SCREENINGS: 7:30 on Mondays, Twilight Auditorium
Reading and Assignments:
UNIT I–The 19th Century Novel and “Classical” Hollywood Horror (1930s)
Week 1—
M 9/9 No Screening
T 9/10 Intro
Th 9/12 Before Class: Watch on Panopto: Earle Kenton, The Island of Lost Souls, (1932) No perfect prints of this film have survived, so don’t expect this to look like a present-day release. You should still be able to see the artfulness in the movie, though.
Read: Excerpt from Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origins of our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful (1757)
Week 2
M 9/16 Screening: Ruben Mamoulian, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
T 9/17 Read: Excerpt from Sigmund Freud, “The Uncanny”
Th 9/19 Read: Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886);
Week 3 Ghosts, Gender, Romance and Manor Houses
M 9/23 Screening: Alfred Hitchcock, Rebecca,1941
T 9/24 Diane Waldman, ‘“At Last I Can Tell it To Someone!”: Feminine Point of View and Subjectivity in Gothic Romance Film of the 1940s.” Cinema Journal 23 (Winter 1984): 29-40.
Th 9/26 Edith Wharton, “Pomegranate Seed” and “Afterward”
What is a Ghost? Write 200-400 words on your idea of a ghost, your experience with a ghostly event, or the depiction of a ghost on film or in a book. This meant to be a wide open inquiry. What are the defining features of a ghost? Its origin? Its appearance? Its actions? How do you know a ghost when you see one? You won’t answer every question about the concept and experience of a ghost, but try to form an idea about how you, authors, filmmakers, or audiences see ghosts functioning in the world. We’ll exchange ideas and maybe your writing in class. You should submit this writing on ghostliness to me via email before the beginnnig of class.
Week 4 Horror in the 1950s–Monsters and Teenagers
M 9/30 Screening: Jack Arnold, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, 1954
T 10/1 Marc Jancovich, “The Critique of Maturity: The Films of Jack Arnold”
Th 10/3 Peter Biskind, “The Other Americans” and “The Mind Managers”
• Clips from 1950s Monster movies (in class).
Week 5 Horror, the Camera, and the Gaze
M 10/7 Screening: Michael Powell, Peeping Tom (1960)
T 10/8 Peeping Tom
• Laura Mulvey, ”Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” Screen, (Autumn1975): 6-18.
• Linda Williams, “When the Woman Looks” in The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film, 1996.
Th 10/10 The Gaze Continued
• In-Class Clips from The Eyes of Laura Mars, Dressed to Kill, Psycho, and others.
• Lucy Fischer and Marcia Landry, “Eyes of Laura Mars: A Binocular Critique” in American Horrors: Essays on the Modern American Horror Film, 1987
Slashers, Zombies, Posesseion, and Cannibals: Politics and Body Horror in the 70s and Beyond
Week 6
M 10/14 Screening: George Romero, Night of the Living Dead, 1968
T 10/15 R.H.W. Dillard, “Night of the Living Dead: It’s not Just Like a Wind That’s Passing Through” in American Horrors, 1987.
Discussion
Th 10/17 Richard Dyer, “White” in The Matter of Images, 1993
F 10/18 4-5 page paper due by 5pm
Week 7 Slashers, Video “Nasties,” and Splatstick
M 10/21 Screening: Tobe Hooper, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, 1974
T 10/22 Chainsaw and 70s Slashers
• Carol Clover, “Her Body/Himself: Gender and the Slasher Film”
• Robin Wood, “The American Nightmare: Horror in the 70s”
• Clips from early slasher movies
Th 10/24 Horror in the 1980s
• Andrew Tudor, “Unruly Bodies, Unquiet Minds”
• Robin Wood, “Horror in the 80s”
• Tony Williams, “Trying to Survive on the Darker Side: 1980s Family Horror” in The Dread of Difference, ed. Barry Keith Grant, 1996. (eres)
• Clips from later slasher and splatstick movies Nightmare on Elm Street, and Evil Dead II, Dead Alive
Week 8
M 10/28 Screening: William Friedkin, The Exorcist, 1974
T 10/29 Friedkin, The Exorcist
Th 10/31 William Friedkin, The Exorcist
Read: William Paul, “Dirty Discourse”
Stephen Farber, “A Unique Freak Show”
Week 9
M 11/4 NO SCREENING
T 11/5 STUDENT FILMS of Horror Scene, Groups 1-3
Th 11/7 STUDENT FILMS of Horror Scene, Groups 4-6
21st century Trends–from J-Horror to Post Horror to Horror Noire
Week 10 J Horror and Globalization
M 11/11 Screening: Takashi Miike, Audition, 1999
Discussion
T 11/12 Audition and the question of torture
•John Patterson, “A Bloody End for Horror Movies?” The Guardian. April 7, 2006.
Blair Davis and Kial Natale, “The Pound of Flesh Which I Demand: American Horror Cinema, Gore, and the Box Office, 1998-2007”
Th 11/14 J-Horror comes to the US–Influence and Adaptation
- Kevin Wetmore, “Technoghosts and Culture Shocks: Sociocultural Shifts in American Remakes of J-horror.” Postscript. vol 28 (2009). Online in Gale OneFile.
- clips from Hideo Nikata, Ringu, 1998 and Gore Verbenski, The Ring, 2002 and others.
Week 12
M 11/18 Screening: Jennifer Kent, The Babadook, 2014
Discussion
T 11/19 Jennifer Kent, The Babadook. READ: Grimm’s fairy tales (about 1-2 pages each): “Snow White,” “Rumplestiltskin,” “Rapunzel,” “The Ungrateful Son”
Th 11/21 Steve Rose, “How Post-Horror Movies are Taking over Cinema” The Guardian, July 6, 2017.
Nia Edwards-Behi, “A Response to Post-Horror,” Wales Arts Review, Sep 7, 2017.
Mark Kermode, “The Female Directors Bringing New Blood to Horror Films” The Guardian, March 19, 2017.
Week 12 THANKSGIVING BREAK!!!
Week 13
M 12/2 Screening: Jordan Peele, Get Out, 2017
T 12/3 Get Out and “Horror Noire”
Th 12/5 Noel Carroll, “Why Horror?” and Andrew Tudor, “Why Horror?: The Peculiar Pleasures of a Popular Genre”
_______________________________________________
Week 12
M 11/27 Screening: Matt Reeves, Let Me In, 2010
T 11/28 Pamela Craig and Martin Fradley, “Teenage Traumata: Youth, Affective Politics, and the Contemporary American Horror Film”
Th 11/30 Noel Carroll, “Why Horror?” in Horror: The Film Reader. Routledge, 2002 (eres)
• Andrew Tudor, “Why Horror? The Peculiar Pleasures of a Popular Genre” in Horror: The Film Reader. Routledge, 2002. (eres)
Week
M 12/2 Screening: Jennifer Kent, The Babadook, 2014T 12/3 The Babadook
Steve Rose, “How Post-Horror Movies are Taking over Cinema” The Guardian, July 6, 2017.
Nia Edwards-Behi, “A Response to Post-Horror,” Wales Arts Review, Sep 7, 2017.
Mark Kermode, “The Female Directors Bringing New Blood to Horror Films” The Guardian, March 19, 2017.
Th 12/5 The Babadook and wrapping up
___________
Th 4/5 Horror in the 1980s
• Andrew Tudor, “Unruly Bodies, Unquiet Minds” (eres)
• Robin Wood, “Horror in the 80s” (eres)
• Tony Williams, “Trying to Survive on the Darker Side: 1980s Family Horror” in The Dread of Difference, ed. Barry Keith Grant, 1996. (eres)
• Clips from later slasher and splatstick movies Nightmare on Elm Street, and Evil Dead II, Dead Alive
Week 8 Demonic Possession, Childhood, and Adolescence in the 70s
M 4/9 Screening: William Friedkin, The Exorcist, 1973
T 4/10 Re-read William Paul, “Dirty Discourse”; Stephen Farber, “A Unique Freak Show”
Th 4/12 Clips from Carrie, Damien, etc; Tanya Krzywinska, “Demon Daddies” (eres)
Week 9
M NO SCREENING
T 4/17 STUDENT FILMS of Horror Scene, Groups 1-3
Th 4/19 STUDENT FILMS of Horror Scene, Groups 4-6
Why Horror? J Horror, Torture, Remakes and Globalization
Week 10 The Question of Torture
M 4/23 Screening: Takashi Miike, Audition, 1999
T 4/24
•Kim Newman, “Torture Garden.” Sight and Sound (June 2006) (eres)
•John Patterson, “A Bloody End for Horror Movies?” The Guardian. April 7, 2006.
Blair Davis and Kial Natale, “The Pound of Flesh Which I Demand: American Horror Cinema, Gore, and the Box Office, 1998-2007” (eres)
Th 4/26 Adaptation and Influence: J Horror and the US market
• Clips from Ringu and The Ring.
Discu
F 4/27
Week 11
M 4/30 Screening: Let the Right One In
T 5/1 Pamela Craig and Martin Fradley, “Teenage Traumata: Youth, Affective Politics, and the Contemporary American Horror Film”
Th 5/3 Noel Carroll, “Why Horror?” in Horror: The Film Reader. Routledge, 2002 (eres)
• Andrew Tudor, “Why Horror? The Peculiar Pleasures of a Popular Genre” in Horror: The Film Reader. Routledge, 2002. (eres)
Week 12
M 5/7 Screening: Dir. Jennifer Kent, The Babadook, 2014.
T 5/8 The Babadook.
Steve Rose, “How Post-Horror Movies are Taking over Cinema” The Guardian, July 6, 2017.
Nia Edwards-Behi, “A Response to Post-Horror,” Wales Arts Review, Sep 7, 2017.
Mark Kermode, “The Female Directors Bringing New Blood to Horror Films” The Guardian, March 19, 2017.
Th 5/10 The Babadook and Why Horror? Read or Read Andrew Tudor, “Why Horror?” (eres) and David Church: Memory, Genre, and Self-Narrativization” (eres)
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jul/06/post-horror-films-scary-movies-ghost-story-it-comes-at-night
T 5/8 Reading: TBD
Th 5/10 Reading: TBD