Devouring Whirlwind ― Terror and Transcendence in the Cinema of Cruelty

What is the attraction of horror films? Do they have any socially redeeming features? Rockett offers some surprising and provocative answers to these questions in his analysis of the cinema of cruelty. He looks at film as a means of expressing the dark side of human nature and examines the essential ingredients that go into the making of a horror film, the variations that are found within the genre, and the links between the best horror cinema and Artaud's Theatre of Cruelty. Echoing Artaud, Rockett argues that human beings are attracted to horror in films because of an unconscious craving for a reality in which the demonic supernatural acts as a "living whirlwind," "devouring the darkness" and bringing viewers closer to the transcendence they are actually seeking. The final chapter shows how the finest works in the horror genre achieve this underlying aim.

WILL H. ROCKETT is Dean of Faculty for Arts and Humanities, State University of New York at Fredonia.