Ash’s Reviews > The Philosophy of Horror > Status Update

50 pages in 5 hours and i genuinely just want to DNF this. gonna put it down and go to sleep and see if i feel any different about it in the morning.

Final thoughts on Ideological Formations of the Nuclear Family in The Hills Have Eyes — work through your homophobia and misogyny, dude. Claiming that gratuitous violence, both physical and sexual, against women is a staple to the horror genre is such a distasteful stereotype, and your weird need to frame character development as following gender norms is just weird.

“penetrative violence” … “violence of penetration” … bro just fucking call it what it is

hey did you dislocate your shoulder? because this whole section was a ✨fucking reach✨

“… the configuration of the remnants, with Brenda the lone female in a heterosexual unit, points toward further, incestuous devolution.” WHAT ????? It’s not like society as a whole has been destroyed ??? Other people still exist !!! What the actual fuck is wrong with you ?????

… this essay did NOT just say one of the characters “must ‘butch it up’ in order to survive” eye—

this whole section just feels wildly homophobic !!!

Not only has this particular essay (The Vampire with a Soul) aged so incredibly poorly — praising Joss Whedon among other things — but it also, at times, seems to villainize people with personality disorders. Instead of making the clear connection that Angel & Angelus are Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, it paints a terrible picture of the morality of those with personality disorders & talks in circles.

wow I actually genuinely hated “making their presence known” and wish I just completely skipped over it.