In the early 1970s, rumors about poisoned candy on Halloween led to mass paranoia. A historian explains why such fears emerge – and what, in reality, feeds them.
Octavia Spencer is one of the few black women to have a lead role in a horror film.
Universal Pictures/YouTube
For decades, black characters in horror movies were objects of ridicule, died first or played evil Voodoo practitioners. But now we’re seeing a wave of films created by blacks and starring blacks.
There are various techniques that can soften the fear factor of a scary film: from talking about it to providing facts that contextualise the plotline.
The original Halloween movie has been remade for 2018.
Dimension Films
We love to be scared by creepy movies. But fear has other uses too. It can be used negatively by politicians to control us, but can also be a tool to harness internal change.
Tok Thompson, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Ghost stories are often about the departed seeking justice for an earthly wrong. Their sightings are a reminder that ethics and morality transcend our lives.
Netflix hit, Black Mirror, follows in the footsteps of other forward-thinking sci-fi storytellers.
The frontispiece to the 1831 Frankenstein by Theodor von Holst, one of the first two illustrations for the novel.
Tate Britain. Private collection, Bath.