J.R. Blanes talks Southern Gothic horror, his devotion to Clive Barker, and the underrated gems that shaped his writing. From Portraits of Decay to Acascreamia, this is essential reading for horror fans.
The Thing
Re-run of the Repressed (or why every franchise monster you’ve ever loved ends up as a dog on a leash …) by Philip A. Suggars
Philip A. Suggars charts the four phase decline of horror franchise monsters, from the pure terror of Alien: Earth and Michael Myers to the merch shelf and the leash. Drawing on Freud, Robin Wood, and Mark Fisher, he asks why The Thing and It Follows stay frightening while everything else gets a Funko Pop. The domestication of horror monsters, it turns out, is exactly what the culture industry does best.