In 1896, Maxim Gorky declared cinema "the Kingdom of Shadows." In its silent, as
hen-grey world, he saw a land of spectral, and ever since then cinema has had a
special relationship with the haunted and the ghostly. Cinematic Ghosts is the f
irst collection devoted to this subject, including fourteen new essays, dedicate
d to exploring the many permutations of the movies' phantoms. Cinematic Ghosts c
ontains essays revisiting some classic ghost films within the genres of horror (
The Haunting, 1963), romance (Portrait of Jennie, 1948), comedy (Beetlejuice, 19
88) and the art film (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, 2010), as wel
l as essays dealing with a number of films from around the world, from Sweden to
China.
