No Place Like Home: The Nuclear Family through Horror
Hayden Deffarges and Devan Paul
We read some books!
Sleeping with the Lights On, Darryl Jones
The Monster Show, David J. Skal
Shock Value, Jason Zinoman
The Dread of Difference, ed. Barry Keith Grant
The Way we Never Were, Stephanie Coontz
We watched some movies!
The Babadook (2014) dir. Jenifer Kent
It Follows (2014) dir. David Robert Mitchell
Rosemary’s Baby (1968) dir. Roman Polanski
The Shining (1980) dir. Stanley Kubrick
Hereditary (2018) dir. Ari Aster
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) dir. Tobe Hooper
The VVitch (2015) dir. Robert Eggers
The Stepford Wives (1975) dir. Bryan Forbes
The Exorcist (1973) dir. William Friedkin
Train to Busan (2016) dir. Yeon Sang-ho
The Host (2006) dir. Bong Joon-ho
Psycho (1960) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
Onibaba (1964) dir. Kaneto Shindo
Lake Mungo (2008) dir. Joel Anderson
Let the Right One In (2008) dir. Tomas Alfredson
Deep Red (1975) dir. Dario Argento
Pyewacket (2017) dir. Adam MacDonald
The Haunting (1963) dir. Robert Wise
The Hills Have Eyes (1977) dir. Wes Craven
The Omen (1976) dir. Richard Bronner
Jennifer’s Body (2009) dir. Karyn Kusama
The Love Witch (2016) dir. Anna Biller
Ring (1998) dir. Hideo Nakata
Dressed to Kill (1980) dir. Brian De Palma
House of Usher (1960) dir. Roger Corman
Pulse (2001) dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) dir. Ana Lily Amirpour
Blood and Black Lace (1964) dir. Mario Bava
Thirst (2009) dir. Park Chan-wook
Ginger Snaps (2000) dir. John Fawcett
We talked about stuff!
The monstrous feminine: Many modern horror movies feature teenage girls, female puberty, and women’s sexuality as evil or terrorizing forces. Left to right, top to bottom: Hereditary, Ginger Snaps, Carrie, Jennifer’s Body, The VVitch, The Love Witch.
We talked about more stuff!
The reveal: Where horror films once starred monsters, many now build up to the villain’s onscreen reveal. Left to right, top to bottom: Ring, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Babadook, Lake Mungo, It Follows.
We talked about even more stuff!
Mothers and monsters: Family horror movies tend to center on mothers or the psychology of mother-child relationships. Left to right, top to bottom: Hereditary, The Babadook, Psycho, Rosemary’s Baby.
The Cinematic Male Gaze & Violence as Pornography: Giallo and Slasher
Title lit. “Six Women for the Assassin”
Prolonged psychological torture of “final girl”
Graphic sexual assault
Voyeuristic obsession with female sexuality
“The death of a beautiful woman is the most unquestioningly poetic topic in the world.” - Edgar Allan Poe
“I like women, especially beautiful ones. If they have a good face and figure, I would much prefer to watch them being murdered than an ugly girl or a man.” - Dario Argento
“[Sardou] said ‘Torture the women!’ The trouble today is that we don’t torture the women enough.” - Alfred Hitchcock
The Narrative Male Gaze & Representations of Ideal Womanhood
Devan
Hayden
Jesse
Our favorites!
The Great Debates
Great Debates, continued
The Omen (1976),
a movie we all agree is terrible
It Follows (2014), a movie we all agree is excellent
The Love Witch (2016),
A movie whose merits we debate