Skip to main content

Why Are We So Captivated by Vampires?

Film historian David J. Skal. He's an expert on the horror film genre. His books include Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen (W.W. Norton) and The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror (Penguin, paperback). His newest book (written in collaboration with Elias Savada) is Dark Carnival: The Secret World of Tod Browning, Hollywood's Master of the Macabre (Anchor Books). Tod Browning was a film director who earned the reputation as "the Edgar Allan Poe of the cinema." He directed Lon Chaney and Bela Lugosi and made such films as "Dracula" and the "repellent. . . and pathetic" "Freaks."

14:06

Other segments from the episode on October 31, 1995

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, October 31, 1995: Interview with David J. Skal; Commentary on New Orleans and rock music; Interview with Elmore Leonard.

Transcript

Transcript currently not available.

Transcripts are created on a rush deadline, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of Fresh Air interviews and reviews are the audio recordings of each segment.

You May Also like

Did you know you can create a shareable playlist?

Advertisement

There are more than 22,000 Fresh Air segments.

Let us help you find exactly what you want to hear.
Just play me something
Your Queue

Would you like to make a playlist based on your queue?

Generate & Share View/Edit Your Queue