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A PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL OF STUDIES IN HORROR AND RELATED AREAS
vol. 6, no.1, June 2023 | ISSN 2561-5629
Edited by Kristopher Woofter
Dossier Editors: Eva Ivanilova and Denis Saltykov
Assistant Editor: Eva Crocker | Editorial Intern: Marcus Prasad
Founding Editors: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare & Kristopher Woofter
Edited by Kristopher Woofter
Dossier Editors: Eva Ivanilova and Denis Saltykov
Assistant Editor: Eva Crocker | Editorial Intern: Marcus Prasad
Founding Editors: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare & Kristopher Woofter
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Editor's Introduction
Welcome to Monstrum 6.1! We open with six feature essays on subjects ranging from the politics of Poe (Michael J. Blouin), to Cronenbergian eco-horror (M. Keith Booker), gender and stardom in silent and early sound cinema (Shane Brown and Mark Jancovich), the importance to genre study of the distribution history of Psycho's move to television (Alex Remington), and revisionary theoretical figurations of longstanding concepts--the gag (Kate J. Russell) and dread (Marcus Prasad, the winner of this year's SCMS Horror SIG Graduate Essay Prize).
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A special Dossier on Russian, Belarusian, and Sakha Horror follows. Edited by Eva Ivanilova and Denis Saltykov, the dossier is the product of a 2021 symposium on Russian horror cinema held at the University of Pittsburgh. It includes two feature essays, the first a detailed history and case study of Belarusian horror (Volha Isakava), and the second on Indigenous voice in the 2020 Sakha horror film Ich-chi (Neepa Majumdar and Eva Ivanilova). This revealing dossier on under-studied traditions of horror also includes Adam Lowenstein's critical response to the 2020 Belarusian horror film Spice Boyz and four contextualizing essays on Russian horror, selected by Denis Saltykov and appearing here for the first time in English translations by Felix Helbing. We thank the editors of Seans, Kino-Teatr, Iskusstvo Kino, and Lumos for permission to translate the original works. Originating before the recent Russian aggression towards Ukraine, this dossier is a revealing record of the subversive power of horror brought to bear on questions of region, race, and nation.
We also once again present a special feature publication of the videos and transcripts of the second Horror Reverie series of symposia on key horror films, this year featuring scholars and artists celebrating 50 years of The Exorcist, and introduced by a personal essay from Monstrum's editorial intern Marcus Prasad. This feature is followed by our presentation of the 2022-2023 Monstrum Student Essay Award prize-winning essay by Dawson College student Tristan Boisvert-Larouche on the impulses towards creation and destruction in Alex Garland's two science fiction films, Ex Machina and Annihilation. Book reviews of work focusing on the concept of "meta" (Erin Giannini), censorship and children (Erin Giannini), and the television series Supernatural (Rebeccca Stone Gordon) follow. All content is available in downloadable PDFs. Scroll down to browse this issue of Monstrum. Dedication: Not long after we had our first meeting in August of 2021 to discuss this issue's special Dossier, guest editor Denis Saltykov passed away suddenly. Denis was bright and gracious, expressing to me in one of his emails that having the Dossier appear in Monstrum would be "a solid reason to be proud." And while I am equally proud to be able to present it, I'm very sad that we did not have the chance to work with Denis. I want to express sincere thanks to Eva Ivanilova, a wonderful scholar, a contributor to this issue, and Denis' wife, for stepping in to guide the Dossier to completion. We dedicate this issue of Monstrum to the memory of Denis Saltykov. — Kristopher Woofter |
 Cover Image: SASHA'S HELL (Nikita Lavretski, 2019, Belarus)
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Contributors: Olga Artemeva, Michael J. Blouin, M. Keith Booker, Shane Brown, Erin Giannini, Rebecca Stone Gordon, Felix Helbing, Eva Ivanilova, Volha Isakava, Mark Jancovich, Adam Lowenstein, Neepa Majumdar, Marcus Prasad, Alex Remington, Kate Russell, Denis Saltykov, Marat Shabaev, Dimitri Sokolov, Yulia Toman, and the panelists for "Horror Reverie 2": Anna Bogutskaya, Simon Brown, Amy C. Chambers, Steve Choe, Eileen Dietz, Stella Gaynor, Michael Lee, Alexandre O. Philippe, LMK Sheppard.
Acknowledgments: Monstrum would like to thank our editorial board, as well as our collaborators, contributors and peer reviewers. Thanks also to the Monstrum Student Essay Prize Jurors: Eva Crocker, Ildikó Glasser-Hille, Karen Herland, and Marcus Prasad. Special thanks to director Nikita Lavretski for permission to use an image from Sasha's Hell on the cover. And, finally, thanks to Stacey Abbott, Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Mark Jancovich, Lorna Piatti-Farnell, Gary D. Rhodes, Jay Shea, Alanna Thain, and the Collective for Research on Epistemologies and Ontologies of Embodied Risk (CORÉRISC). |
Monstrum is published by the Montréal Monstrum Society (MMS). We are grateful for the generous support of the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture. | Monstrum est reconnaissant du généreux soutien du Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture (FRQSC).
Click this link to download a single PDF of MONSTRUM 6.1 in its entirety.
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FEATURE ESSAYS
Click the titles or images for a full-text PDF of the individual essays.
Illustration by Edmund Dulac for "The Bells" in THE BELLS AND OTHER POEMS (Hodder & Stoughton, London 1912)
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BEHIND THE DOOR (Irvin Willat, 1920)
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THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2017)
The Affective Contours and Configurations of Dread
Yorgos Lanthimos's The Killing of a Sacred Deer MARCUS PRASAD SCMS Horror Studies SIG Graduate Student Essay Prize-Winner |
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PSYCHO 1969 re-release poster
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DOSSIER
RUSSIAN, BELARUSIAN, AND SAKHA HORROR
Edited by Eva Ivanilova and Denis Saltykov
RUSSIAN, BELARUSIAN, AND SAKHA HORROR
Edited by Eva Ivanilova and Denis Saltykov
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Click the titles for a full-text PDF of the individual essays
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Sakha horror film ICH-CHI (Kostas Marsaan, 2020)
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Horror Cinema in Belarus: An Unlikely Case Study
VOLHA ISAKAVA Born Under a Bad Sign: Spice Boyz and Belarusian Horror ADAM LOWENSTEIN The Specter of Opacity: Sakha Indigenous Voice in the Ethnic Horror Film Ich-chi EVA IVANILOVA and NEEPA MAJUMDAR Russian Horror Criticism in Translation
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SPECIAL FEATURE
HORROR REVERIE 2: AN ONLINE SYMPOSIUM CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF THE EXORCIST
HORROR REVERIE 2: AN ONLINE SYMPOSIUM CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF THE EXORCIST
THE EXORCIST (William Friedkin, 1973)
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Click the image or title for a full-text PDF of the Introduction.
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HORROR REVERIE 2 PANELS
Videos can be enlarged by clicking the bottom right of the frame.
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PANEL 1: HISTORICAL AND OTHER CONTEXTS
Speakers: Amy Chambers, Steve Choe, LMK Sheppard; Chair: Stacey Abbott |
PANEL 2: INTERVIEWS
Actress Eileen Dietz and Filmmaker Alexandre O. Philippe, in Conversation with Anna Bogutskaya |
PANEL 3: PARATEXTS AND LEGACY
Speakers: Simon Brown, Stella Gaynor, Michael Lee; Chair: Lorna Piatti-Farnell |
2022-2023 STUDENT ESSAY AWARD WINNER
The Monstrum student essay award recognizes achievement in a short essay at the CÉGEP (college) or undergraduate level.
Click the title or image for a full-text PDF of the essay.
ANNIHILATION (Alex Garland 2018)
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A Different Kind of Something:
The Human Desire for Self-Obliteration in Alex Garland’s Ex Machina and Annihilation TRISTAN BOISVERT-LAROUCHE Dawson College, Montréal |
BOOK REVIEWS
Click the book cover or title for review.
Reviewer:
ERIN GIANNINI |
Reviewer:
ERIN GIANNINI |
Supernatural: A History of Television’s Unearthly Road Trip
by Erin Giannini Rowman & Littlefield, 2021 US$36 (h/c) Reviewer:
REBECCA STONE GORDON |
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