Halloween has come and gone, but the horror still lurks in the classroom.
Devon Overpeck, professor of the radio, television and film class Horror Films, said the class seemed like the natural choice when he was asked to develop a special topics course.
"I am a fan of horror cinema," Overpeck said. "It's a class I've always wanted to teach. I enjoy watching and discussing the films with students and learning about their tastes and interests."
Briana Yow, senior in broadcast journalism, said she was not a fan of horror films before she enrolled in the class.
On the day the class views films, Yow said she wonders how scared she is going to be.
In contrast, Erica Schirm, senior in RTVF, was already a fan of horror films before the semester began.
"I often have day-long marathons of watching horror films," Schirm said.
The class isn't about just watching scary movies, however.
Each week, in addition to watching a film, students listen to a lecture about the chosen film in social, cultural and production contexts. Students also have discussions on the film, lecture and assigned reading material.
"It's about learning what elements make it scary," Yow said.
For example, when the class watches the Exorcist, the discussion will be about the physical horror of the film and how it is abrasive.
The class analyzes the films "as a genre with unique stylistic traits and as a site of social and cultural criticism throughout its history," Overpeck said.
Schirm said she hopes to have more of an appreciation for horror films at the end of the semester and learn what classifies the movies as horror films as opposed to a different genre, like a thriller.
The classes will then watch films chronologically beginning with the first vampire film in 1922 and move through the Cold War Era to more recent films.
Movies such as Paranormal Activity, The Exorcist and the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre will begin the semester "in order to discuss issues such as the kinds of films or experiences we find frightening, the relationship between horror and bodily affect and how horror films can be understood to reflect specific social moments," Overpeck said.
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