In the concluding section of the first edition of English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema, Jonathan Rigby stated that ‘like all things, the British horror cinema emerged, flowered briefly, decayed and then died’ (2000: 245). Although a number of independently produced, lowbudget horror films, did emerge amid the success of Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Trainspotting (1996) and The Full Monty (1997), controversies surrounding the alleged Child’s Play 3 (1990)-inspired murder of James Bulger and the press furore sparked by the likes of Crash (1996) did not provide the most welcoming environment for indigenous horror production. As Steve Chibnall and Julian Petley have argued, no one in their right mind would have produced a British ‘video nasty’ equivalent at this time, ‘and just imagine what would happen were a film company to even suggest making a film about, say, Fred and Rosemary West . . . or the Bulger murder’ (2002: 7–8). Despite the premature publication of its obituaries, however, horror has become one of the most prolific British film genres of the twentyfirst century, with hundreds of films having been produced either in