CFP Critical Essays on Horror Vestron Films (6/15/2024)

Critical Essays on Horror Vestron Films

deadline for submissions: June 15, 2024

full name / name of organization: Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns

contact email: vestronproject@yahoo.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/03/12/critical-essays-on-horror-vestron-films

Critical Essays on Horror Vestron Films

Edited by

Matthew Edwards

Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns



We, the editors, are looking to put together an edited collection on the horror films of Vestron Distribution/Vestron Pictures. From the early 80s till the mid -90s, when Vestron went bankrupt, Vestron released a number of cult and influential horror films both through their distribution arm and films that they bankrolled into production. Vestron were responsible for distributing in North America films such as The Company of Wolves (Neil Jordan 1984), The Gate (Tibor Takács,1987), Lair of the White Worm (Ken Russell, 1988), Gothic (Ken Russell, 1986), Waxwork (Anthony Hickox 1988), Class of 1999 (Mark Lester, 1990), Revenge of the Living Dead Part 3 (Brian Yuzna, 1993), Warlock (Steve Miner, 1989), Parents (Bob Balaban, 1989), Blood Diner (Jackie Kong, 1987), Street Trash (Michael Muro, 1987), Slaughter High (George Dugdale, Mark Ezra and Peter Mackenzie Litten) and many more! Vestron catalogue includes high rate thrillers such as Blue Steel (Kathryn Bigelow, 1990), Amsterdamned (Dick Maas, 1988), Fear (Rockne S. O'Bannon, 1990) or Hider in the House (Matthew Patrick, 1989).



Vestron’s output has a big cult following in North America and the UK, with many of their old titles being re-released by Lions Gate under the old Vestron banner. We would focus on both aspects of Vestron’s output, as both a producing company and as a distributor of films.



Contributions could include, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• -Cult following
• -Aesthetics of horror cinema
• -Black comedies
• -American distribution
• -Thrillers and suspense films
• -Art house sensibilities
• -American anxieties
• -Vestron’s slashers
• -Auteur cinema
• -Depictions of gender
• -Body horror
• -Children horror
• -Vestron TV films
• -Vestron Video

This anthology will be organized into thematic sections around these topics and others that emerge from submissions. We are open to works that focus on other topics as well. Prospective authors are well to contact the editor with any questions, including potential topics not listed above. Please submit a 300-500-word abstract of your proposed chapter contribution as a Word Doc (not PDF) with a brief bio (in the same document), current position, affiliation, and complete contact information to editors Matthew Edwards and Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns to vestronproject@yahoo.com by 15 June 2024. Full chapters of 6,000-7,000 words are likely due in November 2024. A renowned publisher as shown preliminary interest.

Please share this announcement with anyone you believe would be interested in contributing to this volume.

Note: Acceptance of a proposed abstract does not guarantee the acceptance of the full chapter



Matthew Edwards is an independent film scholar and primary school teacher from Cheddar, England. He is author or editor of many books on cult/horror cinema, including Bloodstained Narratives: The Giallo Film in Italy and Abroad, The Atomic Bomb in Japanese Cinema; Klaus Kinski, Beast of Cinema; Twisted Visions: Interviews with Horror Filmmakers; and Murder Movie Makers: Directors Discuss Their Killer Flicks. In 2023 he was nominated for a Rondo Hatton Horror Award for best interview. He has written for many magazines and contributed booklets for 88 Films Hong Kong film releases.



Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns (PhD in Arts, PhD Candidate in History) works as Professor at the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) - Facultad de Filosofía y Letras (Argentina)-. He teaches courses on international horror film. He is director of the research group on horror cinema “Grite” and has authored a book about Spanish horror TV series Historias para no Dormir (Universidad de Cádiz, 2020) and has edited books on Frankenstein bicentennial (Universidad de Buenos Aires), one on director James Wan (McFarland, 2021), the Italian giallo film (University of Mississippi Press, 2022), horror comics (Routledge, 2022) and Hammer horror films (Routledge, 2024). Currently editing a book on Baltic horror. He is Director of “Terror: Estudios Críticos” (Universidad de Cádiz, Spain), the first-ever horror studies series in Spain.

https://publicaciones.uca.es/terror/

http://artes.filo.uba.ar/pagnoni-berns-gabriel




Last updated March 23, 2024