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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
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
PictureCover Image: SASHA'S HELL (Nikita Lavretski, 2019, Belarus)
​

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). 

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​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.
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Illustration by Edmund Dulac for "The Bells" in THE BELLS AND OTHER POEMS (Hodder & Stoughton, London 1912)
The Cacophonic Politics of
​Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Bells”


MICHAEL J. BLOUIN
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CRIMES OF THE FUTURE (David Cronenberg, 2022)
The Imagination of Deterioration:
Human Exceptionalism, Climate Change,
and the Weird Eco-Horror of
David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future

​​​
M. KEITH BOOKER

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BEHIND THE DOOR (Irvin Willat, 1920)
​“The Finest Examples of Motion Picture Art”:
Prestige, Stardom and Gender in the Reception of
​Silent and Early Sound Horror

​
SHANE BROWN & MARK JANCOVICH
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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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THE WORM EATERS (Herb Robins, 1977)
A Theory of the Gag: Comedic Mechanisms
​in Exploitation Film Form


​KATE J. RUSSELL
The Uncanny Changes Hands: Discourse and Policy
​Surrounding Psycho and Its Move to American Television


​ALEX REMINGTON
DOSSIER
RUSSIAN, BELARUSIAN, AND SAKHA HORROR
Edited by Eva Ivanilova and Denis Saltykov
Click the titles for a full-text PDF of the individual essays
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Sakha horror film ICH-CHI (Kostas Marsaan, 2020)
Russian, Belarusian, and Sakha Horror:
An Introductory Note


EVA IVANILOVA
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
The Girl Spells Trouble
     YULIA TOMAN, translated by FELIX HELBING


Fear, Russian Style: What's Wrong With Russian Horror?
     DIMITRI SOKOLOV, translated by FELIX HELBING


The Dead Among Us: Russian Films on the Zombie Apocalypse
     OLGA ARTEMEVA, translated by FELIX HELBING


“Ideas can be found in your nightmares”:
An Interview with Vladislav Severtsev, Chief Producer of Russian Horror

     MARAT SHABAEV, translated by FELIX HELBING
SPECIAL FEATURE
HORROR REVERIE 2: AN ONLINE SYMPOSIUM CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF THE EXORCIST
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THE EXORCIST (William Friedkin, 1973)
INTRODUCTION
​Exorcising The Exorcist
​
​
MARCUS PRASAD
Click the image or title  for a full-text PDF of the Introduction.
HORROR REVERIE 2 PANELS
Videos can be enlarged by clicking the bottom right of the frame.
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
Click HERE for a full transcript of Panel 1.
​Click HERE for a full transcript of Panel 2.
Click HERE for a full transcript of Panel 3.
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.
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ANNIHILATION (Alex Garland 2018)
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.
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Meta in Film and Television Series
​
by David Roche

​
​Edinburgh University Press, 2022
​US$125 (h/c)
Reviewer:
ERIN GIANNINI
info/purchase
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The Myth of Harm: Horror, Censorship and the Child
​
by Sarah Cleary

​

Bloomsbury, 2022
US$150.25 (h/c)
Reviewer:
ERIN GIANNINI
info/purchase
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Supernatural: A History of Television’s Unearthly Road Trip
​
by Erin Giannini

Rowman & Littlefield, 2021

​US$36 (h/c)
Reviewer: 
REBECCA STONE GORDON
info/purchase

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​This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The journal name MONSTRUM is a registered trademark, © Montréal Monstrum Society / Société Monstrum de Montréal (MMS) (2024). ​​

  • Home
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      • MONSTRUM v7 n2 (December 2024)
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      • MONSTRUM v6 n1 (June 2023)
      • MONSTRUM v5 n2 (December 2022)
      • MONSTRUM v5 n1 (June 2022)
      • MONSTRUM v4 (2021)
      • MONSTRUM v3 (2020/21)
      • MONSTRUM v2 (2019)
      • MONSTRUM v1 (2018)
    • Editorial / de la rédaction
    • Special Issue CFPs
    • Submissions / soumissions
    • Copyright / droits d'auteurs
  • Courses / Cours
    • Fall 2024
    • Quick Cuts: Essais Video Essays
    • Course Archive
  • Horror Reverie Symposia
    • Horror Reverie 1 - Nosferatu
    • Horror Reverie 2 - Exorcist