Becoming Nosferatu

We all have fond memories of movie screenings that ignited our interests and shaped our tastes. With so much in cinema history to celebrate, there’s something about German Expressionist films that connects to our dreams and nightmares. Written by specialists in horror, science fiction/fantasy and noir, this book’s stories and poems indicate a love of silent German horror films and the creativity they kindle. In addition to F.W. Murnau’s classic vampire film, the text salutes a variety of works in the Nosferatu tradition.Reviews'The editors ... have not only given us an insightful tribute to all that’s gone before, but also opened the door to reconsider these great horror films and see them in a new and inspirational light.'-C. Courtney Joyner, Writer-Director of Lurking Fear (1994)'An entertainingly eclectic, and often electric, collection of short fiction and poems that reflect the German film industry, its makers and celluloid fantasy characters, between the horrors of World Wars. Hard to pick favorites here, all offer delights. Recommended!'-Mark Redfield, writer, director, and star of The Death of Poe (2004)'The collection opens on a long shot. The protagonist of Susan Hammerman’s 'A New You' is a midlifer in crisis seeking a reset at a spa promoting skin-deep rejuvenation. The outside chance that another reset is underway and that she is in fact fulfilling while under hypnosis her death wish to get even fits the projection dynamic of Doctor Caligari and his inner avenger, Cesar. Although no German name or frame is given in the story, the spa is after all in Los Angeles where the refugees from the equation Kracauer drew between Caligari and Hitler faced another version of the problem they thought they had left behind. The closing story, 'Totenkopf' by Gary D. Rhodes, is a direct hit, and in the splinters scattered across the environs of Berlin we encounter all the figments and figures of German horror cinema, fictional and historical, dead and alive, made in Babelsberg and made in Hollywood. That the protagonist in charge of this projection is a Hollywood private eye fits the collection’s bicoastal dynamic -- in which the other Coast is, of course, Germany.'-Laurence A. Rickels, author of The Case of California and The Vampire LecturesFeaturing stories by Steve Berman, Stephen R. Bissette, Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, Jeffrey Ford, Donald F. Glut, Argyle Goolsby, Robert Guffey, Susan Hammerman, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, J. D. Horn, Tingting Hu, Pedro Iniguez, Martyn Pedler, Ana Teresa Pereira, Charles Rammelkamp, Andy Rausch, Gary D. Rhodes, Jayaprakash Satyamurthy, Cynthia L. Shepard, Gregory Shepard, Michael L. Shuman, Robert Singer, Matthew Sorrento, John Talbird, George Toles, J. M. Tyree, Robb T. White