The Metamodern Slasher Film - (21st Century Horror) by Steve Jones

About the Book

Book Synopsis

It is commonly proposed that since the mid-2000s, the slasher subgenre has been dominated by unoriginal remakes of "classics". Consequently, most original slasher films have been ignored by academics (and critics), leaving the field with a limited understanding of this highly popular subgenre. This book corrects that mischaracterisation by analysing contemporary slasher films that sincerely attempt to innovate within the subgenre. I argue that these films reflect broader cultural turns towards sincerity, optimism in the face of crisis, and an emphasis on felt experience that are indicative of a metamodern sensibility. This is the first book to use metamodernism to analyse film in a sustained way, and the first academic work to use metamodernism to examine horror. The Metamodern Slasher offers readers new ways to understand the slasher film, the horror genre, and also the cultural moment we find ourselves in.

Review Quotes

Following in the footsteps of Vera Dika and Carol J. Clover, Steve Jones proposes that the unique tone and sensibility of contemporary slashers are in meaningful dialogue with the theoretical zeitgeist. Elegantly written, exhaustively researched and ambitious in scope, The Metamodern Slasher Film demonstrates that metamodernist frameworks hold real potential to revitalise debates on the cultural value of the horror genre.

This essential book outlines a valuable new approach to understanding slasher films in their post-postmodern era. Through detailed and compelling analysis, Steve Jones sheds new light on the contemporary subgenre, offers valuable frameworks for understanding metamodernism, and situates the metamodern slasher as another example of the horror genre's evolutionary potential.