Assigned readings accompany each film. In addition to genre analysis, another focus of the course will be the technical and stylistic changes that have occurred in film production. Students will study cinematic aspects such as lighting, camera angles, camera pans, tracking shots, set decor and the use of certain special effects, such as fog machines. For their part, students are eager to take the course. All 110 of the available spots have been filled and a small number of people are on a waiting list.
Students can take the course for credit in English, literature or drama.
Duke is not the first institution to teach a course on the history of horror films. There are more than 30 film schools at universities across the country, as well as numerous film and video programs, and many of them have offered courses that explore the genre. Neuman is preparing a dissertation on the genre, and he speculates that the dismissal stems from the lack of subtlety in such films and their direct appeal to the emotions. Horror films have achieved respect in scholarly circles, but Gaines and Neumann readily acknowledge that derision could haunt the genre for decades to come.