Horror Lex®

Horror Lex®

@horrorlex.bsky.social

Horror Lex® (https://horrorlex.com) is the home of academic horror. Explore our huge research database of scholarly, thoughtful writings on horror films. #horror

2,752 Followers 960 Following 687 Posts Joined Oct 2023
Posts Following
1 day ago
The cover of the book "Partially Devoured: How Night of the Living Dead Saved My Life and Changed the World" showing images from the film, incl a large profile of main character Ben looking determined, and a smaller horde of zombies coming out from the black background.

"Don't you know what's goin' on out there? This is no Sunday School picnic!" @danielkraus.com goes frame-by-frame to revisit Romero's original gut-munching classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD in his new book "Partially Devoured." Now out from #CounterpointPress
www.counterpointpress.com/books/partia...

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1 day ago

Ugh, the bane of my existence. I try so hard to vet entries going into the Horror Lex database to make sure they're not AI, but I don't think I can ever be 100% successful. How long before I won't actually be able to tell the difference?

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2 days ago
On the left, the homepage of The Association for the Study of Buffy+, the home of Slayage journal, with a blood-splattered background and plain black text. On the right, an image from the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, showing blonde teenager Buffy in a fighting stance with a defiant look on her face.

Since 2000, "Slayage" has been through the Whedon wringer. The journal is emerged anew and ready to serve up more scholarship on Buffy and her extended universe, which even a primo Hollywood jerk can't ruin. Check out the latest #openaccess issue at their new home:
buffystudies.org/slayage-the-...

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3 days ago
On the left, the cover of the Spring 2026 issue of Film Quarterly, featuring an image from a film in which a woman leans her head against a tree in a park, and a statute of a T Rex can be seen over her shoulder. On the right, an image of Aunt Gladys from the film WEAPONS, a garishly made-up older woman with a manic smile.

The Spring @filmquarterly.bsky.social is stacked w/ #openaccess horror: Elinor Dolliver schools us on analog horror, Mina Radović explains Yugoslav animal horror, @tonyeatspuppies.bsky.social identifies a new trio of witches in LONGLEGS, BRING HER BACK & WEAPONS.
online.ucpress.edu/fq/issue/79/3

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1 week ago
On the left, a screenshot of the article "The making of the Stepford teacher: a feminist horror story of teacher preparation" in plain text. On the right, an image from the final scene of the film THE STEPFORD WIVES (1975) in which the picture-perfect wives are grocery shopping in frilly dresses.

"Stepford has really done things to you." #BrittanyAronson et al imaginatively use THE STEPFORD WIVES to convey the "terror of the docility, passivity, and subjectification" of the "good" teacher. #OpenAccess from Critical Studies in Education. #GanivaReyes #RachealBanda
doi.org/10.1080/1750...

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1 week ago

Here in New England, March is most definitely still winter, soooo.... 👇👇

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1 week ago
The cover of the book "Unsuitable Film and Video Audiences: Underage Viewing Memories and Practices in 1980s United Kingdom" with an image from the movie POLTERGEIST of a girl sitting in front of a large TV, her hands both on the screen.

GenX Brits, get ready to revisit your night terrors, secret softcore, and video nasties. @ilovethatfilm.bsky.social's "Unsuitable Film & Video Audiences" revisits the memories of the first generation to grow up with home video. @edinburghup.bsky.social
edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-unsuita...

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1 week ago
On the left, the cover of the latest issue of Supernatural Studies journal with a gloomy drawing of a green lawn surrounded by stones and fencing leading to a big stone altar. On the right, an image of the character Carmilla, a female vampire with long white hair in the TV animated series CASTLEVANIA. She is holding a golden chalice as if making a toast.

A whole #openaccess issue! The new Supernatural Studies has folk horror in NIGHTBREED, house-love in THE LITTLE STRANGER, witchy girls of the 2010s & sapphic animated vampires in CASTLEVANIA. @plaguedr-richards.bsky.social
www.supernaturalstudies.com/previous-jou...

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1 week ago
The cover of the book "Clowns in Horror: A Film & Television Guide" featuring a close-up of a demented clown's face as he cries tears of blood.

Beep Beep, kiddos! Glenn Tolle is here to ruin your adulthood just like Pennywise (or Art, if you're a young'un) ruined your childhood. "Clowns in Horror: A Film & Television Guide" is now out from @mcfarland.bsky.social.
mcfarlandbooks.com/product/clow...

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2 weeks ago
Preview
Cinematic Perversity and The Literature of Henry Miller Joseph Dimacchia unites the tortured works of writer Henry Miller and film director Abel Ferrara in his essay “Cinematic Perversity and The Literature of Henry Miller.

Joseph Dimacchia notes that in Miller's books and Ferrara's films, incl. THE ADDICTION, characters are granted "willpower to live presently in a decaying body traversing a decaying world. "Cinematic Perversity & The Literature of Henry Miller" is #openaccess #Offscreen
offscreen.com/view/cinemat...

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2 weeks ago

Ooh, new stealth publication for ya👇

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2 weeks ago
On the left, a screenshot of the essay "Reading Circular Ruins of Fiction and Twin Peaks Thirty Years Later," in plain text. On the right, an image from TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN, featuring three primary characters (Agents Cooper and Cole in black suits and Diane in a shocking red bob wig) standing together against an inky black background and looking head very seriously.

"When you get there, you will already be there." Maria M. Carrión revisits her 30-year-old essay on TWIN PEAKS as literature and finds that David Lynch's multi-media labyrinth still has the capacity to twist us up. #openaccess at @litfilmquarterly.bsky.social.
lfq.salisbury.edu/_issues/54_1...

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2 weeks ago
On the left, the cover of issue 10.2 of Screen Bodies featuring an image of Sue (Margaret Qualley) from the film THE SUBSTANCE, laughing/crying at her toothless image in the mirror. On the right, a famous image from SAW (2004) in which a woman's head is enveloped in a giant iron torture mechanism, known as the "reverse bear trap."

The latest issue of Screen Bodies cowers in awe of the monstrous-feminine in THE SUBSTANCE, the SAW series, and New French Extremity cannibal films. #MeganKenny #ChaseBucklew #LouisaJoy @berghahnbooks.bsky.social
www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journal...

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2 weeks ago
On the left, a screenshot of the article "Becoming monstrous: Beauty norms, body image, and discursive limits on compassion in The Substance" in plain text. On the right, an image of Sue (Margaret Qualley) from the film THE SUBSTANCE. Sue is looking pretty and bubbly in her pink aerobics studio and blows a kiss toward the audience.

"You're the only part of me I don't hate." Phillip Joy's new article pulls together beauty culture, affect theory, and one big chicken carcass to discuss THE SUBSTANCE and its message about fat phobia. #openaccess from Nutrition & Dietetics @dietitiansaus.bsky.social.
doi.org/10.1111/1747...

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2 weeks ago

Read Grim's Real Fake issue here (and all other issues): anatomyofascream.wordpress.com/grim-2/

#openaccess #horrorcommunity #horrorsky #foundfootage #foundfootagefebruary #horrormovies #writersky #analoghorror

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3 weeks ago
The cover of the book "Global Cult Cinemas: Decolonizing Cult Film Studies" featuring an image from the 1967 Mexican film SANTO VS. THE MARTIAN INVASION, in which a luchadore-looking figure holding a ray-gun against a space background.

Cult isn't purely Anglo. Sometimes it's Czech or Indonesian or Brazilian, or involves a ray-gun toting luchadore fighting Martians, olé! "Global Cult Cinema" collects 'em all. #DoloresTierney #IainRobertSmith #ShrutiNarayanswamy @bloomsburyacademic.bsky.social
www.bloomsbury.com/us/global-cu...

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3 weeks ago
On the left, a screenshot of the article "From Analog to Interactive Haunting: Fake Documentary "Q" and the Remediation of Japanese Horror" in plain text. On the right, an image from the same series in which a creepy person's face is seen on an elevator camera, partially obscured by a video glitch.

Found footage alert: @newsfromnihon.bsky.social watches hours of the YouTube series Fake Documentary "Q" and talks about its stories of haunted media, inherited directly from the Sadakos of J-horror's past. Get it at @projectmuse.bsky.social @jcmsjournal.bsky.social .
muse.jhu.edu/article/982201

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3 weeks ago
On the left, a screenshot of the article "The (Re)Turn: Vicious Retooling of Teenager Archetypes in the Twin Peaks Revival," with an image from the TV series of a large, flat-topped rock that has some strange blue-white, supernatural-looking steam coming out of it. On the right, another image from TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN in which two young people sit in a convertible car, the boy leaning over to embrace the girl, who looks annoyed.

In TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN, the teen characters are "weathered, tired, violently angry, constantly on the verge of (if not actually) lashing out." Read Tyler Thier's essay on David Lynch's taking the shine off his young'uns' bloom. #Openaccess #BrightLightsFilm
brightlightsfilm.com/the-return-v...

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3 weeks ago
A screenshot of the blog entry for "What We're NOT Writing About in Horror Academia, 2026 Edition" featuring a cartoon drawing of a werewolf professor writing a letter with a quill pen.

The 2026 edition of "What We're NOT Writing About in Horror Academia" is up. Five free thesis ideas from PG-13 scares to fad diets to cringe horror, with hand-selected inspo pieces ready to read from @aaronrodriguezs.bsky.social @sarahstubbssays.bsky.social + more.
horrorlex.com/blog/what-we...

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3 weeks ago
A cartoon drawing of a wolf dressed like a university professor in a tweed jacket and glasses, using a pointer at a chalkboard in academic fashion.

Site update is in! Now you can find late 2025/early 2026 sources. Search new keywords "Lloyd Kaufman" "Shirley Jackson" and "desktop films." And welcome to 25 new journals and pubs like @maifeminism.bsky.social @jlpopculture.bsky.social @digest-journal.bsky.social @mesonpress.bsky.social . Awooo!

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1 month ago
On the left, the cover of the book "Sticky Films," with a photo collage of things that are sticky (like a bottle of glue and rolls of tape) with bright pops of pink. On the right, an image from the 2021 film CENSOR in which a brown-haired White woman stands against an emerald green-lit forest, her cream-colored nightgown streaked with blood.

The media-minded mavens of @mesonpress.bsky.social have a new #openaccess book about charged and textured cinema, "Sticky Films." Download to read Julia Willms' chapter on haptic imagery, snuff films & the emotion of disgust in 2021's CENSOR. Ed. @poodlesnygg.bsky.social
meson.press/books/sticky...

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1 month ago
On the left, the cover of the book "Hannibal Lecter: A Life" with a large drawing of a slice of pie on a plate. The pie looks like it's made of meat, topped with meringue. On the right, Anthony Hopkins glares straight at the camera as Hannibal Lecter, in a very close close-up, in THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991).

"Hannibal Lecter: A Life" is a biography of a meal of a man. @brianraftery.bsky.social's new book delves into Thomas Harris's cannibal creation, the film adaptations, and interviews with those who know him best. @simonandschuster.bsky.social
www.simonandschuster.com/books/Hannib...

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1 month ago
On the left, the cover of the book "Unserious Ecocriticism: Humor, Play and Environmental Destruction in Art & Visual Culture" featuring a photograph of a person sitting in a pool float shaped like a pink flamingo, but they're sitting not in water but rather on top of black asphalt. On the right, an image of a giant troll standing menacingly against a snowy and barren landscape, from the 2010 film TROLLHUNTER.

"Unserious Ecocriticism" laughs as the world burns. Contributor @pfgonder.bsky.social looks at the horror-farmer connection (yee-haw!) and @jenniferschell16.bsky.social chuckles at THE THAW & TROLLHUNTER. #openaccess from Amherst College Press @jstor.bsky.social
www.jstor.org/stable/10.39...

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1 month ago
The cover of the book "The Legacy of Leatherface: Essays on the Texas Chainsaw Massacre Series" featuring Leatherface himself with his dirty and degraded mask of human skin and wielding a big chainsaw.

"My family's always been in meat." "The Legacy of Leatherface" traces 50 years of the Sawyer clan and their BBQ-lovin' lifestyle. Ed @shanehw.bsky.social w/ @realtopekapeople.com @jacobbabb.bsky.social and other contributors. New from @mcfarland.bsky.social.
mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-...

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1 month ago
The cover of the book "Technothriller: Film and the American Imagination" featuring a striated photo of a woman's eyes, wide-eyed in fear.

"They've constructed eyes for me, to watch the show." Soraya Murray's new book "Technothriller" sees the rise of the machines created by humankind that threaten to eliminate us, incl. in DEMON SEED, EX MACHINA, WESTWORLD, and M3GAN. @mitpress.bsky.social
mitpress.mit.edu/978026205101...

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1 month ago
The cover of the book "The Dreamer's Path: Twin Peaks and David Lynch the Actor," featuring two photos of David Lynch in his role as FBI agent Gordon Cole, one from the older series and one from the newer.

"I PLAN ON WRITING AN EPIC POEM ABOUT THIS GORGEOUS PIE." Brent Simon + dozens of interviewees highlight David Lynch, the Actor, in his Twin Peaks role as the very insightful, very loud, Agent Gordon Cole. New from TuckerDS Press. @scottryanfmp.bsky.social
www.tuckerdspress.com/product-page...

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1 month ago
The cover of the book "ReFocus: The Films of Herschell Gordon Lewis" featuring a behind-the-scenes photo of the director gesturing toward a blonde actress sitting on a kitchen counter; he appears to be directing her in a scene.

Everyone wave your severed limbs! The Refocus series has a new volume on the Godfather of Gore himself, Herschell Gordon Lewis. Ed @brassupnorth.bsky.social w/ @serialmummy.bsky.social @mleeder.bsky.social @drdantils.bsky.social @edinburghup.bsky.social
edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-refocus...

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1 month ago

Be well, friend. We ❤️ your work.

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1 month ago

Our new podcast FOLKLORE MATTERS launches today! Have at it! #folklore

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1 month ago

Data Note 8C: As a final caveat, the indexing at Horror Lex is done by humans (incl. @alsven.bsky.social & #emmadaigrepont), not AI. Subjectiveness abounds. Also, while we have access to the text of the vast majority of the 2025 works, it's not 100%. Take all this data as trends, not hard science.

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