Alexandra Heller-Nicholas is an award-winning Australian film critic, author and academic who has written eight books on cult, horror and exploitation cinema with an emphasis on gender politics. She is a research fellow at RMIT University and an adjunct professor at Deakin University, both in Melbourne, Australia.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionOne—Art, Cinema, Horror, ExcessTwo—Giallo: Italy and BeyondFamous PaintingsThree—Girls Asleep, Girls Afraid: Vermeer in The Forbidden Room (Anima Persa, 1977) and The Psychic (Sette Note in Nero, 1977)Four—Swan Guts and Screaming Popes: Salvador Dalí, Francis Bacon and A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin (Una lucertola con la pelle di donna, Lucio Fulci, 1971)Five—The Medusa’s Warning: The Stendhal Syndrome (La Sindrome di Stendhal, Dario Argento, 1996)Clues, Presence and PaintingSix—Misreading Clues: Dario Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo, 1970) and Deep Red (Profondo rosso, 1975)Seven—Haunted Portraits: The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (La dama rossa uccide sette volte, Emilio Miraglia, 1972) and Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (Il tuo vizio è una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave, Sergio Martino, 1972)Eight—Paint Death Clearly: Saint Sebastian and The House with Laughing Windows (La casa dalle finestre che ridono, Pupi Avati, 1976)PaintersNine—A Portrait of an Artist as a Mad Drunk: The Red Headed Corpse (La rossa dalla pelle che scotta, Renzo Russo, 1972)Ten—The Myth of the “Mad” Genius: Vincent Van Gogh and Blood Delirium (Delirio di sangue, Sergio Bergonzelli, 1988)Eleven—The Ghosts of Capitalism: Art, Labor and Exploitation in A Quiet Place in the Country (Un tranquillo posto di campagna, Elio Petri, 1968)Other Art FormsTwelve—Fashion and PhotographyThirteen—FilmmakingFourteen—Theater and PerformanceFifteen—HybridityConclusion: Style Is the SubstanceChapter NotesBibliographyIndex

“Nicholas is one of the most perceptive critics working in cinema theory today [and] this volume proves without a doubt that she is a formidable voice who refuses to be silenced.”—Quarterly Review of Film and Video

Alexandra Heller-Nicholas is an award-winning Australian film critic, author and academic who has written eight books on cult, horror and exploitation cinema with an emphasis on gender politics. She is a research fellow at RMIT University and an adjunct professor at Deakin University, both in Melbourne, Australia.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionOne—Art, Cinema, Horror, ExcessTwo—Giallo: Italy and BeyondFamous PaintingsThree—Girls Asleep, Girls Afraid: Vermeer in The Forbidden Room (Anima Persa, 1977) and The Psychic (Sette Note in Nero, 1977)Four—Swan Guts and Screaming Popes: Salvador Dalí, Francis Bacon and A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin (Una lucertola con la pelle di donna, Lucio Fulci, 1971)Five—The Medusa’s Warning: The Stendhal Syndrome (La Sindrome di Stendhal, Dario Argento, 1996)Clues, Presence and PaintingSix—Misreading Clues: Dario Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo, 1970) and Deep Red (Profondo rosso, 1975)Seven—Haunted Portraits: The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (La dama rossa uccide sette volte, Emilio Miraglia, 1972) and Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (Il tuo vizio è una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave, Sergio Martino, 1972)Eight—Paint Death Clearly: Saint Sebastian and The House with Laughing Windows (La casa dalle finestre che ridono, Pupi Avati, 1976)PaintersNine—A Portrait of an Artist as a Mad Drunk: The Red Headed Corpse (La rossa dalla pelle che scotta, Renzo Russo, 1972)Ten—The Myth of the “Mad” Genius: Vincent Van Gogh and Blood Delirium (Delirio di sangue, Sergio Bergonzelli, 1988)Eleven—The Ghosts of Capitalism: Art, Labor and Exploitation in A Quiet Place in the Country (Un tranquillo posto di campagna, Elio Petri, 1968)Other Art FormsTwelve—Fashion and PhotographyThirteen—FilmmakingFourteen—Theater and PerformanceFifteen—HybridityConclusion: Style Is the SubstanceChapter NotesBibliographyIndex

“Nicholas is one of the most perceptive critics working in cinema theory today [and] this volume proves without a doubt that she is a formidable voice who refuses to be silenced.”—Quarterly Review of Film and Video

Alexandra Heller-Nicholas is an award-winning Australian film critic, author and academic who has written eight books on cult, horror and exploitation cinema with an emphasis on gender politics. She is a research fellow at RMIT University and an adjunct professor at Deakin University, both in Melbourne, Australia.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionOne—Art, Cinema, Horror, ExcessTwo—Giallo: Italy and BeyondFamous PaintingsThree—Girls Asleep, Girls Afraid: Vermeer in The Forbidden Room (Anima Persa, 1977) and The Psychic (Sette Note in Nero, 1977)Four—Swan Guts and Screaming Popes: Salvador Dalí, Francis Bacon and A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin (Una lucertola con la pelle di donna, Lucio Fulci, 1971)Five—The Medusa’s Warning: The Stendhal Syndrome (La Sindrome di Stendhal, Dario Argento, 1996)Clues, Presence and PaintingSix—Misreading Clues: Dario Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo, 1970) and Deep Red (Profondo rosso, 1975)Seven—Haunted Portraits: The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (La dama rossa uccide sette volte, Emilio Miraglia, 1972) and Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (Il tuo vizio è una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave, Sergio Martino, 1972)Eight—Paint Death Clearly: Saint Sebastian and The House with Laughing Windows (La casa dalle finestre che ridono, Pupi Avati, 1976)PaintersNine—A Portrait of an Artist as a Mad Drunk: The Red Headed Corpse (La rossa dalla pelle che scotta, Renzo Russo, 1972)Ten—The Myth of the “Mad” Genius: Vincent Van Gogh and Blood Delirium (Delirio di sangue, Sergio Bergonzelli, 1988)Eleven—The Ghosts of Capitalism: Art, Labor and Exploitation in A Quiet Place in the Country (Un tranquillo posto di campagna, Elio Petri, 1968)Other Art FormsTwelve—Fashion and PhotographyThirteen—FilmmakingFourteen—Theater and PerformanceFifteen—HybridityConclusion: Style Is the SubstanceChapter NotesBibliographyIndex

“Nicholas is one of the most perceptive critics working in cinema theory today [and] this volume proves without a doubt that she is a formidable voice who refuses to be silenced.”—Quarterly Review of Film and Video