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White text reading "Mechanics of Fear", gear logos, a sound line with a screaming face in red, and white text reading "undertone" on a black background with white lithograph accents.

The Mechanics of Fear: Undertone and Diegetic Sound

Listening in on the effectiveness of horror through diegetic sound

still image from Obsession (2025) with Bear standing in the foreground on the phone and Nikki standing in the background, slightly out of focus, watching

Obsession and the Paradox of Sex Scene Discourse

Hailey Piper on how audience reactions to sex scenes tell us more about the audience than the art.

Two teens stand on either side of a teen sitting down with the caption between them saying, "Yo, Sleepaway Camp. How come you're so fucked up?"

A Queer Community History of Sleepaway Camp (1983)

An attempt to chart how Sleepaway Camp went from being a low budget hackjob with a “shocking nature” to a queer cult classic.

still from the movie Disclosure Day: Emily Blunt stands in front of a group of people holding a glowing metal object

Disclosure Day and the Power of Truth

Emily liked it, Jessica hated it: Let! Them! Fight!

Down the Tube: A History of Short YouTube Horror Films

Pressing play on the history of the signature YouTube horror short.

An image of movie theater seats in a dark room

Psychosis in a Not-Quite-Abandoned AMC

Or, that one time I saw a not-great horror movie at a not-great, horrific theater.

Spooky Procedurals: A Taxonomy

Spooky Procedurals: A Taxonomy

The horror-mystery mashup will never be defeated.