Barrenechea Publishes Book on Latin American Gothic Cinema

Professor of English Antonio Barrenechea will publish a new book this year on Latin American gothic cinema with Bloomsbury Publishing. The book can be pre-ordered and will be available January 8, 2026.

In the book, Studies in Groovy Gothic Cinema, Barrenechea launches an inquiry into inter-American exploitation cinema-a horror cinema which captured the rise of ’60s counterculture and youth-oriented lifestyles-as it harnessed the cultural zeitgeist through gratuitous depictions of sex, blood, and music.

Despite the genre’s cultural impact, Barrenechea argues, its association with vulgar taste, shoestring budgets, and cheap thrills makes it often overlooked in existing cinema history and scholarship. This book places film studies and comparative American studies into a new conversation involving exploitation cinema, targeting an American hemispheric tradition and considering how art and trash intersect in undisciplined ways.

Barrenechea examines low-budget cinema produced in filmmaking capitals of the Western Hemisphere, including Mexican monster films, Brazilian psychedelia, Argentine sci-fi, Canadian splatter, and Hollywood grindhouse, ultimately yielding a new cinema history that is both messier and more inclusive.

Learn more about or order Barrenechea’s book Studies in Groovy Gothic Cinema.