Crazy Old Ladies: The Story of Hag Horror

by Caroline Young

Overview

From the moment Bette Davis served up a dead rat to Joan Crawford in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? a subset of camp horror films was born. The 'Hag Horror' genre exploited the former Oscar-winners and glamour queens who had effectively built Hollywood, transforming them into grotesque caricatures that revealed a cultural disdain for older women.

In Crazy Old Ladies: The Story of Hag Horror, Caroline Young traces the development of this genre, from its origins in Sunset Boulevard and All About Eve, through to the horror movie phenomenon following the huge success of Psycho.

Films like Strait-Jacket, Lady in a Cage, What's the Matter with Helen? and Rosemary's Baby reveal the fears around the growing feminist movement, a clash between tradition and youth, and a shift in notions of celebrity. Above all, Crazy Old Ladies is a timely overview of the subgenre, to reveal the sometimes painful stories of what happened to iconic, ageing actresses once their career as leading ladies was considered over.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781629339979
Publisher:	BearManor Media
Publication date:	08/09/2022
Pages:	390
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

Editorial Reviews

10/04/2022

When Bette Davis and Joan Crawford were cast in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, they saw it as a comeback—evidence that actresses "of a certain age" still had a place in Hollywood. Unfortunately, that place was in hag horror (or more evocatively called Grande Dame Guignol), a loosely defined genre that often featured actresses from Hollywood's Golden Age in garish makeup and cast as unhinged spinsters. The genre would soon entice Olivia de Havilland, Debbie Reynolds, Veronica Lake, Tallulah Bankhead and others to film projects. Young (Hitchcock's Heroines) covers the phenomenon from the 1950 Sunset Boulevard until it waned with the rise of teen-focused slashers in the 1980s. She thoroughly covers not only the key hag horror films but also the careers of their stars and directors, supplemented with quotes mined from contemporary sources. Often this reads like a survey of that era of Hollywood instead of a study of a specific genre, and it's occasionally unclear if a role is truly "hagsploitation" or simply underwritten for an actress who deserved better. VERDICT Solidly and exhaustively researched and entertaining coverage of a horror subgenre. The lack of an index may limit its use for film studies.—Terry Bosky

Library Journal