After a quick Google search, I was astounded as to how many blogs denounce Sleepaway Camp (1983) as transphobic. I’ve always been conscious of the film’s inherent homophobia – two children touch each other after seeing their father and his partner in bed, suggesting homosexuality as a taught paedophilic behaviour – but I’m less certain […]
When released in 2007 Teeth seemed to be a very misunderstood film, most particularly by its distributors who marketed it as a sexed-up up body-horror/monster movie. This was summed up by the UK DVD which features on its reverse a coquettish picture of lead character Dawn (Jess Weixler) with various blood splatters around the text. […]
There remains debate as to whether deafness and hearing-impairments should be classified as disabilities. Many, including those within the deaf community and their allies, affirm that deafness is a culture rather than a disability. Still, others affirm that having a hearing impairment imposes disadvantages on an individual. We can think of many ways that being […]
The recent film, The Secret of Marrowbone (Sergio Sánchez, 2017) exemplifies a trope that has become an active model within the gothic and horror film since the mid twentieth century: the lone male figure enclosed within the spaces of the domestic realm, observing the women and children in his absence from afar, on the periphery of […]
Thus far, 2018, like its predecessor, has been a good year at the box office for horror. Small-budget films like A Quiet Place and Hereditary have been all the buzz, breaking into the mainstream. Two lesser-known recent films, Mohawk (2017) and Downrange (2017), are also deserving of attention. They recently became available on streaming services […]
Nothing will ever be Jurassic Park. In an interview for Fallen Kingdom, executive producer Steven Spielberg recalls his experience directing the franchise-opener explaining, “the moment that brought this home for me as a filmmaker was when the T. Rex started to attack two modern Ford Explorers, and you saw the modern world and you saw […]
Scared Sacred: Idolatry, Religion and Worship in the Horror Film is due for release early in 2019 from House of Leaves Publishing and is edited by Rebecca Booth (author of the forthcoming The Devil Rides Out [Devil’s Advocates]), Erin Thompson (owner and editor of The Backseat Driver Reviews), and RF Todd (Managing Director of House of Leaves). Exploring […]
With the premiere of “Castle Rock” on Hulu there comes another entry into the ever-expanding universe of Stephen King adaptations. Given that he has written just under 100 novels and too many short stories and novellas to count, it shouldn’t be surprising that his work provides a ton of material for directors and creators. “Castle […]
Michael Reeves’ Witchfinder General (1968), or The Conqueror Worm in the US, sits slightly at odds with other seminal Folk Horror texts The Blood on Satan’s Claw (Piers Haggard, 1971) and The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy, 1973). Despite similarly engaging with belief systems and Britain’s rural traditions it’s a more overtly political film, less straight […]