SDSU Gothic & Horror Studies

Hey! Just in time for hall, it’s Chris McGee chatting in a spooky lecture hall about Ouija boards, young people, & horror movies!

And if you’re into mysteries, check out his new book, Detective Fiction for Young Readers: Full of Secrets (Routledge, 2024).

Ouija Boards in Horror Movies: Why Spirit Boards Still Scare Us From The Exorcist to Witchboard, Ouija boards—also known as talking boards or spirit boards—have terrified audiences on screen for decades. But what do these...

JImmy Whale, the Queen of Hollywood. Check it out, my Halloween freaks!

Frankenstein's Gay Maker: James Whale, The Queen of Hollywood Universal monsters — a franchise that’s defined horror for nearly a century. And who do we have to thank? A man once called The Queen of Hollywood. A WWI vet...

The RedLettermedia boys discuss Canadian film maker David Cronenberg and his amazing sci-fi horror film, The Fly (1986).

The Fly (1986) - re:View Colin and Jay finally get around to discussing David Cronenberg! Did you know that there is a direct link between Cronenberg's body horror masterpiece The Fl...

Bros.

We ended ECL 556: Chicanx Gothic talking about Donna Barba Higuera's THE LAST CUENTISTA as a gothicized Chicanafuturist coming-of-age story.

In ECL 556: Chicanx Gothic we read V. Castro's Mestiza Blood. It's a brilliant collection of stories. Here, Cassie D. offers a super smart, carefully crafted rendering of "Dance Hall Devil" 💯

Today it's a close(r) encounter with La Llorona in ECL 158: Introduction to Horror Aesthetics

On the docket for ECL 556: Chicanx Gothic today: theorizing racialization through THE ADVENTURES OF CONNIE AND DIEGO and CHICANO FRANKENSTEIN.

Students never fail to impress and inspire with their originality, creativity, and intelligence. Here ECL 158: Introduction to Horror Aesthetics student Aidan ingeniously synthesizes some of the diverse texts studied this semester into "The Terror Town Times." In professor-speak, note the higher-order thinking skills demonstrated in this project. 💯

Is Mister Babadook:
a) grief
b) compulsory heterosexuality
c) queerness
d) maternal rage
e) all of the above (and more...)
Such is the focus of ECL 158: Introduction to Horror Aesthetics this week.

ECL 158 has devoted a lot of critical attention to the politics of gender and gender representation in horror films. Student Billyjean put together a diorama essay on women in horror films.