Graham Humphreys Horror Art and Stained Glass Windows
The current edition of RUE MORGUE magazine, Issue 193 (March/April 2020), currently available on newsstands in the print edition, and free in digital format, caught my eye given the lead story titled “The Horror Art of Graham Humphreys.” I’m a big fan of horror, monstrous and fantasy art, and have a few books in my […]
Titles of Interest – “Tracking Classical Monsters in Popular Culture”
I learned about this volume from the blog of Steve Wiggins, a fellow monster scholar. The overall topic is very appealing to me, and the discussion of Harryhausen’s monsters (or creatures as he preferred to call them), make this a volume I must add to my library. Tracking Classical Monsters Liz Gloyn Bloomsbury Academic, 2019 […]
Journal article explores the psychology of possession in connection with horror
Mathias Clasen, who has been interviewed here previously on his biocultural approach to the study of horror, is the coauthor of a journal article of interest. It appears in the journal Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences and is titled “’We are legion’: Possession myth as a lens for understanding […]
Podcast with Brandon Grafius: “Reading the Bible with Horror”
I’m pleased to share a video podcast conversation I had with Brandon Grafius on his book Reading the Bible with Horror. We have been working together for a while co-editing the volume Theology and Horror, and we talk a little about this too, as well as our new project the Oxford Handbook of Biblical Monsters. […]
Cronenberg’s THE FLY, Transporters, and Atheism
I’ve never been a big fan of David Cronenberg’s The Fly, preferring the 1950s version, but when this video came across my YouTube feed I was intrigued. I enjoy the analysis of Rob Ager and Collative Learning, and his suggestion that The Fly should be understood as have an atheistic subtext is intriguing. Although Cronenberg […]
“Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror”: Documentary on Shudder
I recently signed up for the trial period of Shudder.com because I’ve had my eye on a couple of documentaries the channel has availabler via streaming. One was Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror, that addresses the black experience in horror films. This film is based upon the book of the same title by […]
Expressions of 9/11 Trauma in Popular Culture Entertaiment
A friend of mine recently brought a book to my attention. It is American Popular Culture in the Era of Terror: Falling Skies, Dark Knights Rising, and Collapsing Cultures by Jesse Kavadlo (Praeger, 2015). Here’s the description: Bringing together the most popular genres of the 21st century, this book argues that Americans have entered a […]
Call for Papers: Jewish Zombies
Jewish Zombies Call for Papers Workshop at the Jewish Studies Program, Penn State University October 27-28, 2020 The Jewish Studies Program at Penn State University presents an interdisciplinary academic workshop to examine zombies in the context of Jewish history and culture. Throughout history, Jews have often been depicted as monstrous figures, such as demons and […]
Peace, Conflict and Neuroscience: Science Fiction Helps Protect Against Genocide
My academic and popular interests and research overlap with the concept of monstrosity. This week I found a great website with a lot of resources that combine my interests in the Peace and Conflict Neuroscience Lab. One of their articles is titled “Finding Humanity in Alien Eyes: What science fiction films can tell us about […]
“‘Carnival Row,” Fantasy and Religious Blind Spots
I recently started watching Carnival Row, the Amazon Prime series. This weekend involved some binge watching, and an element in episode 5 in Season 1 caught my attention. This episode includes several instances where a religious icon is shown in an orphanage. It is the image of The Martyr, a Jesus-like figure at the center […]
