Raising Hell: British Horror Cinema in the 1980s and 1990s

英国最具代表性的恐怖电影制作公司哈默电影公司（Hammer Films）于1979年停止了剧情片的制作，直到2000年代中期重新推出。对一些人来说，这敲响了国内恐怖电影的丧钟，在21世纪初，这一类型的电影以《惊变28天》（2002）等主流热门电影“重生”之前。虽然很少有人承认，但在这之后的二十年里，有许多国内恐怖电影问世，获得了不同程度的成功和国际曝光，尽管很少在电影院上映。事实上，英国恐怖电影的存在在新生的录像带市场中最为明显。这个名为“Raising Hell: British Horror Film in the 1980 and 90”的项目旨在探讨1980和90年代的英国恐怖电影制作对当代英国电影文化和社会的启示。它试图填补关于商业电影制作的主流学术和流行叙事的空白，并认为该类型对所讨论的时期的重要性被低估了。该项目认为，过去的英国电影历史将20世纪80年代和90年代英国恐怖片在电影院的非/边缘存在视为理所当然，并且对电影质量（或缺乏质量）的判断通常排除了有意义的分析。通过在工业和社会文化背景下定位英国恐怖电影，该项目试图确定恐怖电影制作中的关键角色，他们可用的资源，他们如何驾驭日益增加的电影审查和与视频有关的新立法的动荡气候，以及他们的电影在多大程度上参与社会。它将表明，在审查期间，“英国恐怖片”是一个广泛的教会，跨越了各种预算和发行轨迹，从主流的摇钱机（如《闪灵》和《Hellraiser》）到业余作品（如《地狱之邀》和《恶业》）。对20世纪80年代和90年代的国内恐怖电影制作进行更细致的研究，将有助于更好地理解英国流行电影的历史，以及这一时期对现在的持久影响。

Before its re-launch in the mid-2000s, Britain's most iconic producer of horror movies, Hammer Films, ceased feature film production in 1979. For some, this sounded the death knell for domestic horror production, prior to the genre's "rebirth" in the early 2000s with mainstream hits such as 28 Days Later (2002). While little-acknowledged, the intervening two decades saw numerous domestic horror productions materialise, enjoying varying levels of success and international exposure, albeit rarely in cinemas. Indeed, British horror's presence was most felt in the nascent video cassette market. This project, "Raising Hell: British Horror Film in the 1980s and 1990s", aims to explore what British horror film production of the 1980s and 1990s reveals about contemporaneous film culture and society in Britain. It seeks to plug gaps in dominant scholarly and popular narratives regarding commercial filmmaking, and argue that the significance of the genre to the period in question has been understated. The project argues that past histories of British film take too much for granted regarding British horror's non-/marginal presence in cinemas during the 1980s and 1990s and that judgments as to the quality (or lack thereof) of the films produced typically precludes meaningful analysis.By locating British horror films within an industrial and socio-cultural context, the project seeks to identify the key players in horror film production, the resources that were available to them, how they navigated the tumultuous climate of increased film censorship and new legislation pertaining to video, and the extent to which their films are socially engaged. It will show that "British horror" during the period under scrutiny was a broad church straddling various budgets and distribution trajectories, from mainstream money-spinners (e.g. The Shining and Hellraiser) to amateur works (e.g. Invitation to Hell and Bad Karma). A more nuanced examination of domestic horror film production during the 1980s and 1990s will enable a greater understanding of the history of popular British cinema, and the lasting impact of this period on the present.