David J. Skal
| David J. Skal | |
|---|---|
| Born |
June 21, 1952 Garfield Heights, Ohio, United States |
| Occupation | Film critic writer cultural historian on-camera commentator |
David John Skal (born June 21, 1952 in Garfield Heights, Ohio) is an American cultural historian, critic, writer, and on-camera commentator known for his research and analysis of horror films and horror literature.
Skal studied journalism at Ohio University, where he worked as a film critic and assistant editor for the college's newspaper. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1974. After graduation, he interned with the National Endowment for the Arts and became the publicity director for the Hartford Stage Company. He later held positions with the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and the Theatre Communications Group of New York. During the 1980s, Skal completed three science fiction novels: Scavengers (1980), When We Were Good (1981), and Antibodies (1988).
Skal's first nonfiction work was 1990's Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen. This book discusses the various adaptations of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula, and the role of the vampire archetype in popular culture. A large portion of the book describes the efforts of Stoker's widow Florence to protect the rights to her husband's work. The book also contains the first in-depth study of a Spanish-language Dracula film produced in 1931. Kathleen Quinn of the New York Times praised Hollywood Gothic, writing, "Skal tracks Transylvania's most popular vampire with dry wit and the skills of a fine detective." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called it "witty and comprehensive", and quipped that it was "something to gnaw on long after those trick-or-treaters are gone". Writing in 2004, David Colton of USA Today noted that the book had "become one of the field's essential reads" and had "[raised] the standards for horror researchers".
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