#gothic women in horror

[neojojobot]

GOTHIC WOMEN IN HORROR

[talesfromthecrypts]

I get so frustrated by "yeah make vampires scary again" stuff every time a vampire movie has a "monster" vampire (Nosferatu, Voyage of the Demeter, etc). It reeks of an attitude that thinks all horror is about something being ugly and horrifying on the outside. If you can't see the horror in Interview With the Vampire, or a Jean Rollin film, or The Hunger, or Carmilla, or the vampire sections of Baldur's Gate because they are attractive that is absolutely an issue on your end. There is such a rich well of themes to dig into with horror and vampires, especially where sex and romance are concerned, but people are so desperate to separate romance and horror. The despair of being frozen as a child even while your mind matures, the loneliness of an eternity alone, the terror of eternal hunger that can't be sated, the awful seduction by something beautiful but monstrous. Trying to turn vampires into just any other monster doesn't make them more horrifying, its just a more kind of overt horror that can only be done so many times and is often covered better by other monsters.

[j0celynh0rr0r]

Burn them all

[120daysofsodomm]

cr : PailletMaena

[gor3whore69]

[garlandedspirits]

Marguerite Gance in The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)

[maeowl]

"Her eyes were open, no cadaverous smell exhaled from the coffin. The limbs were perfectly flexible, the flesh elastic; and the leaden coffin floated with blood, in which to a depth of seven inches, the body lay immersed" (Carmilla, page 148) (prints here)

[behindthescreamz]

“Barrera ends our conversation optimistically, remarking that she has no regrets over the events of the last few months, only immense gratitude, as she prepares for the release of her next film, Your Monster, a horror romance directed by Caroline Lindy. ‘I don’t regret anything. I’m very appreciative of all the support that I’ve gotten from my team, my friends, and my family. And from many people in the world who have shown me love and support. When I get stopped on the street now, it’s not because I’m recognised for being in a film; it’s mostly someone thanking me for speaking up for Palestine. It’s super weird, but it’s nice. It fills my heart. I’m just so, so grateful.’”

read the rest of melissa’s interview on www.polyesterzine.com !!!

[night-orcid]

[ladamarossa]

The First Omen (2024)

[eroticlamb]

Naughty Zombies performing live, circa early 2000s 🦇

[yoursghouly]

x

[melomancy]

Kate Bush in ‘The Wedding List’ (1979)

[j0celynh0rr0r]

[the-crooked-library]

The intimacy is important to show the contrast between Thomas and Orlok in the movie. Thomas repeatedly fails throughout the movie. He fails communication and understanding test with Ellen, he fails self-imposed masculinity test in general, he fails sex and intimacy test with Ellen. He even fails fully acceptance and full love test with Ellen because till the end he expects that Ellen can be somehow cured from her powers, and killing Orlok should do the trick, meaning he’s incapable of just accept her fully the way she’s without trying to correct it. The part that Ellen was happy for awhile with Thomas because for that time her powers were blocked is a big giveaway, that it’s already in fact wasn’t working between them from the start because if she could only be happy with him while suppressing huge part of herself, then such foundation was bound to crumble. Orlok meanwhile fulfilled the crucial basics for Ellen - understanding and acceptance of her nature and powers in full, intimacy and sexual realisation the way Ellen wished and imagined.

yessss exactly - as much as I do like Thomas as a character, and as much as he might care for Ellen, he's not a good fit for her, and she knows this!.. She wants, desperately, the sort of emotional connection that he will never be able to give without first unpacking the prejudices and insecurities that instruct his entire life and his opinion of her; and while that is not impossible, it is still quite unrealistic, given his background and societal context.

The reason Orlok is able to think outside those bounds, despite also being a man from an even older society, is because he exists in opposition to its restrictions. His attitudes are not reflective of whatever people around him would've thought of women or queerness or neurodivergence when he was alive; they are, however, directly informed by his making "covenant with the devil." Unlike the proper, god-fearing, Rational people that dictate Ellen's daily life, he accepts and desires every aspect of her that is considered "sinful" - her sexuality, her lack of deference, her eccentricities; and it is this fundamental understanding that she craves.

TL;DR -

"you could never satisfy me the way he does" was about emotional connection, not sex - and, of course, Thomas went straight ahead and proved her right

a relationship that is blocking her powers and allows her to be "happy" as long as she acts normal and hides her real self is not a good relationship. regardless of how one may interpret her connection with Orlok, Ellen's marriage to Thomas is an allegory for being in the closet/masking - and I personally think she deserves better

[gor3whore69]