ENGL 358 - Film Genres: Contemporary European Horror Cinema: ENGL 358.001 - Film Genres: Contemporary European Horror

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When: Wednesdays from 5:00 pm - 8:50pm

Where: CART 163

Who: Professor Jay McRoy

Who Has Office Hours: W 3:30pm - 4:45pm in CART 228

Who Can Be Reached: jaymcroy@hotmail.com & mcroy@uwp.edu

And Who Runs This Web Page: www.jaymcroy.com

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Course Description: This course explores several key works of contemporary European horror cinema that variably disrupt and reify multiple aesthetic, cultural, and political concerns. Things are going to get messy.

Required Texts: Online & via hand-outs distributed in class

Required Work and Assignments:

Preparation and Attendance (10%). You must be here for every class meeting with the day's reading completed. Since weekly quizzes and take-home exams will test information presented in lectures, as well as in the texts on the syllabus, missing class will negatively impact your grades on these assignments.
Three Take Home Exams (90%). The three take-home exams will be short essay-format responses to questions that I will distribute in class. For each exam, you must choose one of the questions and write a 3-5 page response. Late exams and plagiarized work will not be accepted. Carefully proofread for typos, misspellings, and grammatical errors. If you fail to do this, I will deduct 1/2 a grade.

WEEK-BY-WEEK BREAKDOWN:

September 3: Course Introduction

September 10: Dans ma peau (Marina de Van, 2002)

Read: Indiewire's "Body of Work: Marina de Van Discusses In My Skin" & Julia Kristeva's "Approaching Abjection" from Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection

September 17: A L'interieur (Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury, 2007)

Read: Barbara Creed's "Horror and the Monstrous Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection" & Marc Olivier's "Border Horror: A Review of Alexandre Bastillo and Julien Maury's A L'interieur"

September 24: Martyrs (Pascal Laugier, 2008)

Read: Donato Totaro's "Martyrs: Evoking France's Cinematic and Historical Past"

October 1: Trouble Every Day (Claire Denis, 2001)

Read: Philippe Met's "Looking for Trouble: The Dialectics of Lack and Excess" & Kristi Mitsuda's "Too Close for Comfort"

October 8: Calvaire (Fabrice Du Welz, 2004)

Read: Carol Clover "Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film" & Donato Totaro's "Thoughts on Feminism and Horror: Carol Clover's Men, Women, and Chainsaws"