Hollywood Gothic
A leading expert on the culture of horror, David J. Skal is the author of numerous critically acclaimed books, including The Monster Show (Faber, 2001); Death Makes a Holiday; Screams of Reason; and, with Elias Savada, Dark Carnival: The Secret World of Tod Browning. With Nina Auerbach, he is co-editor of the Norton Critical Edition of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. His writing has appeared in a variety of publications, ranging from The New York Times to Cinefantastique, and, for television, on the A&E series Biography. He has written, produced, and directed a dozen original DVD documentaries, including features on Universal Studios’ classic monster movies, and a behind-the-scenes chronicle of the Academy Award-winning film Gods and Monsters. A longtime New Yorker, he currently lives and writes in Glendale, California, and welcomes reader response at his official Web site, www.monstershow.net.