When we speak of collectively remembering the First World War our thoughts naturally turn to poppies worn on lapels and observing a moment of silence on Nov. 11. In Wasteland: The Great War and the Origins of Modern Horror (Counterpoint) historian W. Scott Poole argues that the traumas of the First World War still echo through our culture 100 years later. In a new book, In Wasteland: The Great War and the Origins of Modern Horror, W. Scott Poole argues the genre was shaped by First World War veterans who discovered a new capacity for shock due to what they saw on the battlefield. ( Jackson Lee Davis / AMC/Tribune News Service )Poole insists that we cannot understand horror without reference to the First World War. “Armies of the living dead, séances gone wrong, vampires, mirrors as deadly invitations to another world, murderous slashers — all these appear in the work of the directors of the First World War era.” The list of war veterans who also helped created the first great horror films is impressive.

Source: thestar November 11, 2018 11:38 UTC