- Horror Movie - Horror Homeroom

Posted on April 21, 2023

Where are all the bodies?: Talking Barbarian (2022)

Podcast

In today’s episode, we’re diving into Zach Cregger’s Barbarian (2022). Told in a three act structure, Barbarian vacillates between realism and absurdism in what is arguably one of the most unique horror films to drop in recent years. Following three characters and their relationship to a house located in the Detroit neighborhood of Brightmoor, the film plays with genre hybridity while also offering a powerful indictment of the power of cultural norms to mask what lurks beneath the surface. We’re breaking it all down today with spoilers so stay tuned!

A woman stands outside of a door pausing before entering a room. Inside, a man is sitting on a bed and he is smiling.

Posted on April 6, 2023

A Return to Nihilism: Talking Smile (2022)

Podcast

In today’s episode, we’re diving into Smile (2022), a film that has almost single-handedly reinvigorated debate over the importance of trigger warnings. Written and directed by Parker Finns, the film follows Rose (Sosie Bacon), a doctor who cares for patients at a psychiatric facility while navigating her own mental health journey. Following the death by suicide of a patient in her care, Rose begins to suspect that she is the new target of a demonic entity who won’t be happy until she’s dead. With its nod to the uncanny and gruesome death scenes, Smile is a horror movie explicitly about trauma but is it also about something more? We’re breaking it all down today, so stay tuned.

Please be aware that this episode contains spoilers and references to suicide.

a black and white photo of a woman looking scared.

Posted on March 22, 2023

Before Norman Bates: Talking the Spiral Staircase (1946)

Podcast

In today’s episode, it is early horror with an unexpected feminist twist in 1946’s The Spiral Staircase, directed by Robert Siodmak. Set in 1906, the film follows Helen (Dorothy McGuire), a woman with traumatic mutism, who cares for Mrs. Warren (Ethel Barrymore), the difficult and bedridden lady of the manor. When a serial killer begins killing off women with so-called afflictions, Helen is warned that she may be next. Adapted from Ethel Lina White’s novel Some Must Watch (1933), the film takes up themes such as disability and masculinity while simultaneously challenging the notion that the modern slasher film began with Hitchcock’s Psycho(1960). We’re breaking it all down today with spoilers, so stay tuned.

Essential reading:

Anne Golden, “Robert Siodmak’s The Spiral Staircase: Horror Genre Hybridity, Vertical Alterity, and the Avant-Garde,” Recovering 1940s Horror Cinema: Traces of a Lost Decade, edited by Mario Degiglio-Bellemare, Charlie Ellbé, and Kristopher Woofter (Lexington Books, 2014), chapter 5.

A young woman wearing a red dress stares forlornly while standing in a cornfield. Her makeup is smeared.

Posted on March 1, 2023

But She’s a Star!: Talking Pearl (2022)

Podcast

In today’s episode, it’s an old-Hollywood tinged journey into repression and murder via Ti West’s Pearl, the sequel to his massively successful X. Set against the final days of World War 1, the film follows Pearl (Mia Goth), a young woman who feels trapped by her mundane farm life and who yearns to take her place alongside the Big Screen stars she idolizes. But when those dreams get dashed, the film segues into unadulterated horror territory. With its sympathetic look at madness and its homage to the Golden Age of film, Pearl is a character study that all but ensures that you will never look at a scarecrow the same way again. We’re going to spoil the hell out of this film, so stay tuned.

Two young women stare into the distance. They both look very concerned.

Posted on February 17, 2023

A Divisive Slasher: Talking Sick (2022)

Podcast

John Hyam’s SICK (2022) is a wildly divisive film that had us debating both its merits and its place within slasher film canon. Situated in the early days of the pandemic, the film follows friends Parker (Gideon Adlon) and Miri (Beth Million) as they quarantine at a remote lake house owned by Parker’s parents. They are joined unexpectedly by DJ (Dylan Sprayberry), Parker’s friend with benefits, who is eager to make their relationship exclusive. But their idyllic reprieve is soon interrupted when an unexpected threat starts stalking them.

On this episode, we debate the wisdom of setting a slasher within a real life collective trauma while also considering the importance of generational spectatorship in film reception. In the end, the only thing we agree on about this film is that Erasure’s “A Little Respect” still bangs. Listen to the full, spoiler-filled episode below!