RELS 113 Religion and Horror: Gods, Ghosts, Demons, and Monsters

From The Golem to The Exorcist to Raaz to A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night to Midsommar, the horror genre has engaged religious traditions' notions of the supernatural, the monstrous, the evil, and the terrifying. Studying horror films, music videos, comics, and short stories, this class will historically contextualize examples of 'religious horror' so we better understand how different religious communities conceptualize the horrifying, the supernatural, and the monstrous. Throughout our study, we will engage the relationship between religion and horror through four major categories: religion in horror (how are religious communities, myths, rituals, monsters, fears, and ideas interpreted within the horror genre?), horror in religion (where does the ‘horrific’ appear in religion? What monsters and utmost evil appear within religious communities? How are otherworldly / supernatural beings depicted in ways that are understood as different / nonhuman?), horror as religion (how do horror narratives spawn their own religious communities?), and religion & horror in dialogue (How do religion and horror speak to each other to form one another? How is this a reiterative process of creation and remaking with respect to ghost hunting, possession narratives, and cryptozoology?). Through these categories, we will investigate how horror leverages the monster as a practice of dehumanization and marginalization (religious stereotypes often entwined with features of race, class, gender, sexuality, nation, and post/coloniality). In focusing primarily on mostly U.S.-made films, this course will ultimately interrogate how the themes of religion and horror reflect larger structures of U.S. culture and power and the inevitable existential anxieties that accompany them.

Credits

This a 4-unit course. On average, you should expect to spend at least twelve (12) hours a week (including in-class time) on this course

Core Requirements Met

• United States Diversity
• Fine Arts