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Rating: 
Summary: Well written, researched analysis of horror of "the other"
Review: "Monsters in the Closet" opens up a whole new way of looking at horror movies. It's fascinating to see the subtle and not-so-subtle ways in which film makers from the 30's on exploited the average film viewer's sexual fears of being different, of being "the other" through linking monsters and homosexuality. The book also compares many of these films with the original prints, before being cut by the censors. And it even quotes censor memos about cutting out some of the "pansy" stuff. For a basically academic book, it's also well written and cogent. My one criticism is that the author seems to go a little overboard in finding homoerotic relationships. While it's true, for example, that various mad scientists had male assistants, it's also true that the film needed some there to create a dialogue and that, pre-women's lib, female assistants were probably frowned upon by film censors as inappropriate gender roles. Still, it's a great read. Extra bonus: One of the films most analyzed -- "The Old Dark House" (1932) -- includes Gloria Stuart, who became the oldest supporting actress ever nominated for an Oscar for her performance in "Titanic." She told USA Today that "The Old Dark House" was her last big break until "Titanic" Quite a long dry spot!
Rating:
Summary: Gay horrors.
Review: Benshoff examines "the media representation of queer people," read through "the homosexual implications of popular culture artifacts." The artifact here is the horror film, treated in five chapters: 1) the 1930s era "classical Hollywood film," typified by the Karloff and Lugosi thrillers entangled in Production Code problems; 2) World War II era B-pictures, mainly from Universal and RKO Studios; 3) the cold war era "creature features" and Ed Wood quickies, influenced as much by Kinsey's sexology as by McCarthy's paranoia; 4) the Stonewall era, where "gay lib" clashes with "homosexploitation" in films like "Theatre of Blood" (1973); 5) the postmodern era (set here as after 1975), when horror is more upscale, overtly gay, and tied to AIDS themes and a slasher sensibility. Benshoff's well-researched study identifies both homoerotic and homophobic subtexts in films like "The Creature from the Black Lagoon" (1954); he argues that low-budget pictures better convey the paradoxical nature of forbidden sexualities than mainstream films do. The coverage is broad, with no film given more than a few pages of attention, and many no more than a mention in passing. Benshoff's focus is the political, social and critical implications of an evolving genre of film. This study resembles two excellent ones with comparably broad coverage-Parker Tyler's eccentric "Screening the Sexes" (1972) and Vito Russo's nonacademic study, "The Celluloid Closet" (1981, rev. 1987)-but is more up-to-date, theoretically oriented, and genre specific. The 31 stills, bibliography and index all enhance the book. Recommended to anyone interested who is unintimidated by a little critical theory, Foucauldian or otherwise.
Rating: 
Summary: Silly, silly book
Review: Early in the book, author Benshoff tips his hand when he starts quoting Foucault. This means that we are in the land of deconstructionism where there is no reality, no truth-everything is because the writer says it is-so there! No proof of any of his assertions are necessary. Why should there be? There are no facts-everything is relative so why bother? One could point out the factual errors, the contradictions in logic within the book, the points where the author contradicts himself, the statements about films that are not justified by even a cursory examinatation of the films in question. One could point to the intentions of the film makers involved. One could but what would be the point? The book exists in its own world where facts, logic, consistency and linear thought do not exist. None of the above points would apply in this world. Monsters in the Closet floats in a miasma of unreality. The book is unreviewable.
Rating: 
Summary: Gem of a book
Review: I find myself going back to this book over and over again, as it is so filled with insightful readings of many of my favorite old horror films. Fun, thought-provoking, and a real page-turner. I hope a 2nd edition comes out updated to the newest queerly inflected horror films.By the way, ignore the "reviewer" who claims that by quoting Foucault, Benshoff "tips his hand" as a dreaded "deconstructionist" and thus invalidates his whole book. First, the book is hardly a headache inducing "theory book". Second, Foucault was NOT a deconstructionist at all!!! The reviewer is obviously confusing Michel Foucault with Jacques Derrida, which basically invalidates not the book, but that person's whole argument!
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, Thought-Provoking Book
Review: I found this to be a very interesting treatment of a fascinating topic. Comparatively jargon-free, and entirely accessible to anyone interested enough to pick it up and read it seriously. Benshoff does not claim that his is the only view of the films considered. He offers his perspective on these films, and it is a most interesting and fresh look at a group of films all too often ignored. Well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, Thought-Provoking Book
Review: I found this to be a very interesting treatment of a fascinating topic. Comparatively jargon-free, and entirely accessible to anyone interested enough to pick it up and read it seriously. Benshoff does not claim that his is the only view of the films considered. He offers his perspective on these films, and it is a most interesting and fresh look at a group of films all too often ignored. Well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Gem of a book
Review: In spite of having a context of sociological theory, this is a racy even humorous tour of the subject from the 1930s to the 1980s. There are a number of themes, for example the projection of gays on the screen as a threat to "normal" family values and the links between violence and sexual difference. Here and there the author may be over the top. Thus the notion of the Frankenstein monster having a physical relationship with the blind hermit or, in a later film with Ygor, will not be believed by all. But Benshoff would not claim to be uncontroversial. And he is certainly right in his conclusion that horror movies are influential in defining gay sub culture more generally. In the words of the personal ad, "Count Dracula seeks Jonathan Harker for fun times."
Rating:
Summary: Monster queers on the rampage.
Review: In spite of having a context of sociological theory, this is a racy even humorous tour of the subject from the 1930s to the 1980s. There are a number of themes, for example the projection of gays on the screen as a threat to "normal" family values and the links between violence and sexual difference. Here and there the author may be over the top. Thus the notion of the Frankenstein monster having a physical relationship with the blind hermit or, in a later film with Ygor, will not be believed by all. But Benshoff would not claim to be uncontroversial. And he is certainly right in his conclusion that horror movies are influential in defining gay sub culture more generally. In the words of the personal ad, "Count Dracula seeks Jonathan Harker for fun times."
Rating: 
Summary: good discussion of a seldomly analyzed topic
Review: The one serious drawback to this book is the lack of any serious discussion of the fictional work of Poppy Z. Brite. Even though the author's primary focus is film, Brite's work takes Anne Rice's one step further. It won't be long until there are efforts to translate her work into a filmic medium. The homoerotic/sexual impulse finds its expression throughout Brite's work.
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