Schedule

Let’s visit horror traditions from all over the world, providing creatures such as manananggal, vampire pumpkins, and Wurdulac. What frightens us? What do our fears tell us about the way societies work? How do different traditions write fear?

Horror offers so much more than slasher movies and ghost stories. The importance of the horror genre across literature, film, and increasingly television can hardly be overstated as a crucial platform to explore human weakness and critique social ills—while sometimes delivering sensational scares! Join a discussion about what horror is for, and what horror can do across mediums.

The intersection of queerness and necromancy has cropped up several times in recent years. Is there something about defying heteronormativity that resonates with these themes? What inspiration can we draw from such works that challenge genre conventions?

The concept of bloodsucking monster that looks (vaguely) like a person but actually feeds on people isn’t unique to European folklore. Let’s dive into mythology from around the world to explore other conceptions of the vampire and what makes them compelling.

The stringy-haired ghost girl is a Japanese trope, while the isolated cabin in the woods is very American. How much of horror is culturally specific? How do such tropes develop, and how do they translate to foreign audiences?

Jordan Peele’s Get Out brought psychological horror movies to the forefront again, pulling audiences back to the quieter side of horror. But it is not new. The 70s and 80s were a slasher movie fan’s dream period, but also had a fair amount of psychological horror: The Omen, The Exorcist, Angel Heart, and Jacob’s Ladder, to name a few. How do these movies hit differently from other kinds of horror? Is it scarier when you have to think?

A horror setting generally starts with a safe and familiar world, and then introduces strange and frightening elements. But what if you don’t want to use the real world as your setting? How do you construct a horror novel that takes place in an entirely speculative world? What techniques can make the unfamiliar a safe starting point on which to build your horror?

Creepypasta: the internet evolution of the urban legend. It has risen from nothing to become a mature horror genre over the last decade. What is it, why does it work, and how will it evolve into the future?

Horror themes in popular music transcend musical genre. From heavy metal, to horrorcore hip-hop, to ghost cowboys, to the cabaret horror ballads of La Femme Pendu, horror songs cut across all demographics and time periods in a way that fantasy and science fiction songs do not. What is it about horror that lends itself to popular music? What’s the appeal? Who has done it well lately, and why?