Polish cinematography has a reputation of being short on horror movies. During this lecture I will try to tackle this false conviction, which originates from the fact that during the list creation of Polish horror movies, usually only feature films are taken into consideration. Meanwhile the PRL equivalent of the Hollywood B movies, in proximity which genre cinema blossomed, where TV movies and spectacles from the Television Theatre. TV was treated at that time with negligence as a trivial medium, simple entertainment. It saved horror movies from the censorship, allowing it to stay hidden under the unfavourable political climate, as a Theatre of Vampires, that allowed for the blood sucking sect to survive by pretending to be themselves. Thanks to them such gems were created as „Upiór” (1967, directed by Stanisław Lenartowicz), „Carmilla” (1980, directed by Janusz Kondratiuk) or „Chciałbym się ogolić” (1966, directed by Andrzej Kondratiuk) that a true fan of the genre should get familiar with.
Magdalena Kamińska – DSc, adjunct at the Faculty of Film and Audio-Visual Culture at Cultural Studies Institute at UAM. Her interests: cyber-culture, archaeology and genealogy of audio-visual medias. Author and co-author of over 40 science articles and six monographies: Virtual reality as „re-enchantment of the world”. Question about the cognitive concept, Wicked memes. Twelve lectures about the internet culture, Presumption in Pop Industry. Analysis of Polish companies from the entertainment branches, Cultural Theory and History: Innovation Upiór w kamerze. Draft of the cultural history of horror films and Memosphere. Introduction to cyberculture.
