Since Ackbar Abbas theorized Hong Kong as a space of cultural 'disappearance' in the mid-1990s, critics have debated the extent to which local cultural forms have continued to recede, particularly as a corollary of Hong Kong's increasing subjection to mainlandization. For several critics, the region's cinema has already vanished from view, only to re-emerge in a brand new, distinctly Sinicized guise -that of 'post-Hong Kong cinema,' a mode of predominantly coproduced filmmaking that effaces traditional Hong Kong aesthetics and routines of film practice. So thoroughly has Hong Kong cinema been subsumed to China that its once 'unique' and 'singular' identity is no longer discernible. The shackles of PRC censorship now stifle free expression; Hong Kong's classic genres have become obsolete; and the PRC's vogue for 'main melody' films and the dapian ('big film') has straitened Hong Kong cinema's range of storytelling options. Today, critics contend, Hong Kong filmmakers are severely constrained by Mainland bureaucracy and the exigencies of the China market. This article seeks to challenge these assumptions, contesting a set of apparent truisms concerning Mainland censorship, Hong Kong-China coproductions, and the dissipation or disappearance of Hong Kong's local cinema and identity. The theory of mainlandization, I submit, denies the durability of Hong Kong's standardized craft practices; its aesthetic traditions; and the facile ingenuity of its filmmakers.

This introduction to Hong Kong Horror Cinema introduces Hong Kong horror from a variety of perspectives, charting the history and development of the genre and citing key films and filmmakers; it puts Hong Kong horror in the context of East Asian horror more broadly, discussing some of the cultural specificities of Hong Kong horror that differentiate it from the popular and historical horror cycles from Japan, South Korea, Thailand and China; it provides a brief overview of horror studies within the field of academic theory, and suggests ways in which Hong Kong horror films can contribute new perspectives to these well-rehearsed arguments. A brief survey of literature covers the major related works from the fields of Hong Kong cinema and horror film history, and in doing so, makes a case for the importance, timeliness and originality of this anthology. The introduction also includes a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of Hong Kong Horror Cinema, explaining the division of chapters into sections and drawing pertinent connections between the varied studies that follow.

This essay seeks to identify and examine 'problematic' aesthetic strategies in DavidKoepp 's Secret Window (2004) Recent Hollywood cinema has elaborated an extant fascination with self-deceptive protagonists and shock twists.

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