Category Archives: horror

SAW: Cultural Registers for Post-9/11 Anxiety?

November 22nd, 2009 | Posted in 9/11, horror, Saw

In 2004 my brother encouraged me to watch a horror movie that had come out which he thought I would enjoy. He was referring to Saw, but given the trailers I had seen for the film I wasn’t interested. It seemed like it was going to be just the latest in the trend in horror […]

Tagged in: , | 1 Comment

Diary of a Madman: Neglected Price Classic, and Paranormal Connection

November 7th, 2009 | Posted in folklore, horror, Old Hag, sleep paralysis, Vincent Price

Over the last week two areas of interest came together to make for an interesting tale here at TheoFantastique. On Halloween, like many horror and Halloween fans, I spent a good portion of my day enjoying various horror films on television. I had several options to choose from, but one station did a better job […]

Tagged in: , , , , , | 1 Comment

Scott Poole: Satan in America

November 6th, 2009 | Posted in film, horror, Satan, television, W. Scott Poole

I first heard of W. Scott Poole through the Religion Dispatches website that involves scholars interacting with pop culture and religion. Scott wrote an article on Jennifer’s Body that I commented on here, and which attracted a lot of interest at the now defunct HorrorBlips. Scott is associate professor of history at the College of […]

Tagged in: , , , | 6 Comments

Joseph Laycock: The Exorcist, Secularization, and Folk Piety

October 27th, 2009 | Posted in demonic, demonology, devil in film, horror, Joseph Laycock, Satan, The Exorcist

Joseph Laycock is an independent scholar and doctoral candidate at Boston University, and author of Vampires Today: The Truth About Modern Vampirism (Praeger, 2009) who was interviewed here in the recent past on this book. He has returned to discuss a paper he submitted to the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion titled “The Folk Piety […]

Tagged in: , , , , | 6 Comments

The Box

October 16th, 2009 | Posted in horror, thrillers

THE BOX: Movie Trailer I’ve seen a trailer for a movie, The Box, that looks intriguing that I’ll pass along here. Following is the plot summary fromt the Internet Movie Database: Norma and Arthur Lewis, a suburban couple with a young child, receive a simple wooden box as a gift, which bears fatal and irrevocable […]

Tagged in: | 3 Comments

ZOMBIELAND: Great Comedy-Horror, and a Little Bit More

October 8th, 2009 | Posted in horror, Uncategorized, zombie, Zombieland

Last weekend Zombieland hit theaters in its debut and went on to defy a recession diminished box office, and in the process earned critical praise. This comedy (which also includes elements of road-horror, teenage angst, and coming of age films) takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where a mutation of the swine flu virus has turned […]

Tagged in: , | 0 Comments

Jennifer’s Body vs. Buffy’s Body

September 23rd, 2009 | Posted in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, feminism, horror, W. Scott Poole

From time to time Religion Dispatches includes articles and commentary that dovetail with the interests and perspectives of TheoFantastique. This was the case recently with an article by W. Scott Poole titled “Jennifer’s Body and Why I Like Buffy’s Body Better.” Poole situates Jennifer’s Body within the context of previous horror films that have incorporated a “raft […]

Tagged in: , , | 2 Comments

Bryan Stone: Changing Religious Imagery in Horror

September 4th, 2009 | Posted in horror, religion

As regular readers of TheoFantastique are aware, some of the facets of the fantastic genres discussed on this site are religion and spirituality. A while back I came across an article by Bryan Stone of the Boston University School of Theology that touched on this topic titled “The Sanctification of Fear: Images of the Religious in […]

Tagged in: | 2 Comments

PET SEMATARY: “Resurrection” Gone Wrong and Parental Loss

September 2nd, 2009 | Posted in death, horror, Pet Sematary, Stephen King

One of the programs I watch every time it’s replayed is Bravo’s “The 100 Scariest Movie Moments” (2004). Although I certainly find my areas of disagreement in the program’s selection of moments (for example, Jaws listed as number 1, the flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz being included, and inclusion of the psychedelic boat scene […]

Tagged in: , , | 1 Comment

Horror, Pop Culture, and Current Events

August 12th, 2009 | Posted in horror, pop culture

In the past I’ve connected aspects of the fantastic to popular culture and current events. With this post I do so again, first in serious fashion, and second with tongue in cheek. In a recent post I asked readers to consider America’s continuing struggles with the legacy of racism through reflection on Conquest of the […]

Tagged in: | 0 Comments
RSS for Posts RSS for Comments