Gothic fiction whose best-known work was the 1960 Hollywood horror novel "What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?" Farrell's novels spawned a subgenre of "Grande Dame Guignol" in the cinema, represented by such films as the 1962 film based on Farrell's novel, which starred Bette Davis versus Joan Crawford; this subgenre of films was dubbed the "psycho-biddy" genre. Many modern writers of horror (or indeed other types of fiction) exhibit considerable Gothic sensibilities—examples include the works of Anne Rice, Stella Coulson, Susan Hill, Poppy Z. Brite and Neil Gaiman as well as some of the sensationalist works of Stephen King Thomas M. Disch's
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962 film) with Elvira's murder see Blanche lying motionless on the sand and rush to her. The film ends without revealing whether Blanche survives her ordeal. Bette Davis created her own makeup for the role of "Baby Jane" Hudson. Director Robert Aldrich said it closely matched his idea for the character's grotesque makeup, but he was afraid to suggest it lest he offend Davis. Unlike most of her peers in Hollywood, Davis was unafraid to wear ugly costumes and makeup if they enhanced her performance. She wore unflattering makeup portraying a vain socialite disfigured by diphtheria in "Mr. Skeffington" (1944), and donned