This week, we’re reading about grief. “Grief horror” has been a popular trope in the last decade of so-called “Elevated horror” films, but it has always permeated the genre. Here are a few classic and contemporary picks (as well as a few non-horror-ish options).
Primary reading:
Pet Sematary by Stephen King – As I’ll explore in my essay tomorrow, everyone knows the story of the pet sematary. But the real horror of the novel isn’t just the fact that reanimated corpses come out of the ground, or even that they come back wrong; it’s the unsettling fact of how far characters will go in their grief, despite their logical instincts.
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield – If you want a take on the grief over a loved one coming back wrong that isn’t outright scary like Pet Sematary, Julia Armfield’s literary novel is a beautiful, devastating choice. Miri’s wife Leah returns from a deep-sea research mission, but life doesn’t return to normal. So often, grief stories revolve around someone who has died or otherwise been lost, but this novel is particularly tragic because Miri is forced to grieve someone who is, technically, still there.
The Haunting of Hill House (dir. Mike Flanagan) – Both the original Shirley Jackson novel and Flanagan’s 2018 adaptation could easily fit on this list, but I’ve chosen to highlight the miniseries – in part because Jackson’s novel will get a mention next week, and in part because Flanagan’s version not only captures the tragic themes of the book but also features some of the most startling jump scares I’ve ever encountered. There’s one that I guarantee will make you scream.
The Babadook (dir. Jennifer Kent) – Perhaps the movie that kicked off the current popularity of “grief as horror / horror as grief” movies, The Babadook follows a woman and her child as they confront a monster in their home that may be a physical manifestation of their grief. While some horror fans may be growing weary of grief metaphors by this stage, the film is a cult classic for a reason.
Secondary reading:
Beloved by Toni Morrison – In the venn diagram of Great American Novels and horror books, Beloved fits in the middle, although not necessarily neatly. This brutal, powerful novel has elements of the horror genre, but it’s the depiction of trauma and grief that will really leave you feeling shaken, and it’s an intense and essential read for its writing style and the strength of its themes.
Next to Normal (stage musical) – A non-horror take on the “haunted by your grief” storyline, this 2008 rock musical left me reeling the first time I saw it. I know for some folks, musicals are their own sort of horror, but it’s a brilliant story about the way grief manifests and distorts itself from the known feeling of love into something more unsettling and uncanny.
Bring Her Back (dir. Danny & Michael Philippou) – If you think the lengths to which Louis Creed went to bring back his child were too far, they don’t hold a candle to the events of Bring Her Back. There are so many layers of grief in this film, and so many layers of horror. It’s incredibly gruesome and probably the most disturbing film on this whole curriculum, so viewer beware, but it’s also an intensely devastating depiction of grief, desperation, and an inability to let go.
In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado – Machado’s memoir about an abusive relationship takes many forms; each chapter is a different literary trope or style. The Dream House as choose-your-own-adventure, as unreliable narrator, as epiphany, as sci-fi thriller. The dream house is haunted by the ghost of the relationship and the scars it left. It’s not a horror book per se, but it’s the sort of story that will leave you feeling unsettled for a long time afterward.
