One of Hollywood's most endearing strengths is its ability to survive its own cannibalistic impulses. While film is certainly not the first medium to successfully criticize itself, Hollywood's cadre of horror filmmakers have been particularly effective in using self-deprecation and self-parody to pave new artistic paths. Although Peter Bogdanovich is no monolith in the horror genre, as an actor, director, critic, film editor, screenwriter, film historian, author, and general cinephile, his shadow transcends the horror clique. Like all good auteurs, Bogdanovich doesn't restrict himself to one genre; his one great foray into horror, Targets, released in 1968, reveals an acute sense of the genre's history and future. More importantly, he is keenly aware of the relationship between the two.(read more...)
