Grande Dame Guignol Cinema

This critically analytical filmography examines 45 movies featuring “grande dames” in horror settings. Following a history of women in horror before 1962’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, which launched the “Grande Dame Guignol” subgenre of older women featured as morally ambiguous leading ladies, are all such films (mostly U.S.) that came after that landmark release. The filmographic data includes cast, crew, reviews, synopses, and production notes, as well as recurring motifs and each role’s effect on the star’s career.

Peter Shelley is a playwright, screenwriter and author of several books on film. He lives in Umina Beach, Australia.

Peter Shelley
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 340
Bibliographic Info: 115 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2009
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4569-1
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5485-3
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      iv

Preface      1

Introduction      5

THE FILMS

“What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” (1962)      21

Dead Ringer (1964)      32

Strait-Jacket (1964)      41

Lady in a Cage (1964)      49

Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)      56

Die! Die! My Darling! (1965)      66

The Night Walker (1965)      74

I Saw What You Did (1965)      81

The Nanny (1965)      87

Queen of Blood (1966)      93

The Witches (1966)      98

Games (1967)      103

Berserk! (1968)      109

The Savage Intruder (1968)      115

What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969)      123

Eye of the Cat (1969)      130

The Mad Room (1969)      137

That Cold Day in the Park (1969)      143

Trog (1970)      150

Flesh Feast (1970)      156

The Beast in the Cellar (1970)      161

Cry of the Banshee (1970)      167

What’s the Matter with Helen? (1971)      173

Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1971)      181

Blood and Lace (1971)      187

The Baby (1973)      193

The Killing Kind (1973)      199

Night Watch (1973)      205

A Knife for the Ladies (1974)      211

Frightmare (1974)      216

Persecution (1974)      222

Homebodies (1974)      229

Ruby (1977)      236

Windows (1980)      244

The Fan (1981)      251

The Hunger (1983)      259

Night Warning (1983)      268

Epitaph (1987)      275

Misery (1990)      280

Bad Blood (1993)      289

Mommy (1994)      294

Mother (1996)      300

Mommy’s Day (1996)      306

The Landlady (1997)      312

Inside (2007)      319

Bibliography      327

Index      329