SDSU Gothic & Horror Studies

10/31/2025

Hey! Just in time for hall, it’s Chris McGee chatting in a spooky lecture hall about Ouija boards, young people, & horror movies!

And if you’re into mysteries, check out his new book, Detective Fiction for Young Readers: Full of Secrets (Routledge, 2024).

From The Exorcist to Witchboard, Ouija boards—also known as talking boards or spirit boards—have terrified audiences on screen for decades. But what do these...

10/27/2025

JImmy Whale, the Queen of Hollywood. Check it out, my Halloween freaks!

Universal monsters — a franchise that’s defined horror for nearly a century. And who do we have to thank? A man once called The Queen of Hollywood. A WWI vet...

08/15/2024

The RedLettermedia boys discuss Canadian film maker David Cronenberg and his amazing sci-fi horror film, The Fly (1986).

Colin and Jay finally get around to discussing David Cronenberg! Did you know that there is a direct link between Cronenberg's body horror masterpiece The Fl...

06/12/2024

In ECL 158: Introduction to Horror Aesthetics i introduce students to Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses. For my birthday my wife got me a box set that includes the movie audio on vinyl + a comic book adaptation and paper doll cutouts.

05/06/2024

Bros.

04/29/2024

We ended ECL 556: Chicanx Gothic talking about Donna Barba Higuera's THE LAST CUENTISTA as a gothicized Chicanafuturist coming-of-age story.

04/20/2024

In ECL 556: Chicanx Gothic we read V. Castro's Mestiza Blood. It's a brilliant collection of stories. Here, Cassie D. offers a super smart, carefully crafted rendering of "Dance Hall Devil" 💯

04/17/2024

Today it's a close(r) encounter with La Llorona in ECL 158: Introduction to Horror Aesthetics

04/10/2024

On the docket for ECL 556: Chicanx Gothic today: theorizing racialization through THE ADVENTURES OF CONNIE AND DIEGO and CHICANO FRANKENSTEIN.

04/09/2024

Students never fail to impress and inspire with their originality, creativity, and intelligence. Here ECL 158: Introduction to Horror Aesthetics student Aidan ingeniously synthesizes some of the diverse texts studied this semester into "The Terror Town Times." In professor-speak, note the higher-order thinking skills demonstrated in this project. 💯

04/08/2024

Is Mister Babadook:
a) grief
b) compulsory heterosexuality
c) queerness
d) maternal rage
e) all of the above (and more...)
Such is the focus of ECL 158: Introduction to Horror Aesthetics this week.

04/07/2024

ECL 158 has devoted a lot of critical attention to the politics of gender and gender representation in horror films. Student Billyjean put together a diorama essay on women in horror films.