a shamed existence, making these films those rare places where her destructive emotions get to play. This sharply-designed book, including a 48-page full-colour section, is packed with 680 rare stills, posters, pressbooks and artwork throughout, that combine with family photos and artifacts to form a titillating sensory overload, with a filmography that traverses the acclaimed and the obscure in equal measure. Tim Lucas of Video Watchdog called it 'groundbreaking', no-wave icon Lydia Lunch called it 'a masterpiece', and Molly Ringwald said she 'devoured this compelling, surprising, and moving book'. Re-issued on its 10th anniversary in hardcover to great acclaim, featuring new writing on 100 more films - many of which were inspired in part by the book itself - and hundreds of new images, the expanded edition of Kier-Janisse's renowned text is now available in paperback.

Full Product Details

9781913051341

Table of Contents

Reviews

""Fascinating, engaging and lucidly written: an extraordinary blend of deeply researched academic analysis and revealing memoir."" -- Iain Banks, author of The Wasp Factory ""High Priestess of Horror Kier-La Janisse has crafted the definitive encyclopedia of female neurosis as depicted in horror cinema and the many ways it paralleled her own trauma zones. Beautifully written, extremely well researched and lush with gorgeous film stills and posters - a masterpiece."" -- Lydia Lunch, musician, poet, author & No Wave icon ""House of Psychotic Women is for the horror aficionado as well as the horror curious. Janisse weaves her own life into an intensely personal exploration of the genre, challenging the reader to reconsider the films in all of their complexity. I devoured this compelling, surprising, and moving book."" -- Molly Ringwald, actress, singer and author ""People love this book. Why? It talks about life and art in an unusual, provocative way. Kier-La Janisse doesn't kid around. For her, movies are a matter of life and death. House of Psychotic Women is an original, singular creation. Nothing like it existed before and certainly nothing since. Cherish this book, argue with it, throw it against the wall. But let it get under your skin... invade your bloodstream. It may change you."" -- Jimmy McDonough, author of The Ghastly One: The 42nd Street Netherworld of Director Andy Milligan

"""Fascinating, engaging and lucidly written: an extraordinary blend of deeply researched academic analysis and revealing memoir."" -- Iain Banks, author of The Wasp Factory ""High Priestess of Horror Kier-La Janisse has crafted the definitive encyclopedia of female neurosis as depicted in horror cinema and the many ways it paralleled her own trauma zones. Beautifully written, extremely well researched and lush with gorgeous film stills and posters - a masterpiece."" -- Lydia Lunch, musician, poet, author & No Wave icon ""House of Psychotic Women is for the horror aficionado as well as the horror curious. Janisse weaves her own life into an intensely personal exploration of the genre, challenging the reader to reconsider the films in all of their complexity. I devoured this compelling, surprising, and moving book."" -- Molly Ringwald, actress, singer and author ""People love this book. Why? It talks about life and art in an unusual, provocative way. Kier-La Janisse doesn't kid around. For her, movies are a matter of life and death. House of Psychotic Women is an original, singular creation. Nothing like it existed before and certainly nothing since. Cherish this book, argue with it, throw it against the wall. But let it get under your skin... invade your bloodstream. It may change you."" -- Jimmy McDonough, author of The Ghastly One: The 42nd Street Netherworld of Director Andy Milligan"

Author Information

Kier-La Janisse is a film writer, programmer, producer and founder of The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies. She is the author of A Violent Professional: The Films of Luciano Rossi (2007) and has edited numerous books including Warped & Faded (2021), Yuletide Terror (2017) and Satanic Panic (2015). She was a producer on the film Tales of the Uncanny (2020) and wrote, directed and produced the award-winning documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror (2021) for Severin Films, where she is a producer and editor of supplemental features.

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