Editorials
The Revolution of the Final Girl: Feminism and Gender Stereotypes
The final girls of the ‘70s and ‘80s walked so that the final girls of tomorrow could sprint, full speed, with a handful of weapons and a heart full of determination, compassion, intelligence, and love.
Silent Night, Deadly Night 3 Goes Where Dreams Go
The power of Hellman’s work lies partly in his fealty to genre filmmaking. His Westerns, especially, showcase a reverence for classic story mechanics that he later flips to break the mold. This film is no different.
When Gay Frenemies Kill!!
The childhood friendship with deep romantic subtext is something I’m sure is familiar to many other queer people, though queer women in particular to seem to be the most susceptible.
The Terrifyingly Wonderful World of Trash
From the curdled milky pleasures of Troll 2 (1990) to the effervescent stink of The Room (2003), I love it all. There is no slop I cannot stomach or slime I will not drink. And I’m not alone in this.
The Misunderstanding and Necessity of ‘Belladonna of Sadness’
Belladonna follows the story of Jeanne (Aiko Nagayama), a woman who is viciously r*ped by the village Lord (Masaya Takahashi) shortly following her wedding. Dazed and broken, she is visited by a mysterious visitor who promises to help her take revenge on those who wronged her.
Fish Men Will Seem Strangely Sexy: Why Abe Sapien is Everyone’s Amphibious Boyfriend
“Monsters do not serve to be palatable to us, they challenge our notions of beauty, belonging, and how we are situated in this world.”
Drug Addiction and the Treatment of Addicts in Horror
Drugs have always had a dominant presence in my life. They have always been around, from the moment I was born up until now where I depend on prescription drugs to help me function daily.
Scream Team: 2021 Releases
2021 has been an exciting year for horror: games, movies, and television alike! The Scream Team have put together their favourite releases for the year in this 2021 wrap up.
Horror in Australia: Part 1- History
Ever since I was a teenager, the only horror films that I consumed were predominately from America. It wasn’t because I had something against Australian horror films, there just weren’t many that I was aware of. It wasn’t until the release of Wolf Creek in 2005 with the incredibly terrifying John Jarret as serial killer Mick, that I even knew horror movies were made in Australia⸺or even based on Australian characters and stories.
Politics of Violence
Discussions of Squid Game have contrasted the series with Battle Royale, one of its successors in the genre of “death games”. The violence is usually the main subject, but the political messaging of these pieces and the genre as a whole can be ignored.
Holy Terrors: Jewish Horror Ic-n of the Month
I now present to you a night-by-night genre challenge dedicated to one of the most prolific Jewish horror ic-ns around: the legendary scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis. Any and all are welcome to participate, but the challenge must begin strictly after sundown each night...or earlier if you are sleepy. Chag sameach!
Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria and The Stylist
Claire externalises her RSD through killing and scalping her victims, to me this is her sabotaging her connection to them, rejecting them before they can sever ties with her themselves. Watching Claire scalp her victims and wear their hair shows me how driven she was to get into their heads and understand their feelings towards her.
Casting A Shadow: Tananarive Due
In this installment, we explore a wonderful contributor to the world of horror with her speculative fiction works as an author as well as with her role as a film historian with a focus on Black horror.
The Scream Team Halloween Movie Recs
Happy Halloween everyone! Hope you are spending your days watching as many scary movies as possible. Here is a list of recommendations from The Scream Team to help you out if you need it!
Holy Terrors: Jewish Horror Ic-n of the Month
After recently observing yet another Rosh Hashanah (my goodness, how time flies), I can’t think of a better way to start the new year than to gush about the artful brilliance of actress Lisa Bonet. Bonet, whom I consider to be one of the greatest talents in the entire industry, has worked in a plethora of acclaimed productions from ‘80s classic High Fidelity to the more recent television crime drama Ray Donovan (which also happens to feature our last Jewish Horror Ic-n Liev Schreiber).
Fear Street: A Love Letter to Kickass Final Girls, Platonic Female Friendships,and Queer Relationships.
The Fear Street Trilogy has taken the horror fan base by storm over the past few months since its announcement back in May of this year. Based on the fictional series by R.L Stine, the three-part movie series, Directed by Leigh Janiak brings to life a beautiful universe that didn’t necessarily reinvent the wheel, but gave us a world that loves Final Girls, platonic female friendships, and queer relationships and wants all three to succeed more than anything.
Vivarium, Caregiver’s Fatigue, and Neurodivergent Kids
After I watched Vivarium I was curious what others online thought of the film, which is pretty standard for movie-goers. I liked it and wanted to see if other people liked it too. Something that came up again and again was parents saying things like “I have an autistic son, this reminded me too much of him, I couldn’t watch this” or lamenting on the difficulties of parenting. While many comments were just off-handed remarks, some were downright mean and ableist and reminded me how neurodivergence is treated.
Casting A Shadow: Poppy Z. Brite
Known professionally as Poppy Z. Brite, Billy Martin helped leave a lasting impression in the 1990s through the early 2000s with his works of horror that included gay and bisexual main characters, starting with Lost Souls. At a time where being openly gay wasn’t as accepted, Martin helped push the culture forward with these characters and stories, but the love of writing began far earlier.
Terrorism’s One Way Mirror
There has been a key focus on Islamic extremism and it is something we fight against, denounce, and condemn in our communities. There is still work to be done as culture still seeps into the religion and people will use the religion as they see fit to suit their own biases and the rise in radicalism is something that we fight in our community consistently. We do not accept this. It is not Islamic and never will be.
What’s in The Box? A Love Letter to Se7en (1995)
Se7en displays the many imperfect truths that life brings and offers a twisted way of reevaluating our choices through the threatening use of religious ideology. Greed, lust, pride, wrath, gluttony, envy, and sloth all feel like threats to be feared and never something that can be had in moderation.