Fears of a Nation: German Horror Cinema Since 1945

By Kai-Uwe Werbeck

Tracing the German national consciousness through horror film since 1945.

This bold study offers critical attention to post-1945 German horror film and how the genre sheds light on the nation's fears and anxieties. Cinematic horror has been largely neglected in German film criticism, and this study theorizes the genre as a "cultural abject," where its censorship and relegation to the margins reveals a national reluctance to sit with the undercurrents of postwar society: lingering fascism alongside economic instability, the potential failure of democratic development, the consequences of sexual freedom, the threat of nuclear conflict, and the loss of national identity and autonomy. Weaving together rich scene analysis--from films such as Der Frosch mit der Maske (Face of the Frog, 1959), Jonathan (1970), and The Burning Moon (1992)--and German national history, this book excavates the country's emerging consciousness as it reconciles the all-too-real horrors of its past with an uncertain future.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0814353207
• ISBN13: 9780814353202
• Release Date: January 2027
• Publisher: Wayne State University Press
• Length: 382 Pages
• Weight: 1.17 lbs.