Although early cinema has long been a key area of research in film
studies, the origin and development of the horror film has been a
neglected subject for what is arguably one of the world's most popular
film genres. Using thousands of primary sources and long-unseen
illustrations, The Birth of the American Horror Film examines a
history that begins in colonial Salem, taking an interdisciplinary
approach to explore the influence of horror-themed literature, theatre
and visual culture in America, and how that context established an
amorphous structural foundation for films produced between 1895 and
1915. Exhaustively researched, bridging scholarship on Horror Studies
and Early Cinema, The Birth of the American Horror Film is the first
major study dedicated to this vital but often overlooked subject.