I have done/am in the midst of doing a number of series around certain themes/directors/topics. If you’re looking to explore the site, I thought this might help.
Some of these will overlap.
Dario Argento
Seeing Suspiria early in my journey of fandom definitely opened me up to new horizons – international work, not entirely realistic work. I think sometimes snooty fans can dismiss him as old hat, the tip of the iceberg, but he surely made an impression on me.
- Suspiria: Cinematic Pleasure, Candy Colored Joy
- Argento and Aesthetic Terror: Inferno, Tenebrae, Phenomena, and Opera
- Argento’s Animal Trilogy
Final Girls
When I first discovered the wide and fruitful world of academic writing about horror flicks, it was all so focused on Slashers, and therefore Final Girls as well. It’s hard to engage with horror, or honestly, any text in modern society, without dealing with gender on some level, so there’s plenty to examine and continue discussing.
- A Final Girl Feedback Loop
- 10 Final Girls Who Don’t Get Enough Credit
- Final Girls Books – The Final Chapter
- Delightfully Flinching in the New Header
Lucio Fulci
I wouldn’t want to be some kind of jerk gatekeeper, but it’s hard to imagine that a person could be a horror fan and not absolutely adore the films of Fulci. Gross, grotty, doom laden, and frequently absurd, what he may have lacked in narrative sense, he made up for with soul rending horrors. Love.
- A Tropical Feast
- Fulci in the 70s: A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin, Don’t Torture a Duckling, and the Psychic
- Fulci Pt. II – The Gates of Hell “Trilogy”
- Fulci Pt. III – Fulci for Fake and A Cat in the Brain
- Late Period Fulci
- The Black Cat (1981)
- Murder Rock: Dancing Death
- The New York Ripper
Lesbian Vampires
The lovely daughters of Carmilla Karnstein, I love these movies for how they straddle the line between eurosleaze sexploitation and indie arthouse. Across the board, they are evocative, sexy, transgressive, and frequently beautiful and artful.
- Lesbian Vampire Films – Part I
- Lesbian Vampire Films – Part II
- Lesbian Vampires Part III – More Modern Examples
- Lesbian Vampires 4: “Naiveté in the Seventies” Double Feature
- Lesbian Vampires 5: Spanish Sexploitation in the 70s
- Return of the Lesbian Vampires (Part 6)
Val Lewton
This is a series I’ve always meant to dig further into. Maybe one day…
- Cat People and their Curse – Val Lewton Pt. I
- Post-Colonial Post-Life: I Walked with a Zombie (Val Lewton Pt. II)
Polish
I live in Poland and am interested to explore its (admittedly not expansive) collection of horror. There is plenty more to check out, so hopefully this section will grow.
- Polish Horror Series # 1 – Wilczyca
- Polish Horror Series #2 – Lokis
- Polish Horror Series # 3 – Mother Joan of the Angels
- Polish Horror Series #4 – Demon
- Polish Horror Series #5 – The Lure
- Polish Horror Series #6 – I Like Bats
Queer
Of course this topic overlaps with the sapphic bloodsuckers listed above. As with the gender issues of the final girl topic, I think it’s easy to find a lot of kinship between the horror genre and the concept of queerness. I’ve done just a bit on the subject.
- Queering Horror
- Queer Horror II: A Small Shudder Roundup
- Accidentally backing into positive messaging: Sleepaway Camp
- Pride and other feelings: Cruising
Jean Rollin
Another director whom I’ve rather fallen for. If you’ve never watched him, I recommend a strong cup of coffee, but if you’re in the right head space for it, his work can be achingly beautiful and unsettling.
- Rollin on with Lips of Blood
- For Easter – Jean Rollin Zombies: Grapes of Death and Living Dead Girl
- Requiem for a Vampire
- The Shiver of the Vampires
Favorites
These are some of my favorite bits of writing from the first five years. Lots of film discussion, some theorizing, some personal response. All of them have some bit of style or observation of which I’m proud. Have a look.
Favorite Posts from the First 5 Years