Instructor: Bullins
TR 11-12:20 PM
The slasher film is a uniquely American form of horror cinema. Derided during its heyday in the 1980s, the slasher film has always been considered the lowest common denominator of the genre. Contrary to popular belief however, slasher films provide a gateway into the darker machinations of the American cultural zeitgeist. Beneath the layers of monsters, gore, and staccato strings, these films speak to themes of feminism, class consciousness, economic disparity, and more. This course will look at a broad selection of American slasher films across multiple decades, pairing them with critical and scholarly essays with which we will investigate responses to the films, theoretical approaches to them, how they fit into the wider tradition of American horror, and much more.