- Horror Movie - Horror Homeroom

Posted on January 7, 2019

Another Problem with Bird Box: Dying While Black in Horror Film

Guest Post

Shortly after watching Bird Box (Susanne Bier, 2018) one of my homies angrily texted me: “Why did Tom (Trevante Rhodes) have to die? And why did Malorie (Sandra Bullock) get to live?” While I knew exactly why he was so mad, I didn’t share his sense of surprise. Early on, after recognizing that the film alternated between the apocalyptic past and the post-apocalyptic present, and that Malorie was all alone with those children on that raft, my first thought was, “How many characters in this story will need to die to earn this white woman the empathy she should already have?”

This might seem like a cynical or reductive question from an admittedly jaded, black horror fan, but the implicit demand for Malorie’s salvation calls it forth. As I watched Bird Box with my family and they began to speculate about which of the characters might live, particularly the black ones, I felt sad already knowing that no one else in Malorie’s group (save the kids) would get out alive: I knew that making Malorie into someone capable of empathy was a call for blood.

Posted on January 6, 2019

Channeling the Dark Muse: An Interview with Eric Morago, Editor of Dark Ink

Guest Post

While poetry and the horror genre may seem like opposites, they do share some similarities, namely their use of image and metaphor to address deeper issues. Dark Ink: A Poetry Anthology Inspired by Horror contains a wide range of poetic responses to horror. There are haikus about Poltergeist, multiple responses to the Frankenstein story, elegies to Godzilla and Kong, and meditations on horror’s ability to confront deeper issues, such as mental illness, fear of the Other, and feminism. Eric Morago is the editor-in-chief of the anthology, which features 66 poets total, and publisher/editor of Moon Tide Press, located in California.

Posted on December 8, 2018

Await Further Instructions: New Christmas Horror

Dawn Keetley

As a fan of Christmas horror films, I’m very happy to be able to recommend Await Further Instructions (2018), written by Gavin Williams and directed by Johnny Kevorkian, director and writer of the horror feature, The Disappeared (2008). Await Further Instructions has a lot going for it, including what is essential to Christmas horror—the agonizingly tense family get together (and that’s an understatement when it comes to this film). Await Further Instructions also delivers a pretty provocative message about both violence and technology, along with some fantastic (and beautifully-shot) body horror in its culminating scenes. I’d say this is a must for your holiday viewing.

Posted on November 17, 2018

What’s the Real Horror in It Follows?

Guest Post

At the start of David Robert Mitchell’s 2014 film It Follows, protagonist Jay (Maika Monroe) has sex with a young man who calls himself Hugh (Jake Weary). He then chloroforms her, ties her to a wheelchair, and explains that a creature—referred to as “It”—is going to follow her until she has sex with someone else. The day after Jay’s assault, she stands in front of the bathroom mirror, looking down into her underwear, presumably examining whether “Hugh” left any noticeable physical changes. In a larger, symbolic sense, she is reflecting on her identity—asking herself whether her sexual encounter transformed her in some way. Jay is startled out of her reflection when a ball hits the window. Though Jay does not see him, the ball was thrown by a neighbor boy who is crouching out of sight to peek at the half-naked Jay. This screenshot encapsulates It Follows‘ running motifs of sexual surveillance and the transition from childhood to adulthood. By combining Jay’s internal contemplation and external objectification, It Follows demonstrates how entering adulthood entails submitting one’s body to both self-reflection and public consumption.

Posted on November 12, 2018

Slashers, Sex and Sisterhood in the Slumber Party Massacre

Guest Post

The slasher subgenre has long held a complex relationship with women in horror—both onscreen and in the audience. Criticized for its misogynistic representation of women as passive victims, it has been simultaneously praised for its progressive portrayal of active, strong female heroines. In the 1960s, the emergence of the women’s movement in America was a symptom of second-wave feminism, which subsequently permeated the western world. This built upon the core values of first-wave feminism and the fight for gender equality in the early 1900s with seminal campaigns like the suffragette movement. Second-wave feminism extended the focus of this quest for equality—taking on the workplace, the family dynamic, and reproductive rights in regards to women’s bodies—and lasted well into the 1980s. Slumber Party Massacre (1982) serves as a brilliant illustration of what happens when the slasher meets second-wave feminism.