Although ostensibly presented as “light entertainment,” the work of writer-director-producer Joss Whedon takes much dark inspiration from the horror genre to create a unique aesthetic and perform a cultural critique. Featuring monsters, the undead, as well as drawing upon folklore and fairy tales, his many productions both celebrate and masterfully repurpose the traditions of horror for their own means. Woofter and Jowett’s collection looks at how Whedon revisits existing feminist tropes in the ‘70s and ‘80s “slasher” craze via Buffy the Vampire Slayer to create a feminist saga; the innovative use of silent cinema tropes to produce a new fear-laden, film-television intertext; postmodernist reflexivity in Cabin in the Woods; as well as exploring new concepts on “cosmic dread” and the sublime for a richer understanding of programmes Dollhouse and Firefly. Chapters provide the historical context of horror as well as the particular production backgrounds that by turns support, constrain or transform this mode of filmmaking. Informed by a wide range of theory from within philosophy, film studies, queer studies, psychoanalysis, feminism and other fields, the expert contributions to this volume prove the enduring relevance of Whedon’s genre-based universe to the study of film, television, popular culture and beyond.

Exposes both his deep affection for the horror genre and the complexity of the horror genre itself ... Provides a solid addition to study of the horror genre on both television and film, and in popular culture more generally. * Critical Studies in Television *
Joss Whedon vs. the Horror Tradition takes nothing for granted, appealing to fans of both the creator and the genre. Scholarly yet accessible, it should be pop-culture required reading. -- Elizabeth L. Rambo, Associate Professor of English at Campbell University, USA
This book will fascinate horror scholars and television scholars alike. The analyses are text-specific yet thoughtfully grounded in the context of the horror tradition. The writers are original and insightful. -- Rhonda V. Wilcox, Professor of English at Gordon State College, USA

Kristopher Karl Woofter teaches on the American Gothic, horror and the “Weird tradition” in literature, cinema and television at Dawson College, Canada.

Lorna Jowett is Reader in Television Studies at the University of Northampton, UK.