On today’s episode we’re handling with scare two film festival darlings: J.D. Dillard’s Sweetheart and Kurtis David Harder’s Spiral. Genre hybrids with political messages very much in the cultural zeitgeist, both films are currently garnering buzz on social media. But do they deserve the accolades? We’re talking movie monsters, Republicans and representation in this episode, so stay tuned!
In this special episode of Horror Homeroom Conversations, we’re talking about what movies have scared the hell out of us over the years. From irascible aliens to malevolent ghosts to religious zealots, we’re breaking down our biggest fears and thinking about why it is that we are so drawn to horror.
Greetings thrill shriekers! In this episode of Horror Homeroom Conversations, we’re adding some shlock to our shock by reconsidering the Creepshow franchise. Beloved and reviled in equal measure for its decidedly campy love letter to EC horror comics of the 1950s, Creepshow is arguably still the standard for cinematic anthology horror. But does it deserve its accolades? We’re debating the franchise’s legacy and why the films still make our hearts go flopsy when we contemplate your sweet autopsy. So stay tuned!
The question as to whether an examination of societal inequality can exist in the space between documented historical atrocities and traditional horror filmmaking is answered, although only in part, by Bernard Rose’s Candyman (1992). Heavy on the visceral thrills we expect from the genre, the film succeeds in asking some very pointed questions about race and class, even if the answers are deeply problematic. Certainly, Candyman’s titular villain is a unique manifestation of the intersection between race and historical memory in popular culture and so I am interested in taking a closer look at the film’s underlying social narrative.
On today’s episode we’re talking The Curse of La Llorona (2019), Michael Chaves’ ode to the popular Mexican folk story in which a ghostly woman in white stalks and kills young children. Does this horror film introduce some much needed Latinx representation into American horror film or does its potential go unmet? And how does the film’s positioning of a white woman as the heroine impact audience spectatorship? We’re a divided Horror Homeroom crew on this episode, so stay tuned!
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