Gore-Geous: Personal Essays on Beauty and Horror

by Alexandra West

From the author of Films of the New French Extremity, The 1990 Teen Horror Cycle, and co-host of the Faculty of Horror podcast comes Gore-Geous: Personal Essays on Beauty and Horror—a collection of essays where West seamlessly blends the genres of the personal essay and film criticism, examining gender norms, beauty standards, and cultural expectations. Gore-Geous: Personal Essays on Beauty and Horror is a journey through the overlapping darkness of the beauty world and horror films including Cat People (1942), The Witches (1990), Carrie (1976), Black Swan (2010), Audition (1999), Under the Skin (2013), American Psycho (2000) and Ready or Not (2019) among others.

Genres: Horror, Nonfiction, Essays

Paperback

Published January 1, 2024

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good, but the frequent typos, misspellings and grammatical errors are extremely frustrating.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this….the personal elements made it for me. It made me reflect on why I like horror and being scared in a controlled imaginative way. She picked interesting films to discuss.

[Julieta Tobon · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars
“…I'm left with the notion that by sacrificing our unique external selves to outside ideals not only skews our sense of reality but traps us in the darkest regions of our identities-where our true nature becomes something to fear.”

“If you're going to burn the old world and its ideals to the ground, better they see your true face than the one someone else told you to have.”

This is a good collection of Alex West's analysis of beauty in horror, referencing great horror films to exemplify her ideas and combining some of her deepest and personal experiences.
It was short and concise and read like her podcast (which I love!), with her sense of humor and very conversational.
I wish she had delved deeper into some of the topics, though.

[Iris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this, so I rated it 5 stars. If I could do 4.5, I probably would, simply because there were a few editing errors. It didn't take me out of the content though, and I laughed out loud at some of the footnotes. ❤️

[Elodie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another amazing book by Alex West

[Damian · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a fan of the podcast Faculty of Horror, I enjoyed the essays as they felt like concise but thoughtful responses to how Alexandra West feels on the movies they cover and mention. There isn't deep criticism of the films in an academic way, but West's point of view is definitely critical of society. She uses the films as a foundation to examine how women, both in life and in the movies' narratives, are held to contradictory standards. Although a lot felt familiar and I could read everything in her voice, the new information and reflections gave the book a skin of its own, rather than a summary of what's been said on the podcast.

As West admits in the afterword, there is still a distance to how open and personal the text could be, but there's a lot here that is hard to confront and share. There are general anecdotes from West where the sentiment would be shared by the majority of people who went through the same thing. That would be the ritualistic preparation for prom or a wedding, or going through the process of buying makeup and buying into ideas of natural beauty and fitness.

As mentioned earlier, the analysis of the films isn't too heavy as it's mostly done by West expanding on the characters and narrative. There's references to certain academic ideas like the Monstrous Feminine, but they're sparse. It's a very conversational book in tone. One doesn't need to watch all the films as the summaries serve their purpose well, but there will be spoilers for some films. I'd recommend the book to anyone who wants a quick read to ponder how horror tackles beauty and how horror concepts bleed into life, as well as how life's simple and innocuous conventions make horror all the more horrifying.

[Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent essay collection that very loosely explores the depiction of beauty in horror movies. Each essay compares two complementary films and an aspect of desirability. Prom (Carrie/The Loved Ones), female sexuality (Cat People/Under the Skin), marriage (Audition/Ready or Not), you get the idea.

West uses a modern, friendly, podcaster style of frequent footnotes and asides to try to forcibly inject humour. The overall feel is of an undergrad essay perked up for a zine publication, given the typos and surface-level readings. West is here to analyze themes rather than filmic language, and the analysis will not be surprising or penetrating to anyone who has watched the movies, but it may add some to your watchlist.

It’s pop essays with enough personal detail and feminist lens to not really put a step wrong, but it feels bounded, playing safe in its sandbox of friendly recounting of movie plots. Read it in a couple hours and pass it on to a friend looking for a light dash of familiarity.

http://lawrencedebbs.home.blog/2024/0...

[Emily Saso · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a gift for readers when a wickedly smart cultural critic looks inward, and that’s what the brilliant Alexandra West does in her new book Gore-Geous. Alex is one of the smartest, funniest people I know. (Have you heard her podcast Faculty of Horror? It’s fantastic. Listen immediately.) So her latest book was everything I expected it to be and more. It’s a powerful and revealing reflection of her most personal struggles in love and in her body, seen through the lens of the horror films that helped shaped her and our culture. Beautifully written, intimate, and deeply relatable, Gore-Geous is impossible to put down. READ IT.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Horror gives us a vocabulary to talk about everything our society represses, fears, and marginalizes through a genre that is itself often relegated to the margins despite its popularity and profitability. We fear horror, not just because monsters and jump scares, but because we see ourselves in it.”

An excellent book of essays exploring our individual and societal relationship with beauty.

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of Alexandra's books, commentary tracks, essays, etc., help me think more deeply about the movies I watch. Sure, I'm a different person, but there is a lot of common ground and some I presume is universal.

[S. Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I already had a huge crush on Alex West from listening in to her discussions with Andrea Subisatti (on whom I also have a major crush–my capacity for crushing on brilliant people is boundless) on the Faculty of Horror podcast. But when I read these words in her recent book, GORE-GEOUS, my love for her grew to probably insane proportions: “Horror is a haven for me when the world feels too obtuse, moronic, or basic.” GORE-GEOUS is a profound exploration where personal essays intersect with film criticism to challenge societal norms of beauty, worth, and acceptance, wherein she adeptly observes, “Having narratives about the function of beauty shoved down our collective throats and having these ideas sold to us through endless products and treatments in a mindfuck.” In these pages, regarding issues of self-perception, self-worth, and internalizing toxic beauty and wellness culture, Alex confronts incredibly personal and also very relatable fears — which is a highly vulnerable and, I think, ultimately, empowering move– and examines it all through a horror movie lens. With raw vulnerability and incisive analysis, she weaves together personal anecdotes, film criticism, and cultural commentary to unpack the harmful messages we receive about beauty and how horror films can serve as a space to challenge these norms. I can’t recommend GORE-GEOUS enough.