American Horror Cinema

elective courses

Classroom

This survey course will take an in-depth look at how the definitions of horror have mutated and expanded from the moment of its inception in the silent movie era to its contemporary cross-over inter-media manifestations. Through diverse theoretical readings, in-class discussions, analyses and screenings of selected films, students will learn how to read horror critically and how to conceptualize its complex relationship with the human body, gender, class, and race. We will also analyze horror film as a space where social and cultural anxieties can be inspected and challenged, and we will ask ourselves whether these fears are exorcized or rather magnified in the selected horror subgenres.

We will be investigating the ways in which horror cinema handles cultural fears and anxieties connected with the changing socio-cultural, political and economic landscape. Starting from the 1960s, we will be looking at the development of American horror cinema through its iconic titles and less-known examples. Apart from the diachronic approach we will be also examining synchronic theoretical clusters such as horror and gender, horror and race, horror and consumerism, horror and queer etc. The theoretical schools employed in our research will include, among others, psychoanalytic feminism, narratology and reader-response theories, gender and queer studies, postcolonialism and whiteness studies, etc.

Schedule:

I. Introduction

1. Genre theory and concepts

2. A short history of the genre and its subgenres

II. Selected Topics

1. The Birth of Contemporary Horror

2. Zombies and the Ongoing Crisis of Consumption

3. Reactionary Horror of the 1980s: the Slasher

4. Body Horror of the 1990s

5. Whiteness in Horror

6. Queer horror

7. Others and Othering in Horror

8. Post 9/11 Horror

9. Postmodern Horror: self-reflexivity and camp

10. Horror and New Media (games, graphic novels, TV series, etc)

Selected bibliography:

Carroll, Noel. The Philosophy of Horror: Or Paradoxes of the Heart. New York: Routledge, 1990.

Clover, Carol J. Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1992.

Coleman, Robin R. Means. Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to Present. New York: Routledge, 2011.

Creed, Barbara. The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis. London: Routledge, 1993.

Gelder, Ken, ed. The Horror Reader. London: Routledge, 2000.

Grant, Barry Keith, ed. The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000.

Halberstam, Judith. Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters. Durham: Duke University Press, 1995.

Humphries, Reynold. The American Horror Film. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2003.

Phillips, Kendall R. Projected Fears: Horror Films and American Culture. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2005.

Selected filmography:

The Night of the Living Dead (1969)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

The Fly (1986)

Candyman (1992)

Scream (1996)

Cloverfield (2008)

Scream 4 (2011)

The VVitch (2015)

The Endless (2016)

Colour out of Space (2019)

examples of horror television (AHS, The Haunting of Hill House, Into the Dark etc.)

The list might be changed at a later date.

By the end of this course students:

a.) can define plot structures, common themes, narrative devices and horror subgenres, and are able to discuss the development of American horror cinema as such

b.) are able to offer critical insights as to how the examples of cinematic horror engage cultural fears and anxieties concerning politics, economy, gender and race relations, sexuality, etc.

c.) are ready to engage with more advanced academic texts concerning horror cinema and are able to apply a number of analytical tools in their own research

d.) can apply improved analysis and teamwork skills while working on individual response papers and group presentations

Special emphasis is placed on students' active participation. During the course we will read selected academic essays and theoretical analyses.

Active class participation: 30%

Final paper (1500 words): 40%

Short written responses: 30%