Horror Without End explores horror cinema from a left perspective

Set up to explore “the intersections of class politics, a critical analysis of capitalism and horror cinema,” Bristol-based Horror Without End makes a bloody splash this month with a body horror double bill screening of Brian Yuzna’s Society and David Cronenberg’s Videodrome. This takes place at the Bristol Improv Theatre on Saturday 21 January. Go here for tickets. Each screening will include an introduction by founder Alex Kidd. We took the opportunity to grill him about Horror Without End.

What sparked your desire to set up Horror Without End?

I came up with the idea for Horror Without End as a sort of ‘reaction’ to discussions of horror cinema happening in centre-left media outlets, such as The Guardian, over the past few years.

After horror movies like Jordan Peele’s brilliant Get Out and Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook, there seemed to be no end of articles indicating horror was ‘finally’ grappling with the issues that matter, such as racism and mental health issues. But I would say horror has always been about providing social commentary!

Whether it be Nosferatu (1922) acting as a criticism of the parasitic ruling class of the early 20th century or The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) embodiment of cold war fears of assimilation through communism, horror cinema has consistently been used as a way of looking critically at the fears of a society in a particular moment of time.

With Horror Without End, I wanted to provide an explicitly left critique of horror cinema and show how the genre from its inception can be interpreted by the left to offer a criticism of capitalism and an insight into class issues.

Many horrors seem open to left/humanist interpretation. Paul Verhoeven even repurposed Robert Heinlein’s fascistic, militaristic Starship Troopers as a satire (though few contemporary critics seemed to notice). Are there any notable overtly right-wing horrors?

As horror cinema tends to reflect the particular fears of any given society at a given time, this inevitably results in horror embodying some of the worldviews of the conservative right.

Xenophobia is a typical example of a right-wing fear found in horror cinema, such as in Hostel‘s (2005) quite unflattering portrayal of the country of Slovakia and also present in films such as Dracula (1931), resulting in Bela Lugosi’s Romanian-accented English becoming the ‘go-to’ voice for a vampire.

Though it is easy to find movies that are grappling with issues of the right, I think it is quite hard to find many explicitly ‘right-wing’ horror movies but can find many open to a right-wing interpretation. The Purge franchise, for example, famously grapples with many politically charged issues, such as race relations and gun violence. However, it can just as easily be viewed as a libertarian utopic vision of society as it can be a dystopic leftist one.

We’ve seen plenty of welcome new voices in horror lately, notably Jordan Peele. Feminist horror seems to be having a ‘moment’ too. What do you find most exciting in modern horror?

Horror is certainly attracting a lot of the spotlight at the moment and I’m really excited to see more movies getting funded for a much more diverse range of horror directors, writers and creators, allowing them to explore horror from their unique perspectives.

It has been amazing to see a new generation of diverse horror creators bringing their material to the genre and we should be celebrating the creative output of directors like Nia Dacosta (Candyman, 2021), Kate Dolan (You Are Not My Mother, 2021) and Julia Ducornau (Raw, 2016) for bringing a new perspective to horror.

As you say, Jordan Peele really did lead the vanguard in this change and there are undoubtedly many more talented directors out there who have yet to get their shot at film making thanks to institutional prejudice and as the genre’s creatives continue to diversify, I am excited to see what new takes on the horror genre we get.

Even the Saw franchise made the occasional bid for the moral high ground. But there still seems to be no end to the low-budget, regressive ‘woman chained up in a basement’ torture porn sub-genre, which you’d have thought might have run its course now. How can we explain its continued popularity?

There will always be a strand of creatives who pay homage to their favourite movies by effectively copying them.

The ‘torture porn’ style of film popularised by films like Hostel (2005) were directly inspired by a lot of the 1970’s grindhouse horror films like Last House on the Left (1972), which did feature gratuitous and often shocking scenes of violence against women. This was done explicitly to elicit feelings of shock and to disgust audiences, generating publicity from the outrageous nature of the film’s contents.

Rather than subvert expectations of grindhouse tropes, some directors tended to just replicate the same shock and awe tactics in their films, bringing the violence against women along with it. This trend certainly spread from grindhouse in the 70s into the slasher boom of the 80s, with films like Friday the 13th (1980) solidifying the need for women to be subjected to 90 minutes of pure terror to fit a ‘final girl’ narrative.

Thankfully, I think we are seeing more horror films now where women are given more autonomy beyond the tropes established in 80’s slashers. You’re Next (2011), Hush (2016) and Ready or Not (2019) all see leading women fighting to survive in a variety of ingenious ways and provide the characters with depth which enables us as an audience to hope for their survival.

Have you forged alliances with any like-minded organisations, such as The Final Girls and Bristol Black Horror Club?

One of my goals with Horror Without End was to recognise explicitly the importance of taking an intersectional approach to my analysis of horror. This means recognising the importance of feminist, differently abled and Black diaspora voices in contributing to film analysis. I have been really keen to link up with different organisations to make sure these voices are reflected in Horror Without End.

I’m pleased to say we are a partner of the Bristol Black Horror Club and Adam (one of the founders of BBHC) has been supportive. We are hoping to do a screening of The Purge later this year as a joint event as well.

I am always open to collaborations, and anyone interested just needs to get in touch!

You’re screening Brian Yuzna’s subversive Society, which is one of my favourite horror films. Which are your faves and why?

This is always the hardest question for me! There are so many films to choose from but if I had to pick three it would be The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), The Wicker Man (1973) and The Thing (1982).

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is about as close to a ‘perfect’ horror for me as it can be. From start to finish, it is a deeply unsettling watch with many stomach-churning scenes, all without a drop of blood in sight! On top of that, it works very well as a social commentary on the deindustrialisation of the USA, leaving families like the Sawyers to fend for themselves. Overall, a 10/10 film for me!

The Wicker Man (is one of those films where the horror really creeps up on you. The overall tone of pagan strangeness throughout the film culminating in Sergeant Howie’s fiery demise at the hand of Lord Summerisle (brilliantly played by Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee respectively) is truly an unforgettable experience and one I find myself revisiting time and time again.

The Thing (is everything I love about 80’s horror cinema. Strong practical effects, a great soundtrack and Kurt Russell! The Thing is just so effective at creating a sense of isolation which I find horrifying; not only are the group of scientists trapped in the white blizzard of Antarctica, but they cannot trust each other, providing a true sense of hopelessness in a way few horrors can.

Main image: Horror Without End