Category: Subgenre: Gothic Horror

  • Antisemitism. The Rat Catcher. Dir. Wes Anderson. Netflix. 2023.

    Antisemitism. The Rat Catcher. Dir. Wes Anderson. Netflix. 2023.

    Is, I suppose, how the conversation went between Wes Anderson and his casting agent when searching for an actor to play the titular character. Following Anderson’s success with Fantastic Mr. Fox there is no surprise that Anderson jumped at the opportunity to return to the works of Roald Dahl. The Rat Catcher is a short…

  • An American Werewolf in London. Dir. John Landis. Universal Pictures. 1981.

    An American Werewolf in London. Dir. John Landis. Universal Pictures. 1981.

    “The wolf’s bloodline must be severed; the last remaining werewolf must be destroyed. It’s you David.” An American tourist, traumatised and alone wakes up in a London hospital after an attack on the Yorkshire Moors. His newly cursed body drifts between human and wolf as his deceased friend haunts him in limbo, telling him he…

  • Corpse Bride. Tim Burton. Warner Brothers. 2005.

    Corpse Bride. Tim Burton. Warner Brothers. 2005.

    ‘In the act of othering, what is projected onto the other is all that must be refused in constructing the identity of the self’[1]. Consequently, establishing a human/animal binary often leads to a hierarchical relationship, highlighting the difference between human and non-human ‘other’. Such binary differences are reminiscent of common tropes in gothic literature, with…