Horror Noir: Where Cinema's Dark Sisters Meet

This critical survey examines the historical and thematic relationships between two of the cinema's most popular genres: horror and film noir. The influence of 1930s- and 1940s-era horror films on the development of noir is detailed, with analyses of more than 100 motion pictures in which noir criminality and mystery meld with supernatural and psychological horror. Included are the films based on popular horror/mystery radio shows (The Whistler. Inner Sanctum), the works of RKO producer Val Lewton (Cat People. The Seventh Victim), and Alfred Hitchcock's psychological ghost stories. Also discussed are gothic and costume horror noirs set in the 19th century (The Picture of Dorian Grav. Hangover Square); the noir elements of more recent films; and the film noir aspects of the Hannibal Lecter movies and other serial-killer thrillers.

Paul Meehan has also written on UFOs in cinema, and is a contributor to the Noir City Sentinel, the journal of the Film Noir Foundation. He lives in San Francisco.