130,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿 

Happy Long Weekend! We're open all 3 days! 📚 Open 7 days, 8:30am–5pm

Men, Women, and Chain Saws

Gender in the Modern Horror Film - Updated Edition
4.0 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating.
( 3,209 ratings, 472 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Men, Women, and Chain Saws offers a groundbreaking analysis of horror cinema from the mid-1970s onwards, focusing on slasher, occult, and rape-revenge films. Carol J. Clover reveals how these movies align viewers with the "final girls"—female characters who endure terror and degradation before triumphing—challenging the traditional notion that such films cater solely to male sadistic pleasures. This insightful work explores the empowerment of women within horror's low-budget tradition and its influence on mainstream thrillers.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$4799
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 4-6 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is ideal for students of film theory, gender studies scholars, and fans of horror cinema interested in cultural analysis. Its academic yet accessible approach will also appeal to filmmakers and anyone fascinated by the intersection of gender and popular culture.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

From its first publication in 1992, Men, Women, and Chain Saws has offered a groundbreaking perspective on the creativity and influence of horror cinema since the mid-1970s. Investigating the popularity of the low-budget tradition, Carol Clover looks in particular at slasher, occult, and rape-revenge films. Although such movies have been traditiona

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

From its first publication in 1992, Men, Women, and Chain Saws has offered a groundbreaking perspective on the creativity and influence of horror cinema since the mid-1970s.

Investigating the popularity of the low-budget tradition, Carol Clover looks in particular at slasher, occult, and rape-revenge films. Although such movies have been traditionally understood as offering only sadistic pleasures to their mostly male audiences, Clover demonstrates that they align spectators not with the male tormentor, but with the females tormented—notably the slasher movie's "final girls"—as they endure fear and degradation before rising to save themselves.

The lesson was not lost on the mainstream industry, which was soon turning out the formula in well-made thrillers. Including a new preface by the author, this Princeton Classics edition is a definitive work that has found an avid readership from students of film theory to major Hollywood filmmakers.

Series: Princeton Classics

View all
  • Mimesis
    More than half a century after its translation into English, Erich Auerbach's Mimesis remains a masterpiece of literary criticism. A brilliant display of erudition, wit, and wisdom, his exploration of how great European writers from Homer to Virginia Woolf depicted reality has taught generations how to read Western literature. This new expanded edition includes a substantial essay in introduction by...
    Paperback
    $5200
    Elsewhere:
    $5499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Difference
    In this landmark book, Scott Page redefines the way we understand ourselves in relation to one another. The Difference is about how we think in groups and how our collective wisdom exceeds the sum of its parts. Why can teams of people find better solutions than brilliant individuals working alone? And why are the best group decisions and predictions those...
    Paperback
    $4499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Russia Leaves the War
    Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Bancroft Prize, and the Parkman Prize From acclaimed diplomat and historian George Kennan, a landmark history of the crucial months in 1917–1918 that forged the pattern of Soviet-American relations When the Bolsheviks seized power in November 1917, American diplomats in St. Petersburg and Moscow found themselves in a bewildering situation....
    Paperback
    $5799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Racism
    Are antisemitism and white supremacy manifestations of a general phenomenon? Why didn't racism appear in Europe before the fourteenth century, and why did it flourish as never before in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries? Why did the twentieth century see institutionalised racism in its most extreme forms? Why are egalitarian societies particularly susceptible to virulent racism? What do apartheid South...
    Paperback
    $6100
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • The Great Divergence
    A landmark comparative history of Europe and China that examines why the Industrial Revolution emerged in the West. The Great Divergence sheds light on one of the great questions of history: Why did sustained industrial growth begin in Northwest Europe? Historian Kenneth Pomeranz shows that as recently as 1750, life expectancy, consumption, and product and factor markets were comparable in...
    Paperback
    $5500
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • The Coming of the French Revolution
    The Coming of the French Revolution remains essential reading for anyone interested in the origins of this great turning point in the formation of the modern world. First published in 1939, on the eve of the Second World War, and suppressed by the Vichy government, this classic work explains what happened in France in 1789, the first year of the...
    Paperback
    $5499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Open Society and Its Enemies
    A landmark defence of democracy that has been hailed as one of the most important books of the twentieth century One of the most important books of the twentieth century, The Open Society and Its Enemies is an uncompromising defence of liberal democracy and a powerful attack on the intellectual origins of totalitarianism. An immediate sensation when it was first...
    Paperback
    $10000
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Reasons of Love
    A clear, accessible exploration of how and why we love by prominent philosopher and bestselling author Harry Frankfurt. In The Reasons of Love, leading moral philosopher and bestselling author Harry Frankfurt argues that the key to a fulfilled life is to pursue wholeheartedly what one cares about, that love is the most authoritative form of caring, and that the purest...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The King's Two Bodies
    Originally published in 1957, this classic work has guided generations of scholars through the arcane mysteries of medieval political theology. Throughout history, the notion of two bodies has permitted the post mortem continuity of monarch and monarchy, as epitomised by the statement, The king is dead. Long live the king. In The King's Two Bodies, Ernst Kantorowicz traces the historical...
    Paperback
    $10500
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales
    Murder, mutilation, cannibalism, infanticide, and incest: the darker side of classic fairy tales is the subject of this groundbreaking and intriguing study of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm's Nursery and Household Tales. This expanded edition includes a new preface and an appendix featuring translations of six tales with commentary by Maria Tatar. Throughout the book, Tatar draws on the disciplinary tools...
    Paperback
    $6499
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • The Machiavellian Moment
    Originally published in 1975, The Machiavellian Moment remains a landmark of historical and political thought. Celebrated historian J.G.A. Pocock looks at the consequences for modern historical and social consciousness arising from the ideal of the classical republic revived by Machiavelli and other thinkers of Renaissance Italy. Pocock shows that Machiavelli's prime emphasis was on the moment in which the republic...
    Paperback
    $10500
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Not for Profit
    In this short and powerful book, celebrated philosopher Martha C. Nussbaum makes a passionate case for the importance of the liberal arts at all levels of education. Historically, the humanities have been central to education because they have been seen as essential for creating competent democratic citizens. But recently, Nussbaum argues, thinking about the aims of education has gone disturbingly...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Men, Women, and Chain Saws has been praised as a brilliant and compelling study of gender in horror films. Linda Ruth Williams of Sight and Sound highlights Clover's argument that horror movies centre on feminism and a "victim-identified" perspective rather than a controlling gaze. Andrea Walsh from The Boston Globe notes the book's challenge to simple gender assumptions, praising its exploration of gender ambiguity and subversion. Misha Berson of the San Francisco Chronicle acknowledges Clover's convincing encouragement to view exploitation horror as reflecting contemporary psychological concerns.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780691166292

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 26 May 2015

Country: United States

Imprint: Princeton University Press

Edition: Updated Edition

Illustration: 23 halftones.

Contributors:

  • Preface by Carol J. Clover

Audience: Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Width: 140.0mm

Height: 216.0mm

Weight: 227g

Pages: 276

About the Author

Carol J. Clover is the Class of 1936 Professor Emerita in the departments of rhetoric, film, and Scandinavian at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of The Medieval Saga.

More from Arts & Culture

View all
  • Dylan's Pick
    Bold Types
    A tribute to 32 truly independent bookshops throughout Aotearoa New Zealand, from north of Auckland down to Dunedin, and coast to coast. Jane Ussher's photographs show every bookstore in its unique nature - including behind the counter, smoko rooms, the mess which tells the hardworking story behind the joy of matching books with customers. Jemma Moreira's careful editing has crafted...
    Hardback
    $5999
    Elsewhere:
    $7000
    In Stock
    Ships Tuesday
  • New Release
    I’ll Believe in Anything
    From Jacob Tierney, the creator of Heated Rivalry, in partnership with Brendan Brady and Accent Aigu, comes I’ll Believe in Anything, an official and complete collection of annotated scripts for the biggest cultural sensation of the year, with all new exclusive behind-the-scenes content.Based on Rachel Reid’s blockbuster Game Changers book series, Heated Rivalry premiered on Crave and HBO in late 2025 and immediately took the world by storm. I’ll...
    Hardback
    $5499
    Elsewhere:
    $6000
    In Stock
    Ships Tuesday
  • On Sale
    16% off
    New Release
    Home Again
    Join rock-legend, former Shihad frontman and lead singer of The Adults, Jon Toogood in this unflinching and no-holds-barred memoir Home Again.This is more than a rock story. Toogood looks back on a 37-year career that helped define New Zealand rock music, and the personal cost that came with it. From a music-obsessed childhood in Wellington to the deafening roar of international stages, this...
    Paperback
    $2700
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships Tuesday
  • On Sale
    20% off
    The Odyssey
    Composed at the rosy-fingered dawn of world literature almost three millennia ago, The Odyssey is a poem about violence and the aftermath of war; about wealth, poverty and power; about marriage and family; about travellers, hospitality, and the yearning for home. This fresh, authoritative translation captures the beauty of this ancient poem as well as the drama of its narrative....
    By Homer
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $3599
    In Stock
    Ships Tuesday
  • On Sale
    21% off
    The Iliad
    When Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey appeared in 2017—revealing the ancient poem in a contemporary idiom that was "fresh, unpretentious and lean" (Madeline Miller, Washington Post)—critics lauded it as "a revelation" (Susan Chira, New York Times) and "a cultural landmark" (Charlotte Higgins, Guardian) that would forever change how Homer is read in English. Now Wilson has returned with an...
    By Homer
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships Tuesday
  • New Release
    A Life in Lyrics
    Freddie Mercury was one of the greatest showmen of the twentieth century. With his unparalleled voice and searing on-stage energy, he was a great pretender, a killer queen and a champion of the world. But behind the glamour lived a musician and lyricist talented beyond measure, and the creative force behind one of the most culturally significant and musically diverse...
    Hardback
    $5000
    Elsewhere:
    $6500
    In Stock
    Ships Tuesday
  • Disney Moana: The Official Cookbook
    On Sale
    20% off
    Disney Moana: The Official Cookbook
    Embark on a culinary adventure with Moana of Motunui with Pacific recipes inspired by Moana and Moana 2! After a long day of sailing to see how far you’ll go or keeping the demigod Maui out of trouble with Te Fiti, catch a break with the delicious dishes in Moana: The Official Cookbook! Featuring more than 50 recipes spanning the...
    Hardback
    $3600
    Elsewhere:
    $5299
    In Stock
    Ships Tuesday
  • Birdlands Birdlands
    New Release
    Birdlands
    A rare, intimate journey into the wild islands where Aotearoa's birds live beyond the reach of most human lives. In the most remote outposts of Aotearoa, our islands are populated not with people, but with birds. From the storm-lashed Subantarctic Islands in the deep south to the scattered volcanic islands of Tikapa Moana/Hauraki Gulf in the north, Birdlands offers a...
    Hardback
    $4199
    Elsewhere:
    $5000
    In Stock
    Ships Tuesday
  • On Sale
    21% off
    This Angry Pen of Mine
    This Angry Pen of Mine by Layne Staley invites you to dive into the untold creative world of Layne Staley, the legendary voice behind Alice in Chains. This extraordinary collection showcases his handwritten lyrics, deeply personal poetry, stunning original artwork, rare photos, fan tributes, and so much more. Step into the world of Layne Staley like never before. For the...
    Hardback
    $5800
    Elsewhere:
    $8999
    In Stock
    Ships Tuesday
  • Beautiful Chaos
    New Release
    Beautiful Chaos
    Featuring five exclusive new poems, this stunning foil-embossed hardback edition is a collector's item and a gorgeous gift. The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller. Selected poems on motherhood from bestselling author and Instagram poet, Jessica Urlichs. 'Reading Jess's poems makes me feel like she's somehow reached into my own personal reflections and articulated them in a way I never could.' –...
    Hardback
    $3299
    Elsewhere:
    $4000
    In Stock
    Ships Tuesday
  • Split Enz
    New Release
    Split Enz
    'My favourite band. Ever! And certainly the best dressed.' Sam Neill Split Enz were never designed to fit. Emerging from art school mischief in early-1970s New Zealand, they turned pop into surreal theatre: costume, character and melody colliding in a rock band that refused to behave like one. At the centre of that vision was Noel Crombie—percussionist, performer and the...
    Hardback
    $5199
    Elsewhere:
    $6500
    In Stock
    Ships Tuesday
  • Mah Jong Player's Companion
    Since the arrival on the market of Patricia Thompson and Betty Maloney's two previous books, The Game of Mah Jong Illustrated and Improve Your Mah Jong, a wide range of hands from many parts of the world has been sent to them. In this player's companion, the authors have put together a cross-filled reference guide where over 120 hands, illustrated...
    Paperback
    $1999
    Elsewhere:
    $2299
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships Tuesday

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.