Terence Fisher: Auteur
In creating this video essay, I sought to question the intersection of genre studies and auteur theory. In studying auteur theory, our book mentions Francois Truffaut, Alfred Hitchcock, Jean Renoir, Roberto Rossellini, Federico Fellini, and Michelangelo Antonioni as the definition of an auteur, however this places several restrictions upon auteurship. With the exception of Hitchcock, all of the examples given create primarily arthouse films, “serious” films not meant for mainstream audiences. With the inclusion of Hitchcock, all the examples also received near critical acclaim for their work. However, this leaves out those films with a strong creative vision and lasting influence that did not receive critical acclaim or come from genres typically deemed “less worthy”. In this video essay, I argue for the widening of auteurship to include all filmmakers who satisfy those two requirements: a strong creative vision and lasting influence, regardless of genre or critical acclaim. To argue this point, I examine the vision and influence of the films of Terence Fisher, an English director who created incredibly popular horror films in …
Ryan Handley graduated OU with a minor in Cinema Studies in 2020. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in film preservation at the L. Jeffrey Selznick School in Rochester, NY.