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Posted on October 3, 2018

Masculinity and Race in AMC’s The Walking Dead

Guest Post

AMC’s The Walking Dead is back Sunday October 7 for its 9th season. We’re going to run a series of posts about the series that are distilled versions of the arguments of chapters in our edited collection, The Politics of Race, Gender and Sexuality in The Walking Dead, recently published by McFarland. This collection is not at all the last word –and we’d like to open up more conversations about all these things in the show, especially as the issues raised in the book–and the arguments that get made–change as The Walking Dead narrative continues. To that end, we’re inviting submissions to Horror Homeroom that enter into conversation with this series of posts taken from our book. How do these arguments play out in seasons 8 and 9? If we publish your submission, we’ll send you a free copy of the book.

The first post in the series is from Brooke Bennett . . . This is what she has to say: Read more

Posted on September 29, 2018

Top 10 Episodes of Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Guest Post

Obsessions always have a beginning. If you rewind the clock 26 years, you would find hordes of kids crowding around the television at 9:30pm to catch Are You Afraid of the Dark? on Nickelodeon before being corralled and taken to bed. The series became the subject of nightmares and terrors and created a new generation obsession with horror. A combination of Tales from the Crypt and The Twilight Zone, mixed with kid-friendly subject matter, Are You Afraid of the Dark? was always destined to be a hit. The success of the series helped green light Goosebumps and one episode even inspired M. Night Shymalan’s The Sixth Sense (1999), but unfortunately, the show now sits in relative and completely unwarranted obscurity.

Needless to say, this Canadian-American classic has a special place in my heart and, in honor of its 26^th anniversary, what follows is a list of my top ten episodes of Are You Afraid of the Dark? Now, I don’t claim to be a master of 90’s television and the list is very subjective, but know that I have ordered the episodes by least-to-most frightening. Moreover, every episode is a gem in its own way and a list of only ten episodes could never do justice to this amazing television horror.

So. Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I call this article, The Top Ten Episodes of Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Posted on September 22, 2018

The Wasted Promise of The Predator

Guest Post

The Predator should have been great. The cast is good, full of actors like Keegan-Michael Key and Alfie Allen who thrive even in small roles, and the behind the scenes talent is even better. Shane Black directs a script he co-wrote with Fred Dekker, both of whom worked on the incredibly fun ‘80s tween horror-comedy Monster Squad (1987). Shane Black shines when he takes a shaggy dog premise and injects some unexpected life in it, and that’s exactly what this movie—the fourth or sixth (depending on if you count the Alien Vs. Predator duo) film in a franchise that started in the late-80s—needed. The Predator ends up being kind of a tepid mess, however, especially in the third act. To misquote Monster Squad, The Predator needed some nards.

Posted on September 12, 2018

Sleepaway Camp and the Transgressive Possibilities of Queer Spectatorship

Guest Post

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 of the film’s inherent transphobia. As a cisgender gay man, it’s questionable whether I can rightfully claim what is and isn’t transphobic, but watching Sleepaway Camp, something less regressive resonates within me.

Angela’s father embraces his partner (top) for Angela and her brother to mimic their behaviour (bottom)

I first recall watching Sleepaway Camp at 15 years old. Besides the ending, I hated it. The only thing that carried me through was Angela (Felissa Rose) who I felt desperately empathetic towards. A quiet, tortured soul, I wanted to like her. I certainly felt a proud grimace of hope whenever she opened her mouth to speak. Little did I know, I was Angela; she’s the bullied caricature of every queer kid. Read more

Posted on September 5, 2018

Teeth: A, Sort of, Superhero Movie

Guest Post

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. It contrasts heavily with director Mitchell Lichtenstein’s preferred marketing image in which Dawn, dressed in a “Sex Changes Everything” T-shirt stares confused at the viewer. Released on DVD through the Dimension Extreme label (familiar to fans of Torture Porn), Teeth’s very nature as a horror-comedy, and specifically a satire on American sexual values, was obscured.