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Posted on February 23, 2020

Religion and Sex in The Lighthouse & The Witch

Guest Post

Horror understands that what is most desired is the same as what is most feared. Scholars of religion often overlook this while the makers of horror films bank on it. Consider the critically acclaimed oeuvre of Robert Eggers, both his 2015 film, The Witch, and his more recent The Lighthouse (2019).

If you’ve ever been isolated from other people—say, in solitary confinement, or even in a room with a medical device so dangerous that the operators have to leave while you’re left alone with its buzzing and clanging—you will understand The Lighthouse. Horror has long recognized the psychological power of isolation. Ripley and crew aboard the Nostromo, Wendy, Danny and Jack at the Overlook, a handful of scientists at an Antarctic research base, the list could go on and on. Showcasing Roger Eggers’ trademark verisimilitude, The Lighthouse traps two wickies—lighthouse keepers—both with secrets, far from the reach of the rest of civilization. They’re trapped between a deity and sexuality. Read more

Posted on February 12, 2020

Blumhouse’s The Hunt – A Tale of Two Trailers

Dawn Keetley

On February 11, 2020, Blumhouse released a new trailer and marketing campaign for its horror / action film, The Hunt, which had been due for release in September, 2019. The film was pulled from distribution, however, after a firestorm blew up about its representations of violence (people hunting each other) in the wake of August 2019’s mass shootings and also because of its perceived political stance—“elites” hunting “normal” folk—that sent, among many others, President Donald Trump to Twitter to denounce “Liberal Hollywood.” Meanwhile, virtually no one – including those who were creating the firestorm – had actually seen The Hunt.

Posted on February 8, 2020

Catch a Butcher – Indie Horror Short

Dawn Keetley

Cassiah Joski-Jethi is an award-winning female filmmaker based in the UK, and she has just directed an exciting indie horror short called Catch a Butcher कच्चा बच्चे – and I was lucky enough to be able to interview her about her new film.

First, here’s the teaser trailer: Read more

Posted on February 6, 2020

Mirroring Identity in Robert Wise’s The Haunting (1963)

Guest Post

The terror of Shirley Jackson’s novel The Haunting of Hill House (1959) resides in the struggle of its protagonist to procure and maintain a stable sense of self. Eleanor Vance’s desperation to establish a collective and an individual identity is palpable in her continual self-affirmations that she both “belongs” to the group of guests in Hill House and exists as a separate entity. Identifying herself in relation to Theodora, the house’s other female inhabitant, is particularly crucial, given Eleanor’s history of dysfunctional relationships with other women. In Robert Wise’s 1963 film adaptation, The Haunting, Eleanor’s identity crisis is brilliantly conveyed through the use of mirrors in the cinematography and mise-en-scène. Throughout the film, mirrors function to trace Eleanor’s attempts and eventual failure to establish an identity in relation to Theodora.

From her arrival at Hill House, Eleanor is painfully aware of her “self,” or, rather, lack thereof. Bending down to pick up her suitcase, Eleanor notices her reflection in the freshly waxed floors (19:30) and is prompted to quickly catch up with the house’s caretaker, commenting, “I gather I’m the first one here, Mrs. Dudley” (19:40). On the way up the stairs, she is startled less by the ominous-looking gargoyles decorating the stairwell than she is by her reflection in a wall mirror (19:50). This is just the first of the excessive number of mirrors she will encounter in the house. Read more

Posted on January 25, 2020

Stephen King’s Endings and the Case for Sentimental Horror

Guest Post

From online discussion boards to quips in the 2019 film adaptation, It Chapter Two, there’s one truism Stephen King fans and critics alike have long accepted: King can’t stick a landing. But I’ve always found the ending of his massive coming-of-age horror classic, It, fitting and, dare I say, satisfying. Trying to tease out why the ending works for me—why I believe it rings true with the rest of the novel and is not simply the tacked-on excuse of a writer out of ideas—became a minor obsession that finally culminated in this essay.

The ending is as follows: In 1950’s America, seven children defeat It, the primordial shapeshifter that most often appears in the guise of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Grown up, the protagonists realize that It survived, forcing them to face off against the monster once more. After an apocalyptic struggle, they finally destroy It through the power of their friendship. Fairly standard, but the reviews and articles claiming that the ending is pat, predictable, and void of complexity beg to differ. The headline of a review in Vulture more or less sums up these feelings with the claim that “A Sentimental It Chapter Two Needed More Pennywise.”[i] Read more