Mothers’ Days is just around the corner and that means that it is time for another horror movie list, but this time it’s “(kill her) Mommy” themed. They say nothing is quite like a mother’s love and we certainly all feel safe in the arms of our beloved mothers. So, it only makes sense that a genre all about making…
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‘The Girl with all the Gifts’: Triumph of the Other in Modern Zombie Horror
The general breadth of zombie–themed horror films out in this world is both overwhelming in quantity and underwhelming in quality. Nonetheless, the world of storytelling is full of surprises, and a well-presented idea can add new dimensions to even the stalest motif. This is where The Girl with all the Gifts (2016) comes in. Directed by Colm McCarthy and written by M.R.…
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‘The Diamond Age’ by Neal Stephenson: A Nanopunk Fairytale
Neal Stephenson is an American speculative fiction author descended from a line of scientists and engineers. His work often lands in the (post-) cyberpunk genre which is best illustrated by William Gibson—whose works popularly inspired the Matrix films. Cyberpunk stories present a future world buoyed by an advanced technological culture which is contrasted by a radical, subversive or dystopic society. In other…
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Motherhood and Grief: Domestic Horror in ‘The Babadook’
Amelia (Essie Davis) is a single mother traumatized by the loss of her husband in a car crash six years prior. Overworked, and overtired she struggles to care for her energetic and imaginative six-year-old son, Samuel (Noah Wiseman). When a mysterious and disturbing “children’s” book about Mister Babadook, a claw-handed humanoid creature in a top hat, suddenly appears on their…
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Motherhood Flawed and the Destabilization of the Suburban Myth: Celeste Ng’s ‘Little Fires Everywhere’
Clad in a thin robe and her son’s sneakers, Elena Richardson stands on the lawn watching as every remnant of her perfectly planned life turns to ash. Her three children contemplatively observe as firemen extinguish the charred remains of their childhood home. Arranged in neat row on the hood of a car, they are acutely aware of the problematic fact…
