{"id":236985,"date":"2025-10-29T07:30:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T11:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=236985"},"modified":"2025-10-27T13:33:46","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T17:33:46","slug":"misunderstood-monsters-tales-of-horror-are-far-more-than-blood-splatter-and-gore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/10\/misunderstood-monsters-tales-of-horror-are-far-more-than-blood-splatter-and-gore\/","title":{"rendered":"Misunderstood Monsters: Tales of Horror Are Far More Than Blood Splatter and Gore"},"content":{"rendered":"

Phoenix Cardwell was around 8 years old when she first heard the story of the so-called Russian sleep experiment.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a scary tale that circulated when she was in third grade about scientists who developed a drug to keep people from sleeping, only the side effects of such deprivation caused self-mutilation, essentially turning those taking the medication into zombies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe iconic photo that went along with the story is a creepy picture of an emaciated man sitting in bed, which later turned out to be just a photo of a Halloween prop, but it stuck in my head,\u201d Cardwell \u201926 (ENG) says.<\/p>\n

For nearly a decade the image churned inside her, eventually twisting itself into an oil on canvas painting of a contorted creature that she titled, \u201cI Have An Itch, Would You Like To Scratch It?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI hated hearing stories like that because they were so scary. At the same time, I wanted to keep hearing them,\u201d she says. \u201c\u2018Itch\u2019 is from a series I did my senior year in high school when I was drawing things I didn\u2019t want to see because they scared me but things that I was drawn to because they scared me – like itching a scab, you know you shouldn\u2019t do it but it kind of feels good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardwell says she was raised on reruns of \u201cThe X Files\u201d and \u201cBuffy the Vampire Slayer,\u201d graduating to the 1979 and 1986 classics \u201cAlien\u201d and \u201cAliens\u201d when she was older, and a miniseries like \u201cMidnight Mass\u201d as an adult.<\/p>\n

The movie \u201cSkinamarink\u201d is the last one to get into her head. After watching it, her dreams spoke to her. \u201cLook under your bed,\u201d they warned, just like the father in the movie to his children. She looked once, maybe twice, that night.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s interesting to see what movies scare people and what movies don\u2019t,\u201d she says. \u201cI guess another part of why I like horror is because I like thinking about the psychology of it. You could do a little bit of a Freudian analysis of why something scares this person but not another.\u201d<\/p>\n

And even if Sigmund Freud isn\u2019t explicitly on the syllabus in English<\/a> professor Gregory Semenza\u2019s class on horror, there\u2019s still plenty to dissect<\/a> in a genre that he says is \u201cmaligned and misunderstood, often reduced to blood splatter and gore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
Phoenix Cardwell ’26 (ENG) is what some might describe a horrorphile. She reads horror literature, watches horror films, and creates horrific images. This digital work from her collection is titled, “Grandma Concepts.” (Image courtesy of Phoenix Cardwell)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018Horror can function as a kind of therapy\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Certainly, movies with titles like \u201cThe Texas Chain Saw Massacre\u201d come with a built-in warning that viewers will witness a certain amount of carnage and see quite a few dangling body parts, but Semenza says horror films are far more than that. They can be funny. They can be smart. They can be artful \u2013 and the scare factor is part of all that.<\/p>\n

Since he was a child, Semenza has found comfort in horror films, and even says he\u2019ll turn one on just before bed, much the same way a generation before him would turn on a spaghetti Western to wind down for the night.<\/p>\n

But after spending the day navigating a hostile world and encountering bad news at almost every turn, many of his students, friends, and family might wonder why Frankenstein\u2019s monster would have a calming effect after the sun goes down.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is an increasing collection of data providing at least one answer to this question, which is that horror can function as a kind of therapy,\u201d he says. \u201cIt provides an adrenaline-pumping, frightening experience that is entirely safe, and when we experience it, we\u2019re more prepared to face the horrors of the real world. Horror in doses may be an effective remedy against anxiety and certain levels of depression.\u201d<\/p>\n

Imagine turning to Michael Myers in \u201cHalloween\u201d to find solace.<\/p>\n

Cardwell, who took Semenza\u2019s class in spring 2023, says her friends on Halloween might enjoy the cult classic \u201cKiller Klowns from Outer Space\u201d because it\u2019s packed with absurdist humor that would appeal to a mixed crowd, even as an innocent puppet show lures someone to their death and a man is electrocuted.<\/p>\n

Laughing in the face of fear offers a catharsis, she says, and watching in a group, of course, takes off some of the edge.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the same reason people might love tragedies, the catharsis of crying with the character, horror can be similar. There\u2019s no more stressful situation than whatever a horror movie character is going through,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s just a good release of emotions to watch a character go through that on screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Terror vs. Horror<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Mark Manson \u201927 (ENG) used to cry at even the thought of something scary. \u201cJeepers Creepers\u201d was far too intense \u2013 just having it on in the house caused him to shudder. He preferred that his older brother took the seat next to their father during movies like that. As time passed, though, his brother moved out, and Manson inched toward his father\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started to see all the patterns that would happen in each film, and I\u2019d think, ‘OK, I\u2019m not scared anymore.\u2019 Now if I do get surprised or if I see something that subverts expectations, I\u2019m wowed,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\n

What I want students to see is there is a real art to the best jump scares, and there are real formulas that are behind them. — Gregory Semenza, UConn English Professor<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Manson, who\u2019s taking Semenza\u2019s class this semester and is turning an assignment on \u201cNosferatu: A Symphony of Horror\u201d into an honors conversion project, watched \u201cHereditary\u201d with his father in a darkened room with surround sound turned on, fully immersed, and they both were terrified.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a core memory that makes him smile despite having seen the on-screen family\u2019s torment.<\/p>\n

Semenza notes an oft-discussed difference between horror and terror, a distinction 18th century British novelist Ann Radcliffe attempted to define two centuries ago as she pioneered the Gothic novel.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was trying to distinguish between a shock to the body that sort of paralyzes us into inaction and freezes our cognitive faculties, which is horror, and something that heightens our cognitive faculties by putting us in a state of dread. The latter is what she calls terror. It\u2019s more about tension and anticipation of what\u2019s to come,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

One might call it a \u201cslow burn,\u201d or the build up to the payoff scare or big scene, Manson says. That\u2019s his favorite type of horror, movies that string along an audience before hitting them with a psychological thrill or gory, bloody mess.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not squeamish, he says, and looks forward to seeing the special effects – the severed arteries and rolling heads. Watching the varied ways that horror storytellers kill off their victims is, well, enjoyable if only in appreciation of the creativity.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an art to the jump scare, Semenza says, and each semester his students \u2013 200 spread between two sections this fall, filled to capacity with over-enrollment requests routinely turned down \u2013 produce four-minute videos demonstrating their horror genius.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of modern commentators reduce horror to the jump scare, and what they\u2019re thinking of are those manipulative jump scares that are caused by loud sounds. They\u2019ve been referred to as \u2018cattle prod cinema,\u2019 like if someone walked up to you with a cattle prod and zapped you. You\u2019re not responding to something artful. It\u2019s just a physiological response to a stimulus,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I want students to see is there is a real art to the best jump scares, and there are real formulas that are behind them,\u201d he continues. \u201cThe one in \u2018Carrie\u2019 is so influential, where the hand rises out of the grave after you think the film is over. That\u2019s one of the first final-scene jump scares in horror cinema, and it\u2019s really well done in terms of the way the hand pops out in a surprising location, even though you kind of know it\u2019s coming, and the fact it happens about a beat earlier than you expect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>Tame Horror as a Gateway<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Nicholas Sangiovanni, a Ph.D. teaching assistant in Semenza\u2019s class, says his first introduction to horror, like many young children, was through the cartoon series, \u201cScooby-Doo, Where Are You!,\u201d which often features a haunted house, situations that aren\u2019t quite right, and at the end the revelation that the source of the fear is all man-made.<\/p>\n

The formula is a replication of the earliest Gothic traditions, he says, those in English literature from the 17th and 18th centuries of ghost stories. By today\u2019s standards, one might call black-and-white sitcoms like \u201cThe Munsters\u201d or \u201cThe Addams Family\u201d tame horror. Even Casper was labeled friendly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fun. It can be goofy. It can be very charming, and it can also be heartwarming to a degree. These kinds of shows are a great way to show people that fear, of course, is central to the idea of horror but it\u2019s not the only way to think about what horror is, what\u2019s the point of it, or what makes it important,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Sangiovanni goes on to note that the word \u201chorror\u201d comes from the Latin \u201chorrere,\u201d which means \u201cto shudder,\u201d and \u201cmonster\u201d comes from the Latin \u201cmonstrum,\u201d meaning \u201ca warning or omen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMonsters are a great way in horror to consider what people think about themselves and what they value,\u201d he says. \u201cYou can answer those questions very expediently by looking at the things they\u2019re afraid of and the monsters they create. What do those monsters look like? As much as I love what we would now call psychological horror or horror thrillers, I\u2019m a monster person at heart. I love a good creature.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the most memorable: Swamp Thing. Creature from the Black Lagoon. Bride of Frankenstein. Dracula. The Thing. Alien. Jaws.<\/p>\n

Wait, Jaws?<\/p>\n

Semenza says the Steven Spielberg classic filmed on Martha\u2019s Vineyard 50 years ago is among the best horror films ever made, precisely because the shark doesn\u2019t act like a normal shark.<\/p>\n

\"A
“Is The Man Half Machine?” is done in graphite on Bristol board and comes from the mind of Phoenix Cardwell ’26 (ENG). (Image courtesy of Phoenix Cardwell)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt clearly possesses a higher level of consciousness,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s sentient in a way that suggests awareness and even a capacity for revenge and rage, so the shark\u2019s behavior exceeds anything we would consider to be scientifically accurate, and, in that way, it falls into the conventions of a typical horror narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n

The iconic jump scare when Hooper encounters Ben Gardner\u2019s severed head still gets audiences who\u2019ve watched the film over and over through the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always tell my students the building up of a great jump scare or great scare in general is a lot like the building up of a joke. It\u2019s this process of accumulation that eventually has a punchline and allows for a sigh of relief. Once it\u2019s over we can exhale,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s not all about scaring or being scared\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\n

But as long as that little Leprechaun is running around, the one from the movie her parents watched a long time ago that prompted her to run to her bedroom and hide, Shelby Kreiger \u201924 MA, Cert. can\u2019t bring herself to exhale.<\/p>\n

It still scares her to this day, although now she watches with delight films like \u201cRosemary\u2019s Baby\u201d and \u201cDiabolique.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over time, she\u2019s learned to appreciate horror: for the scares, yes, but also for the stories it tells – stories of human experience, with allegorical meanings behind its monsters and villains.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Night of the Living Dead\u2019 deals with human issues. There\u2019s racism, there\u2019s sexism, there\u2019s misogyny, and there\u2019s the idea of things that we\u2019ve just lived through, like viruses and pandemics,\u201d says Kreiger, a Ph.D. teaching assistant in Semenza\u2019s class.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can relate to these things. Horror is relatable. It\u2019s not all about scaring or being scared, torture or gore. Not all of it is so extreme. A lot of it can be slow-paced, really psychological, really existential, and teaching us a lot about ourselves,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

There are many horror films in which gore is implied, the act of violence happens away from the audience, she says, but just the thought is enough to give viewers a scare and allow their imaginations to run wild.<\/p>\n

Movies from the \u201cSaw\u201d franchise though, while pleasurable viewing for some, aren\u2019t on her must-watch list, she says, mostly because she\u2019s not interested in watching that kind of terror.<\/p>\n

Even scholars like Semenza have certain films they wished they didn\u2019t see or certain topics they\u2019d prefer to avoid. Films about home invasions or nuclear annihilation are too close to home for many viewers, he says, and he typically won\u2019t assign them in class.<\/p>\n

\u201cNevertheless, the concept of a film traumatizing someone tends to be overstated,\u201d Semenza says. \u201cWhat most of the empirical research shows is that if you have experienced real trauma in your life, anything that causes repetition, dwelling on it, thinking about it, the memory of it, can possibly cause a negative reaction. But that preexisting trauma has to exist. You\u2019re not going to watch something and, with no history of trauma, be psychologically damaged for the rest of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
Done in oil on canvas, “we’re still here” comes from the mind of Phoenix Cardwell ’26 (ENG) who’s been creating horrific artwork since high school. (Image courtesy of Phoenix Cardwell)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Almost As Old As Time<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Semenza started his career as an English professor teaching and studying classics from William Shakespeare and John Milton, turning students skeptical of literature from the 1500s and 1600s into lovers of stories like \u201cMuch Ado About Nothing\u201d and \u201cParadise Lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later, seeing those stories retold in modern-day film – the Shakespearean pastoral comedy \u201cAs You Like It\u201d influencing the birth of what today\u2019s audiences know as the rom-com, for instance – gave him a bridge from the written word to the big screen, and that lifelong intellectual interest in horror allowed him to pivot his research.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just tremendous beauty and art and intelligence behind the greatest films in any category,\u201d he says. \u201cHorror is more vilified than some of the other genres, though the rom-com is similarly misunderstood and misrepresented. The musical, too. Why do so many critics plug in the worst horror films for all horror when we talk about this particular genre?\u201d<\/p>\n

After all, Shakespeare\u2019s first tragedy, \u201cTitus Andronicus,\u201d portrays some of the grisliest body horror, he says, shocking even by modern standards. And \u201cKing Lear\u201d forces an audience to endure the blinding of Gloucester at the hand of Cornwall.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Shakespeare seems to be saying is the audience needs to see this horror. It needs to experience it,\u201d Semenza says. \u201cAnd then a few decades later, Milton creates his character of Satan, one of the original great horror villains, the monster who seduces us to enter a world of sin and darkness \u2013 but also one of forbidden pleasures. The texts I study are not detached. They\u2019re part of a continuum that goes back to the ancients.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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