FI325-15 Horror and the Gothic in Film and Television

Department: SCAPVC - Film & Television Studies
Level: Undergraduate Level 3
Module leader: James Taylor
Credit value: 15
Module duration: 10 weeks
Assessment: 100% coursework
Study location: University of Warwick main campus, Coventry

Introductory description

N/A.

Module aims

This module offers students the chance to explore a genre-based case study in depth, examining two interconnected genres (the Gothic and horror) which have a long and fascinating history in relation to both the development of screen-based media and the development of film and television studies as academic disciplines. This module will encourage students to attend to questions of genre, address and medium specificity, and will interweave the study of film and television in order to address and complicate these questions. It will read Gothic and horror films and programmes in relation to a range of theoretical/methodological positions (psychanalysis, social/cultural history approaches, empirical audience research, etc.). In terms of its range, the module will (a) attend to the history of Gothic and horror programming on television, and its contemporary upsurge and (b) cover a history of classic and contemporary horror and Gothic cinema and the critical writing that surrounds it. It will also engage students in discussion of how recent changes in the production, distribution and exhibition of horror cinema have impacted upon the development of the genre.

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Introduction - horror films and television - mapping the debates
Screenings might include 'Frankenstein' (James Whale, US, 1931), 'American Horror Story' (FX, 2011-)
Horror cinema as national cinema
Screenings might include 'Nosferatu' (F.W. Murnau, Germany, 1922), Kiss of the Vampire (Don Sharp, UK, 1963)
Gothic film and television: ghosts and the uncanny
Screenings might include 'The Others' (Alejandro Amenábar, US, 2001), 'Whistle and I’ll Come to You' (BBC1, 1967))
Gothic film and television: exploring the female Gothic
Screenings might include 'Rebecca' (Alfred Hitchcock, US, 1940), 'Woman in White' (BBC1, 1997)),
Children's horror
Screenings might include 'The Hole' (Joe Dante, US, 2009), 'Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids (ITV, 1999-2010; Nickelodeon 2010-) 'Are You Afraid of the Dark?' (Nickelodeon, 1990-2000)
Body horror: confronting the abject
Screenings might include 'Videodrome' (David Cronenberg, US, 1983), 'Masters of Horror' (Showtime, 2005-2007)).
Gender, genre, and the final girl: reading the slasher film
Screenings might include 'Halloween' (John Carpenter, US, 1979), 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (Tobe Hooper, US, 1974)
Understanding the vampire
Screenings might include 'Låt den rätte komma in/Let the Right One In' (Tomas Alfredson, Sweden, 2008), 'True Blood' (HBO, 2008-)

Understanding the zombie
Screenings might include 'Night of the Living Dead' (George Romero, US, 1968), 'The Walking Dead' (AMC, 2010-)

Beyond the multiplex: the circulation of contemporary horror cinema
Screenings might include 'Salvage' (Lawrence Gough, UK, 2008), 'Mum and Dad' (Steve Sheil, UK, 2008)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

Have an understanding of the issues and approaches central to the study of horror film and television, and be able to evaluate critically and mobilise key theoretical concepts, perspectives and methodologies in relation to this genre.
Have an understanding of the issues and approaches central to the study of the Gothic in film and television and be able to evaluate critically and mobilise key theoretical concepts, perspectives and methodologies in relation to this genre.
Be able to offer critical, evaluative textual analyses of the film and television texts attended to on the module.
Be able to undertake independent historical research into horror/Gothic film and/or television, and communicate research outcomes with clarity, both orally, in writing and through the use of IT.
Understand historical and contemporary trends in the production, exhibition and distribution of horror film, television, web-based texts, etc.

Indicative reading list

Bailey, Dale, 1999. American Nightmares: The Haunted House Formula in American Popular Fiction. Bowling Green: Bowling Green State University Popular Press.
Bettelheim, Bruno, 1976. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. London: Penguin.
Bell, James, ed. 2013. Gothic – The Dark Heart of Film. London: BFI.
Boss, Pete. 1986. ‘Vile Bodies and Bad Medicine’ Screen (1986) 27(1): 14-25
Brown, Simon and Abbott, Stacey. 2009. ‘The art of splatter: Dexter, CSI, Bones and body horror’, in Doug Howard, Doug (ed.) Investigating Dexter, London, U.K.: I.B. Tauris, pp. 205-20.
Carroll, Noël, 1990. The Philosophy of Horror or Paradoxes of the Heart. New York: Routledge.
Cherry, Brigid, 2009. Horror. London: Routledge.
Chibnall, Steve and Petley, Julian (eds), 2002. British Horror Cinema (Routledge)
Clover, Carol J. 1992. Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Conrich, Ian. 1997. ‘Traditions of the British Horror Film’, in Murphy The British Cinema Book. BFI
Crane, Jonathan Lake, 1994. Terror and everyday life: singular moments in the history of the horror film. London: Sage Publications.
Creed, Barbara. 1986 ‘Horror and the Monstrous-Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection’, Screen (1986) 27(1): 44-71
Creed, Barbara, 1993. The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, feminism, psychoanalysis. London: Routledge.
Creed, Barbara, 2005. Phallic Panic: Film, Horror and the Primal Uncanny. Carlton: Melbourne University Press.
Curtis, Barry, 2008. Dark Places: The Haunted House in Film. London: Reaktion Books.
Davis, Amy M. 2013 (forthcoming). ‘Scaring the Children: Horror Films for the Younger Audience,’ in Jessica McCort, ed. Unpleasant Tales: The Wonderland of Horror in Children's Literature. Mississippi: University of Mississippi Press, pp. TBC
Denison, Rayna and Jancovich, Mark. 2007. ‘Mysterious Bodies’, Special Edition of the journal Intensities, 4, December 2007
Doane, Mary Anne. 1987. The Desire to Desire: The Woman’s Film of the 1940s. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Freedman, Eric. 2005. ‘Television, horror and everyday life in Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ in Michael Hammond and Lucy Mazdon (eds) The Contemporary Television Series. Edinburgh University Press.
Freud, Sigmund, 1919. ‘The Uncanny,’ in 2003. The Uncanny. Translated by David McLintock. London: Penguin, pp. 121-62.
Barry Keith Grant (ed), 1996. The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film. University of Texas Press.
Grant, Barry Keith and Christopher Sharrett, eds. 2004. Planks of Reason: Essays on the Horror Film. Revised edition. Lanham: Scarecrow Press
Hanson, Helen. 2007. Hollywood Heroines: Women in Film Noir and the Female Gothic Film. IB Tauris.
Harper, Sue. 1998. ‘The Scent of Distant Blood: Hammer Films and History’ in Tony Barta Screening the Past. Praeger.
Hills, Matt, 2005. The Pleasures of Horror. London: Continuum.
Hunt, Leon et al (eds) 2012. Screening the Undead: Vampires and Zombies in Film and Television (London: I.B. Tauris
Hutchings, Peter. 1993 Hammer and Beyond: The British Horror Film. Manchester University Press.
Jancovich, Mark, ed. 2002. Horror: The Film Reader. London: Routledge.
King, Stephen, 1981. Danse Macabre. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
Kracauer, Siegfried, 1947. From Caligari to Hitler: a psychological history of the German Film. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Kristeva, Julia, 1982. Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. New York: Columbia University Press.
Neale, Stephen, 1980 (1996). Genre. London: BFI Publishing.
Odell, Colin and Le Blanc, Michelle (2007) Horror Films Kamera Books
Peirse, Alison (2013) After Dracula: The 1930s Horror Film. IB Tauris.
Peirse, Alison and Martin, Daniel (2013) Korean Horror Cinema. Edinburgh University Press
Petley, Julian. 1986. ‘The lost continent’, in Barr All Our Yesterdays. BFI.
Pirie, David, 1973. A Heritage of Horror: The English Gothic Cinema 1946-1972. Gordon Fraser.
Porter, Vincent. 1983. ‘The context of creativity: Ealing Studios and Hammer Films’, in Curran & Porter, British Cinema History. Weidenfeld & Nicholson
Prawer, S. S. 1980. Caligari's children : the film as tale of terror. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Propp, Vladimir, 1968 (1988). Morphology of the Folktale. 2nd edition. Translated from Russian by Laurence Scott. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Richards, Andy (2010) Asian Horror. Kamera Books
Sanjek, David. 1994. ‘Twilight of the monsters: The English horror film 1968-1975’, in Winston Dixon, Re-viewing British Cinema, 1900-1992. State University of New York Press.
Schneider, Steven Jay (ed) 2004. Horror Film and Psychoanalysis: Freud’s Worst Nightmare. Cambridge University Press.
Skal, David J. 1993. The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror. London: Plexus.
Stein, Louisa Ellen. 2011. ‘Gruesome competition for cable viewers : masters of horror, auteurism, and the progressive potential of a disreputable genre’ in Michael Kackman et al Flow TV : television in the age of media convergence (Routledge)
Tudor, Andrew, 1989. Monsters and mad scientists: a cultural history of the horror movie. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Tatar, Maria, 2009. Enchanted Hunters: The Power of Stories in Childhood. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Walker, Johnny 2015. Contemporary British Horror Cinema: Industry, Genre and Society (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press)
Waller, Gregory A. 1987. ‘Made for television horror films’, in his American Horrors: Essays on the Modern Horror Film. University of Illinois Press. pp. 139-60.
Warner, Marina, 1998. No Go the Bogeyman: Scaring, Lulling, and Making Mock. London: Chatto & Windus.
Wells, Paul, 2000. The Horror Genre: From Beelzebub to Blair Witch. Wallflower.
Wheatley, Helen. 2006. Gothic Television, Manchester University Press.
Wheatley, Helen, 2012. ‘Uncanny Children, Haunted Houses, Hidden Rooms: Children’s Gothic Television in the 1970s and ‘80s,’ Visual Culture in Britain 13:3, pp. 383-97.
Williams, Linda, 1990. Hard Core: Power, Pleasure and the ‘Frenzy of the Visible’. Pandora Press.
Williams, Linda. 1991. ‘Film Bodies: Gender, Genre, and Excess’ Film Quarterly, 44:4
Williams, Tony, 1996. Hearths of Darkness: The Family in the American Horror Film. Madison: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.
Wood, Robin, 2003. Hollywood from Vietnam to Reagan … and Beyond. Expanded and Revised Edition. New York: Columbia University Press.
Worland, Rick, 2007. The Horror Film: An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Subject specific skills

This module develops skills of audio-visual literacy, through close textual and/or contextual analysis in relation to the moving image and sound. It may also develops understandings of historical, theoretical and conceptual frameworks relevant to screen arts and cultures.

Transferable skills

critical and analytical thinking in relation
independent research skills
team work
clarity and effectiveness of communication, oral and written
accurate, concise and persuasive writing
audio-visual literacy

Study time

Type	Required
Lectures	9 sessions of 1 hour (6%)
Seminars	9 sessions of 1 hour 30 minutes (9%)
Other activity	18 hours (12%)
Private study	109 hours 30 minutes (73%)
Total	150 hours

Private study description

Reading, additional viewing, preparation and writing of essays

Other activity description

Screenings.

Costs

No further costs have been identified for this module.

You must pass all assessment components to pass the module.

Assessment group A3

	Weighting	Eligible for self-certification
Assessment component
Research essay or Horror festival portfolio	100%	Yes (extension)
One 5,000 word research-based essay or portfolio. Please note, I will not be circulating essay titles for this module, but rather holding individual tutorials with each of you to discuss the research topic you wish to work on and agreeing the essay title, in writing, before the end of the Spring term (there will be dedicated tutorial times for this in Weeks 9 and 10, though you are welcome to come and see me about this at any point from the start of term onwards). This enables you to follow your own research interests raised by the work we have done together and drawing on the critical literature we have read together. It can be a bit daunting to come up with your own title so start thinking about this and discussing it with me and with other students on the module as soon as you can – don’t leave until the last minute. You may write on films or programmes we have watched together in class or you may wish to develop your own research project that moves out from our class work. This is a research-based essay that should demonstrate extensive reading and viewing as well as a careful engagement with the critical issues we have explored together. I can also supply you with a question on a particular week’s work, if you don’t wish to write your own essay question. If you want to me to do this, you will need to email me before the end of Week 9 in the Spring Term. Good essays will have the following features: A logical structure with a proper introduction and conclusion A sense of purpose and argument and careful attention to the question at hand throughout Evidence of in-depth engagement with the relevant critical literature (excellent work with show extensive reading/research) Clear and accurate exposition of all key theoretical/critical terms. An in-depth understanding of the genre/s or sub-genre/s you are engaging with, Detailed textual analysis of your chosen programme/s or film/s An understanding of how these works are situated within their particular socio-historical and/or industrial context A clear sense of how your examples relate to each other and the critical literature at hand Careful referencing and a full, complete bibliography and filmography/teleography Marking criteria can be found here for 3rd years: https://moodle.warwick.ac.uk/mod/book/view.php?id=739990&chapterid=92684 The other option is: One 5,000 word film festival portfolio (this assignment has two parts): Firstly, critically reflect on the programming of TWO horror film festivals, establishing the distinguishing features of each. As well as drawing on reports and reviews of each festival from Sight& Sound and other publications, and the catalogues and online archives of the festivals themselves, your reflection should engage with the critical literature on the film festival more broadly (see your reading list from week 5) to assess the programming strategies and ‘purpose’ of each festival. [ca. 3,000 words] Festivals you could look at include UK festivals Film4 Fright Fest (London), Abertoir (Aberystwyth), Grimmfest (Manchester), Bram Stoker International Film Festival (Whitby), Celluloid Screams (Sheffield), as well as a wide array of festivals from further afield, such as the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, Scream Fest (Los Angeles), Bucheon International Film Festival (Bucheon City, South Korea) and others (there is a fairly comprehensive list of key festivals here: http://www.raindance.org/essential-horror-and-fantasy-film-festivals/). Secondly, create a programme, consisting of a minimum of SIX films, for either an extant horror film festival or a new horror/Gothic film festival. You do not have to focus on new films and can draw on your knowledge of film/television history to programme a retrospective if you wish. Your programme should be given a critical introduction which explains the motivation for its focus and choice of films (500 words); you should think of the audience for this introduction as a well-informed film scholar and make reference to the critical traditions that your festival comes out of. You should also list the films with credits (title, director, release date, runtime) and a ca. 200-word synopsis for each film. This synopsis should be specially written, by you, for the programme – DO NOT cut and paste synopses from online sources. You might also choose to indicate how you would incorporate events into your programme (e.g. interviews, round-table/Q&A sessions, social events, etc.), giving a clear rationale for their place in the programme [ca 2,000 words in total]. Good portfolios will have the following features: A critical reflection with a logical structure with a proper introduction and conclusion, a persuasive argument and insightful analysis of the festivals at hand A sense of purpose and argument and careful attention to the question at hand throughout Evidence of in-depth engagement with the relevant critical literature (excellent work with show extensive reading/research) Clear and accurate exposition of all key theoretical/critical terms. Demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the genre/s or sub-genre/s you are engaging with, A programme which is inventive and original, and which is carefully framed by its critical introductory statement. All elements of the portfolio should be well-written and well-presented (according to the Departmental guidelines for the presentation of assessed work), but special attention will be paid to the presentation of the festival programme which should incorporate illustration. You may choose to present this element of the work in a ‘brochure’ style rather than in a traditional ‘essay’ format.
Reassessment component is the same

Feedback on assessment

Detailed written feedback will be given on essays and portfolios, along with individual tutorials before submission and after grading.

Pre-requisites

To take this module, you must have passed:

Any of

Courses

This module is Optional for:

Year 3 of UFIA-W620 Undergraduate Film Studies
Year 3 of UFIA-QW26 Undergraduate Film and Literature (with Study Abroad)