save for later: a feminist horror media list

A few weeks (months?) ago, I started a personal curriculum on religious and feminist horror. I was very excited to share it on Substack, and so many people resonated with the topic as well. The post is still going around, but I wanted to make an easier version we could all come back to over time: a simpler list of all the books, movies, essays I had compiled for this research project.

So, for those of you interested in doing the whole personal curriculum, you can head over here. And for everyone who wants to keep the cleaner list handy, save this one for later:)

You can also join us on Discord to discuss the curriculum, or share your book recommendations, pics of your pets, or share your work with our community.

BOOKS

Novels

1. Lauren Groff, The Matrix - Week 1

   • Medieval convent life, female power, religious vision

2. Sarah Waters, The Little Stranger - Week 4

   • Gothic domestic horror with religious undertones

3. Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Week 4

   • Alternative to Waters; Gothic domestic horror

4. Agustina Bazterrica, The Unworthy - Week 5

   • Dark exploration of sin, shame, and female community

5. Julia Armfield, Our Wives Under the Sea - Week 7

   • Body transformation and religious imagery in queer horror

6. Leopoldo Gout, Piñata - Week 8

   • Mexican religious horror with pre-Columbian elements

Short Stories

1. Carmen Maria Machado, “The Husband Stitch” - Week 2

   • In collection Her Body and Other Parties

   • Body horror meets religious folklore

2. Flannery O’Connor, “A Temple of the Holy Ghost” - Week 3

   • Southern Gothic religious horror, adolescent femininity

3. Shirley Jackson, “The Daemon Lover” - Week 5

   • Psychological horror with religious dimensions

4. Shirley Jackson, “The Tooth” - Week 5

   • Psychological horror with religious dimensions

5. Octavia Butler, “Bloodchild” - Week 7

   • SF/horror exploring bodies, consent, and transformation

6. Cassandra Khaw, “A Song for Crocodiles” - Week 8

   • In collection Nothing But Blackened Teeth

   • Asian religious horror and folklore

Nonfiction

1. Silvia Federici, Caliban and the Witch (Part 2) - Week 6

   • Historical analysis of witch hunts as violence against women

2. Selected mystic writings - Week 3

   • Excerpts from St. Teresa of Ávila or Julian of Norwich

   • Historical context for religious ecstasy and vision

MOVIES

Core Films

1. Immaculate (2024) - Week 1

   • Contemporary convent horror exploring bodily autonomy

   • Content note: Pregnancy/reproductive horror

2. The Exorcist (1973) - Week 2

   • The definitive possession film, revisited through feminist lens

3. Saint Maud (2019) - Week 3

   • Religious mania, self-destruction, transcendence through suffering

4. The Nun (2018) - Week 4

   • The demonic nun as corrupted sacred feminine

5. The VVitch (2015) - Week 6

   • Historical New England horror and female sexuality

6. Rosemary’s Baby (1968) - Week 7

   • Pregnancy as horror, institutions as conspiracies

7. Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017) - Week 8

   • Mexican horror with religious elements and fairy tale structure

Supplementary Films

1. The Novice (2021) - Week 1

   • Obsession, discipline, and self-destruction

   • Optional - not explicitly religious but thematically relevant

2. Veronica (2017) - Week 2

   • Spanish possession horror with female adolescence

3. Martyrs (2008) - Week 3

   • Explores suffering as pathway to transcendence

   • EXTREME CONTENT WARNING: Graphic torture and violence

4. The Nun II (2023) - Week 4

   • Continue exploring Valak and demonic femininity

5. Benedetta (2021) - Week 4

   • Alternative to The Nun II; controversial nun drama

6. The Last Exorcism (2010) - Week 5

   • Found footage exorcism with a feminist twist

7. The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) - Week 6

   • Witch trial victim and violence done to women’s bodies

8. Titane (2021) - Week 7

   • Pregnancy, transformation, and the sacred/profane body

   • EXTREME CONTENT WARNING: Very graphic, sexually explicit, violent

9. Pearl (2022) - Week 8

   • Religious repression and female rage; period horror

ESSAYS & CRITICAL TEXTS

Feminist Horror Theory

1. Barbara Creed, “Horror and the Monstrous-Feminine” - Week 1

   • Foundational feminist horror theory

   • Available in The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis

2. Carol Clover, “Her Body, Himself” - Week 2

   • On gender and identification in horror (essay excerpt)

Religious & Art Theory

3. Julia Kristeva, “Stabat Mater” - Week 2

   • Essay on Mary and motherhood

   • Available in Tales of Love

4. Caroline Walker Bynum, excerpt from Holy Feast and Holy Fast - Week 3

   • On female suffering and sanctity in medieval women

5. Margaret R. Miles, excerpt from Carnal Knowing - Week 5

   • On female desire and nakedness in religious art

   • Full title: Carnal Knowing: Female Nakedness and Religious Meaning in the Christian West

6. Diane Purkiss, excerpt from The Witch in History - Week 6

   • Historical and cultural analysis of witch persecution

7. Caroline Walker Bynum, excerpt from Fragmentation and Redemption - Week 7

   • On medieval bodies and transformation

Art History Readings

8. Georges Didi-Huberman, Fra Angelico: Dissemblance and Figuration (excerpts) - Week 1

   • On mystical vision and painting

9. Marina Warner, Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and Cult of the Virgin Mary - Week 4

   • On the construction of Marian devotion

SUPPLEMENTARY RESOURCES

Additional Books

• Sarah Perry, The Essex Serpent

• Carmen Maria Machado, In the Dream House

• Kaveh Akbar, Martyr!

• Caitlin Starling, The Starving Saints

• Matthew Lewis, The Monk

• Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides

Additional Films

• Carrie (1976)

• The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)

• The Wonder (2022)

• Incantation (2022)

• Marianne (2019, series)

Additional Critical Texts

• Julia Kristeva, Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection

• bell hooks, “The Oppositional Gaze”

• Jane Caputi, “Films of the Wounded Womb”

• Laura Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”

Additional Art History

• Marina Warner, Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and Cult of the Virgin Mary (full book)

• Caroline Walker Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast (full book)

• Caroline Walker Bynum, Fragmentation and Redemption (full book)

• Margaret R. Miles, Carnal Knowing (full book)

• Frederick Hartt, History of Italian Renaissance Art

• Gabrielle Langdon, Medici Women: Portraits of Power, Love, and Betrayal

• Julia Kristeva, Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection

• Hal Foster, Compulsive Beauty

• Georges Didi-Huberman, Confronting Images

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