The Black Museum Presents: Elder Horror in Found Footage Film
Toronto
Toronto, ON, Canada
Ontario
43.653226
-79.3831843
*Content Warning*: the films discussed in this virtual lecture use conventions of the horror genre to address anxieties around aging. Because of this, they represent topics such as dementia, illness, and death that might be emotionally challenging for some audiences.
ABOUT: For as long as people have been telling stories, the face of evil is often an older woman. From spell-casting witches and hags to evil stepmothers, elderly women are frequently depicted as sites of monstrosity, cruelty, and even doom. In this virtual lecture, guest presenter Maddi McGillvray explores the resurgence of elderly women in contemporary horror films, particularly within the found footage subgenre. She looks at how films like THE VISIT (Shyamalan, 2015) and THE TAKING OF DEBORAH LOGAN (Robitel, 2014) not only embrace the found footage subgenre of horror, but also use its tropes to depict the transformation of their elderly female characters into abject and monstrous old crones.