It’s Women in Horror Month and we’re taking on Amy Holden Jones’ The Slumber Party Massacre (1982). Both adored and reviled, this cult classic consistently divides audiences. Is it feminist? Is it exploitative? Can it be both?
Today the Horror Homeroom crew is weighing in on those questions as well as asking whether death by a 12-inch drill can ever be anything other than phallic.
Love it or hate it, Pet Sematary (1989) remains one of the most controversial entries in the Stephen King cinematic oeuvre. Today we are diving into this controversial examination of grief and looking at all the ways in which the movie transgresses against cultural taboos. Does the movie’s most shocking moments still hold up?
The entire Horror Homeroom crew is here and we’re talking Jud’s questionable nature, what Zelda brings to the story, whether we should be watching the movie as folk horror and so much more!
Holiday horror is a mixed bag. For every acknowledged gem (Rare Exports, Better Watch Out), there exist some seriously awful yuletide tales (Santa Claws, To All a Good Night). Occasionally though, a film will get it so right that it establishes a template for the films that followed. Such is the case with the cult classic Black Christmas (1974). Criminally overlooked, this film by Bob Clark is typically recognized for establishing some of the most well-known tropes of the slasher genre. But it is its transgressive female characters that really steal the show and leave us asking why these characterizations didn’t become the standard.
In this Horror Homeroom Conversation, we’re kicking it back to 1974 with the ultimate holiday horror film, Black Christmas, and considering how the depictions of women in horror might be different had this film had gone mainstream.
The comedy-horror hybrid can be a tricky genre to get right. This is especially true of those films that attempt to leverage well known monsters. And while names such as Dracula and Werewolf pop up fairly frequently in these types of films, it is The Creature from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein that offers arguably the most interesting template from which to draw inspiration. While some films focus primarily on achieving humor (Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, I Was a Teenage Frankenstein), others dial back the levity to create a more transgressive viewing experience (Lady Frankenstein, Frankenhooker). But one film that manages to blend both aims seamlessly while also offering up a healthy dose of social commentary is The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). Read more
The weeks after Halloween can feel especially dark. Stores trade in their creepy displays of severed limbs and cobwebs for sparkly tree ornaments and festive lights. For fans of the macabre, it can be downright depressing! Like American Horror Story teen angst levels of depressing!
So to stave off the November doldrums, Horror Homeroom kicked it up a notch by offering an exclusive chapter from Scared Sacred, a look at how Channel Zero is remaking horror television, a reconsideration of the rape scene in Young Frankenstein, and an anniversary look at sex and sisterhood in The Slumber Party Massacre. We followed those essential reads up with a consideration of what is the real horror in It Follows, a list of five horror films set in snowy landscapes, an interview with Boston Underground Film Festival’s Director of Programming, and a must read look at Salem’s Lot and the threat of nuclear war.
That’s a lot of reading goodness and pairs especially well with another piece of pumpkin pie from the fridge. But we’re not done yet! We’re rousing ourselves from our Thanksgiving Day food comas to bring you this month’s very best horror related reads from around the interwebs! Go grab yourself a turkey leg and let’s dig in! Read more
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