Tales of the Supernatural (1970) Online

Tales of the Supernatural (1970) Online

The film analyzes the ways in which horror stories, or "ghost legends", are transmitted, the functions of such stories for the members of the group being filmed, and the relationship between transmission and function in the telling of the tales. The storytellers, a group of American teenagers, were in no way prompted so that the film could portray the event as it actually unfolded. The narration raises certain hypotheses regarding the nature of storytelling, and discusses the role of horror in oral narrative, literature, and mass media. For folklorists and anthropologists, and those interested in communicative events, performance, the processes of narrating, and the functions of legends and beliefs in America, the film is especially useful. Shot with natural lighting only: six candles and the flickering of a fire in a fireside.

Sharon R. Sherman is an ethnographer, academic folklorist, and independent documentary filmmaker. Sherman served as Director of the Folklore program for over twenty years at the University of Oregon where she is now Professor Emerita. She was trained in film at UCLA.