Ritið : tímarit Hugvísindastofnunar - 01.05.2010, Page 65

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HRoLLVEKJUR LIGGJA TIL ALLRA ÁTTA
viskusamlega eftir og nýta sér það hvernig sú formúla skapar ákveðna
vernd og öryggi. Formúlan verður þó aldrei yfirþyrmandi eða innilokandi
og þvert á móti þá blómstrar hún í öllum sínum margbreytilegu og ólíku
myndum. Þannig bregður hrollvekjan upp ólíkum andlitum (sem hún
hefur yfirleitt rifið af einhverjum öðrum) og skilur eftir sig blóðuga slóð
um allan heim.
ABSTRACT
Horror here, horror there, horror everywhere
The horror film is a hybrid creature, existing on the borderlines of world cinema,
the art house film and Hollywood formula. Despite horror’s conspicuous ties to
American cinema it can be argued that its roots lie in German expressionism, and
during the sixties horror bloomed in southern Europe. Germany, Italy and Spain
remain influential in the field, now aided and even abetted by films from South-
America, mainly Mexico. Furthermore, horror films from Japan, China, Russia
and the Nordic countries have been touring cinemas around the world, bridging
the art house and the commercial, as the films are screened both at film festivals
and general multiplexes.
The horror film has always been dependent on formula, but the role of the
formula is not necessarily as simple as is generally assumed. This becomes app-
arent when analysing these multi-cultural films; all form a dialogue between the
national, the global and the formulaic conventions of Hollywood. Adding the art
house to this mix, the films exhibit powerful narratives of conventions and varia-
tions, not only as regards the genre’s formula but also social discourses relevant to
each country.
Keywords: world cinema, horror film, formula, art house, intertextuality