Horror Analysis Archive
Rosemary’s Baby: Cinematic Gestation of Trauma – Part One
Rosemary's Baby: Cinematic Gestation of Trauma - Part One By, Kristin Grady Oscar winning film director Roman Polanski survived Poland’s Nazi occupation when he was a small boy. His pregnant wife was famously murdered by the Manson family. Since 1978, Polanski has...
Anatomy of a First Time Director: A Dark Song
Anatomy of a First Time Director: A Dark Song In episode 12 of our Anatomy of Horror series, we explore Liam Gavin’s 2016 debut A Dark Song. A Dark Song A grieving, yet determined mother convinces an angry, alcoholic man to live with her in a dilapidated mansion hours...
Anatomy of an Auteur: The Devil’s Backbone
Anatomy of an Auteur: The Devil’s Backbone Mimic Fresh off a disappointing American premiere of Mimic(1997), Guillermo del Toro was a young director in need of some home cooking. Enter Pedro Almodóvar, the Spanish language film icon. Almodóvar could have cared less...
The Anatomy of The Exorcist
Anatomy of The Exorcist In both our second and tenth episodes of the Anatomy of Horror series, we explore the depths of possibly the most iconic film of all time The Exorcist. In our second episode, we focus on the theme of loss of faith. The character most associated...
When Working on Set of The Lighthouse Seemed About as Fun as Working on an Actual Lighthouse
When Working on Set of The Lighthouse Seemed About as Fun as Working on an Actual Lighthouse By Sean M. Sanford You Gotta Fight for Your Light Robert Eggers’s The Lighthouse is an incredible movie with breathtaking cinematography and imagery, haloed around two of the...
The Platform
During the fascist Franco regime in Spain, Basque nationalists eventually rose to the point of committing domestic terrorism in the name of social change. The Platform aligns with this swift glide into barbarism by showing the flaws in “trickle-down” economics and how human nature can throw a monkey wrench in socialism/communism. When all the food comes from the top, people at the bottom start eating each other.
Anatomy of Ari Aster’s Hereditary
In Episode 1 in our Anatomy of Horror Series, we discuss Ari Aster’s film language and how he used that language to create this horror masterpiece.
Annihilation: The Lighthouse
Three parts are mirror images of this existential ambivalence, reveal the true reflective nature of the alien force, and how Lena overcomes these self-destructive tendencies.
The Void’s Relationship with Lovecraft (They’re Not Just Friends)
The Void’s Relationship with Lovecraft (They’re Not Just Friends) Sean M. Sanford An Indirect Direction Somemovies are based on a book’s idea more than the actual happenings (The Shining much?”), while others can be based on a writer’s entire design. The Void...
A History of Violence: The Scars of American History
“A History of Violence: The Scars of American History” By, Kristin Grady Is violence part of human nature or is it a cycle we can break? Canadian director David Cronenberg didn’t intend to glorify violence in 2005’s A History of Violence. The film is...