Dooba Dooba is written and directed by Ehrland Hollingsworth and is shot almost entirely on surveillance cameras with intercut analog scenes. It follows a babysitter, Amna (Amna Vegha), who is plunged into the strange and awkward from the moment she arrives at the home of Wilson (Winston Haynes), Taylor (Erin O’Meara) and their sixteen-year old daughter, Monroe (Betsy Sligh) – and things only get more weird from there, eventually becoming downright offensive and violent. Wilson, for instance, seems incapable of managing Amna’s name; “It’s these ethnic names . . . .” he offers in explanation, following that up with an attempt to give Amna money for what he calls “retributions” (presumably reparations). It very soon becomes clear that Amna is way too nice for her own good, constantly reassuring everyone else (and, we suspect, herself), that “It’s okay.” She should instead be asserting that, actually, it isn’t okay and she’s leaving. She doesn’t.
Dying of Laughter: Exploring Horror Parody and the Scary Movie Films
Guest PostBy
Nehir Orhon
A haunted house, an innocent girl possessed by the devil, or a group of teenagers that make foolish decisions to try and survive a masked killer… These cliché horror tropes can be found in famous horror films, such as The Exorcist (1973) and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). Such storylines, figures and settings are elements that are commonly associated with the genre’s identity.
However, as Chris Yogerst argues, “repetition of genre tropes breeds familiarity, robbing once-shocking images and plot twists of the impact they originally had” (Yogerst 207). When these key tropes and patterns get overused in horror films, they become repetitive and lead to criticism, self-reflection, and parody. In the book Film Parody, Dan Harries defines parody as “the process of recontextualizing a target or source text through the transformation of its textual (and contextual) elements, thus creating a new text” (Harries 6). In this instance, through twisting the lexicon, style or syntax, parody spoofs the familiar patterns, stereotypical and normative representation of marginalised groups, and cultural taboos displayed in horror films.
Scary Movie (Keenen Ivory Wayans, 2000), the first film of the contemporary horror parody franchise, takes Scream (1996) and I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) as reference. Whilst spoofing these movies, Scary Movie not only makes fun of the familiar horror tropes but also exposes how the “film technology and genre fictions” (Bailey 1229) are shaped by the hegemony of the white male gaze and “white ideological frames” (Yancy and Ryser 732). This essay explores the relation between horror, humour and social critique, and how parody functions within the Scary Movie films through analysing the used “methods of parodic coding” (Harries 39).
Freddy on the Grassy Knoll – A Nightmare on Elm Street and the JFK Assassination
Guest PostAdam Pasen
Stop me if you’ve heard this one: something horrific happens in the 1960s on a street called Elm. The murderer is subsequently killed in an act of vigilante justice, but that isn’t the end of it. In a series of bizarre “coincidences,” those involved start to die… gruesomely. Despite the mounting evidence that some sinister force is at play, any challenges to the official narrative are silenced. Those who investigate too deeply and try to warn others are labeled crazy or “conspiracy theorists.” And the deaths continue.
Yes, this is the plot of A Nightmare on Elm Street… the story of homicidal maniac Freddy Krueger who murders twenty kids in the 60s and is killed by a vengeful mob before returning in dreams to continue wreaking havoc. However, it is also an exact description of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, who was shot while driving down Elm Street in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. Although the Warren Commission concluded there was no conspiracy, independent researchers continue to fight the alleged cover-up to bring the truth to light (cough cough… Nancy Thompson).
Cullen Wade
Recently, I watched Andrew McCarthy’s 2024 documentary Brats (not to be confused with Bratz which is actually worth your time), in which a 60-year-old movie star grapples with the psychic toll of someone calling him a brat four decades ago, and it got me thinking about slasher movies. Let me explain.
“The Brat Pack” refers to a loosely-delineated group of young actors who starred in popular teen movies of the 1980s, generally in the orbit of John Hughes. In McCarthy’s documentary, authorities ranging from Malcolm Gladwell to Rob Lowe repeatedly argue for the Brat Pack’s breakout as a seismic shift in the Hollywood profile of the teen movie. Gladwell calls it a “generational transition,” and, as McCarthy puts it, “Hollywood discovered the box office potential of a young audience … In the history of Hollywood, it had never been like this.”
Born Bad?: Talking A Nightmare on Elm Street 1 & 3
Elizabeth Erwin/ PodcastIn today’s episode, “one, two, Freddy’s coming for you” in Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and Chuck Russell’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987). In the original 1984 release, a group of teens attempt to outsmart Freddy Krueger, a supernatural killer who stalks them in their dreams. In the 1987 sequel, a band of institutionalized teens attempt to defeat Krueger and save the life of an innocent by intentionally entering Dreamland together to dire consequences. Aided by one of the most famous monsters in horror film canon, the films are considered essential viewing for fans of the slasher film, but is there more to this franchise than gore and Freddy’s razor sharp wit? We’re breaking it all down today with spoilers so stay tuned.
Recommended Reading
Christensen, Kyle. “The Final Girl versus Wes Craven’s” A Nightmare on Elm Street”: Proposing a Stronger Model of Feminism in Slasher Horror Cinema.” Studies in Popular Culture 34.1 (2011): 23-47.
Gill, Pat. “The monstrous years: Teens, slasher films, and the family.” Journal of Film and Video 54.4 (2002): 16-30.
Heba, Gary. “Everyday Nightmares: The Rhetoric of Social Horror in the Nightmare on Elm Street Series.” Journal of Popular Film and Television 23.3 (1995): 106-115.
Kendrick, James. “Razors in the Dreamscape: Revisiting” A Nightmare on Elm Street” and the Slasher Film.” Film Criticism 33.3 (2009): 17-33.
Nowell, Richard. Blood money: A history of the first teen slasher film cycle. Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2010.
Podoshen, Jeffrey Steven. “Home is Where the Horror Is: Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left and A Nightmare on Elm Street.” Quarterly Review of Film and Video 35.7 (2018): 722-729.
Shimabukuro, Karra. “The Bogeyman of Your Nightmares: Freddy Krueger’s Folkloric Roots.” Studies in Popular Culture 36.2 (2014): 45-65.











