The Grand Guignol

the long version

From its beginnings in turn-of-the-century Paris and throughout its sixty-year reign of terror, the Theatre of the Grand Guignol gleefully celebrated horror and fear. Innocent victims, mangled beauty, insanity, mutilation, depravity, and guilt were its primary themes. By dissecting primal taboos in an unprecedentedly graphic manner, it became the progenitor of all the blood-spilling, eye-gouging, and limb-hacking "splatter" movies of today. This first English-language book on Grand Guignol examines its history, themes, and methods; summarizes its plots; provides the texts of two typical plays; and illustrates it with close to 100 pictures.