Horror Texts
Theoretical Approaches

Mark Kermode
“ William Friedkin [director of The Exorcist] once
said that there [are] only really three reasons for
making movies: to scare people; to make them
laugh; or to turn them on. And that means there
[are] only three genres of movie. I actually think
that as far as horror movies are concerned, they
are the sump from which all great cinema
comes...”

One Size Fits All?
• Don’t expect to be able to apply a single
theoretical approach to all horror texts.
• It’s better to be armed with a number of different
approaches.
• Texts always “work” on several levels and the
horror genre is no different.

1. The Parasite
• We’ve looked at Michel Serres’ theory of the
parasite, which looks at social relations as well as
communications.
• We looked at how supernatural forces in J-horror
films often uses a medium (e.g. water, television
static) to invade the human world.
• http://www.slideshare.net/mcmrbt/michel-serres

2. Genre Theory
• Genre theory asks the fundamental question: are genres
“out there” in the world, or are they artificially constructed
after the fact?
• Genres can be identified by their themes, or by their
iconography. Iconography tends to take precedence.
• In the case of horror, however, psychological fears are
often more important than the appearance of things.
• http://www.slideshare.net/mcmrbt/understanding-genre

3. Audience Theory
• Perhaps more than any other genre, horror texts
attract an audience which pursues the genre with
passion.
• Given its psychological nature, the reception of horror
texts by their audiences is of crucial importance.
• Many film critics become critics simply because of
their love of horror.
• Enthusiasts often start their own ‘zines or web sites
(e.g.: http://finalgirl.blogspot.com)

4. The Uncanny
• Although Freud’s essay on The
Uncanny is almost 100 years old,
there is still some mileage in it.
• Freud links the uncanny with
repressed childhood memories and
primitive human experience.
• “The return of the repressed” can
be seen as a theme of many horror
films.
• http://www.slideshare.net/
mcmrbt/the-uncanny-presentation

5. Disenchantment
• According to sociologist Max
Weber, the concept of
disenchantment refers to the
devaluation of mysticism.
• Put another way, the repression of
magic or the supernatural.
• Weber described modern, secular
society (in which scientific
understanding is more valued than
belief) as disenchanted.

Disenchantment (continued)
• In many horror texts, reason/
rationality comes under specific
attack by paranormal forces.
• It’s the “return of the repressed”
aspects of society (primitive
experience/beliefs), which leak
back into our disenchanted world.
• Who wins? This depends on the
cultural context. In these
millennial times, religious
fundamentalism (a form of
mysticism) has made a comeback!

Disenchantment (continued)
• We can link Weber’s idea of
disenchantment to Freud’s idea of
the uncanny quite easily.
• The return of repressed childhood
memories often refers specifically
to the experience of
disenchantment in childhood –
loss of innocence, or buried
memories.
• Things that scare us as adults,
often scared us as children, too!

6. Angels
• When we discussed Michel Serres, we also
mentioned his work on angels.
• Serres links the past to the present using
the idea of the angel-as-messenger.
• This is another example of the return of
something we thought we had left behind
(or repressed).
• Serres argues that we humans are, in fact,
more ancient than modern – those primitive
impulses are not far below the surface.

7. Abjection
• The idea of originated in the works of
feminist psychoanalyst and critic Julia
Kristeva.
• To be abject is to be “cast off” or
degraded – the lowest of the low.
• In critical theory, the term abjection is
used to describe the state of
marginalised/peripheral groups – those
excluded from the mainstream.
• The abject is that which does not
“respect borders, positions, [and] rules.”

Abjection (continued)
• In horror texts, we frequently encounter the abject — usually in
the form of body horror. It’s often what makes us turn away
from the screen.
• In the slasher sub-genre, the abject is represented by extreme
gore and blood.
• We’ve often discussed how some things in horror films are
“just not right”, whether it’s a precocious child or something
that looks wrong when it moves - like the girl climbing from the
well in Ringu.

Joined-up Thinking
• Again, abjection can be linked to Michel Serres’ ideas about
the parasite (and/or angels).
• Abjection is concerned with borders and the space between,
just as parasites and angels are. (The space between is, of
course, the medium through which messages pass.)
• The “excluded third” that Serres writes about in The Parasite
could be described as “the abject.”
• In horror texts, the abject is also the repressed thing that
returns to wreak havoc on the disenchanted, rational world.

8. Purity and Danger
• The idea of the abject also relates to anthropologist
Mary Douglas’ work on Purity and Danger.
• Just as human beings have an urge to narrate, they
have a need to sort into categories: that which is
safe/pure and that which is dangerous/impure.
• Again, many horror texts are concerned with
categories: human/inhuman; good/evil; alive/dead
etc.
• The scariest things are those which fail to fit a
category: the abject, the undead, the not-human.