Author Archives: agambacorta2020

Harry M. Benshoff’s article, The Monster and the Homosexual, talks about the role homosexuals play in horror films and how it is associated with a negative connotation. Benshoff discusses the fears of heterosexuals that homosexuals play within the cinematography industry. From instilling noxious family values to infecting audience members with their twisted and unwarranted styleContinue reading “A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge”

Robin R. Coleman’s article, Studying Blacks and Horror Films, breaks down the horror genre by explaining the role of Blacks in horror films over the last century and how their roles have expanded but also touches on the key concepts in horror films that make the genre so successful. Coleman explains how over the yearsContinue reading “Candyman”

David Skal’s article, It’s Alive, I’m Afraid takes a flashback to the early 1960’s during a time when women were reproducing at colossal rates but were offered some relief by the new morning sickness drug known as Thalidomide. With the untested drug causing mass numbers of birth defects, children born with abnormalities quickly became knownContinue reading “Parallel Behaviors”

Tony Williams article Trying to Survive on the Darker Side: 1980’s Family Horror argues that while 80’s films have similar recurring themes with comparable story lines and were oftentimes seen as ‘predictable,’ the films are distinctive in that they do not follow the normal state of affairs. Williams circles around common themes such as genderContinue reading “One Sided Love”

The slaughterhouse family is made up of psychopaths and sociopaths who terrorize their prey before they indulge in their cannibalistic way of life. Tobe Hooper’s film displays a family that has been rejected by American society and are considered outcasts in the American way of life.   Tony Williams identifies the similarities between Franklin and LeatherfaceContinue reading “Hidden Redneck Agenda”

In Shelley Stamp’s article, Horror, Femininity, and Carrie’s Monstrous Puberty, Stamp states that the family itself represents the origin or horror which is precisely shown in the horror film of Carrie (pg. 330).  The film depicts several moments in which Carrie is shown being physically and verbally abused by both her mother, Mrs. White andContinue reading “Hard to Dance with the Devil on Your Back”

Barbara Creed’s article, Horror and the Monstrous-Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection and William Freidkin’s The Exorcist contains some of the most graphic and horrific examples of abjection ever before seen in the horror genre.  The abject is known to be life threatening and can best be described as something which threatens the stability of order (BarbaraContinue reading “Enduring Hell”

What sets Wes Craven’s 1996 slasher film Scream apart from other slasher films is its characters constant habit (Randy in particular) to emphasize patterns in horror films such as: the final girl must be a virgin, if one says “I’ll be right back” they don’t return and that horror films are simplified otherwise if theContinue reading “Karma’s a Bitch!”

In Linda Clover’s Her Body, Himself, Clover talks in depth about the characteristics of the final girl and how the final girl is pushed to a breaking point where it is either kill or be killed. She also identifies the most well known and common horror themes from the early 60’s to the present day.   Continue reading “The Masquerade of Evil”

Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is considered one of the most terrifying and atypical horror movies of the 1960’s leading up to today’s horror films. Hitchcock pulls the rug out from under his viewers as he kills off his lead actress less than halfway through the film creating a whole other meaning to the element of surprise. Continue reading “The Sex Object and The Sociopath”