This volume finds the proper place of psychoanalytic thought in critical analysis of cinema through a series of essays that debate its legitimacy, utility, and validity as applied to the horror genre. It distinguishes itself from previous work in this area through the self-consciousness with which psychoanalytic concepts are employed and the theorization that coexists with interpretations of particular horror films and subgenres.

Preface: what lies beneath? Robin Wood; Introduction: Psychoanalysis in/and/of the horror film Steven Jay Schneider; Part I. The Question of Horror-Pleasure: 1. 'What's the matter with Melanie?': reflections on the merits of psychoanalytic approaches to modern horror cinema Cosimo Urbano; 2. A fun night out: horror and other pleasures of the cinema Michael Levine; 3. Excerpt from 'Why Horror? The New Pleasures of a Popular Genre' (with a new afterword by the author) Andrew Tudor; 4. Philosophical problems concerning the concept of pleasure for future psychoanalytical theories of (the horror) film Malcolm Turvey; Part II. Theorizing the Uncanny: 5. Explaining the uncanny in The Double Life of Véronique Cynthia Freeland; 6. Manifestations of the literary double in modern horror cinema Steven Jay Schneider; 7. Heimlich maneuvers: on a certain tendency of horror and speculative cinema Harvey Roy Greenberg; 8. 'It was a dark and stormy night ...': horror films and the problem of irony Jonathan L. Crane; Part III. Representing Psychoanalysis: 9. 'What does Dr. Judd want?': transformation, transference and divided selves in Cat People William Paul; 10. 'Ultimate formlessness': cinema, horror, and the limits of meaning Michael Grant; 11. Freud's worst nightmare: dining with Dr Hannibal Lecter Barbara Creed; Part IV. New Directions: 12. Doing things with theory: from Freud's worst nightmares to (disciplinary) dreams of horror's cultural value Matt Hills; 13. The darker side of genius: the (horror) auteur meets Freud's theory Linda Badley; 14. Violence and psychophysiology in horror cinema Stephen Prince; Afterword: psychoanalysis and the horror film Noël Carroll.