GUTTER STUDIES

This is the first video in a planned series on nunsploitation cinema. One of the most notorious and mischaracterized subgenres of exploitation film, nunsploitation movies offer complex and provocative treatments of themes like desire, taboo, and transgression.

For many years I was not a fan of these movies. The reason for this, I discovered a few years ago, was that I just wasn’t digging deep enough. Once I expanded my research, I discovered that these are some of the most fascinating exploitation films ever made.

This first video introduces nunsploitation film generally, identifying its key themes and characteristics, and also discussing the genre’s literary tradition and emergence in the late 1960s.

The remainder of this video provides an analysis of Ken Russell’s The Devils (1971).

Timestamps:

0:00 - Definitions, key themes, and essential features

2:24 - Cultural history of the naughty nun as medieval trope

4:39 - connections to the Marquis de Sade

6:16 - proto-nunsploitation in film history: Angels of Sin (1943); Black Narcissus (1947); The Nun (1966)

8:22 - conditions for the emergence of nunsploitation proper: Vatican II, Italian film industry, and The Lady of Monza aka The Awful Story of the Nun of Monza (1969)

11:03 - Ken Russell’s The Devils (1971) as the foundation and epitome of nunsploitation

21:22 - Conclusion

Future entries in this series will explore individual films in more depth. For those that would like to “read ahead,” the next part of the series will cover the following, which are four movies that I think represent some of the very best of the genre:

Story of a Cloistered Nun (1973)

Satanic Pandemonium (1975)

Alucarda (1977)

Killer Nun (1979)

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This video offers a detailed interpretation of Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession (1981), viewed through the lens of Lacanian psychoanalysis. My hope is that it works both as a close reading of Żuławski’s film, which can be baffling as much as it is beloved, as well as a primer on the work of Jacques Lacan.

No prior understanding of psychoanalysis or Lacan is necessarily. It’s strongly recommended, however, that you watch Possession first. This is not only because the video contains substantial spoilers, but also because the interpretation will make the most sense after you’ve had a chance to experience the movie on a visceral, emotional level. That is the “real” way to experience Possession, with intellectualization and interpretation coming later.

In fact, watch it twice! 😉

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction: a competition of fantasies

2:44 - Spy games as queer intrusion

5:19 - Primer on Lacanian psychoanalysis

8:07 - Mark’s fantasy of phallic possession

14:48 - Anna’s fantasy of feminine masquerade

20: 58 - Conclusion: the other’s desire

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This essay interprets two films—The Witch (2015) by Robert Eggers, and Antichrist (2009) by Lars von Trier—through the lens of the existentialist feminism of Simone de Beavoir. Note that the discussion involves heavy spoilers for both films.

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Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

3:04 - The Witch (2009)

5:45 - The existentialist feminism of Simone de Beavoir

9:12 - The Witch (2009) continued

11:20 - Antichrist (2009)

19:10 - Conclusion

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For the holiday season, I’m reposting my Christmas horror video from last year. I’m glad to do so, because when I first tried posting to Youtube, the platform’s capricious AI copyright monitoring wouldn’t let me include the segment on Christmas Evil. That’s perhaps the strongest part of the video, and the most popular film analyzed here, so it was a shame.

I’m delighted now to present my full analysis of three overlooked Christmas horror movies!

0:00 - Introduction

0:25 - Silent Night, Bloody Night aka Night of the Dark Full Moon (1972)

4:08 - Elves (1989)

7:22 - Christmas Evil (1980)

I’m already thinking about what to cover next year. Maybe a full analysis of the entire Silent Night Deadly Night franchise? A comparison of three generations of Black Christmas iterations? More obscure Santa slashers? Supernatural Christmas horror?

Let me know in comments email etc what you’d like to see!

Thank you as always for your support, and happy holidays to you and your inner circle.

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From the Gutter Studies Vault, this is a video summarizing and discussing the first part of Carol Clover’s book Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Clover is best known for coining the term “final girl”, a rare example of a phrase that has come into popular usage from film theory.

The video covers both this concept and Clover’s wider theory about the horror genre as a return to the unconscious fantasies of so-called “one-sex” sexuality.

What does that mean? Watch to find out.

This is the first part of a planned four-part series covering Clover’s entire book. So far I’ve done the second video, covering Clover’s theory of supernatural horror, but I stopped halfway to focus on other stuff. The second half covers rape-revenge films, as well as Clover’s take on “gaze” in modern horror.

It’s an interesting book covering lots of territory, so I’d love to finish the series one day. If you’re keen on seeing more, let me know via comments, email, etc.

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In this second episode of GUTTER TALK, I chat with lifelong horror fan Cynthia Rzucidlo about the year in horror. Cynthia counts down a top 13 horror movies on the year, and we compare notes along the way. At the end, we also talk about the horror movies we’re still looking forward to as the year comes to a close.

Follow Cynthia on Instagram.

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Goth Renaissance concludes. This chapter ties together everything we’ve seen so far, identifying the key themes and characteristics of Italian gothic horror, and showing how it laid the foundation for decades of Italian exploitation film.

Giallo, nunsploitation, spaghetti western, the gorefests of the 80s—all of it owes something to the Italian gothics.

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As always, thank you for watching and for your high opinion of low culture.

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In the fourth chapter of our series Goth Renaissance: A Critical Introduction to Italian Gothic Horror, we analyze three of Barbara Steele’s best movies. We’ve already encountered Steele twice in previous installments, but these three are essential entries for any overview of Italian gothic horror.

More than that, this trilogy of films represents not only the best work featuring Barbara Steele, but also can be seen as a certain culmination of Italian gothic horror. They pull together so many of the genre’s essential features, represent some of the finest work the period had to offer, and also point the way toward the genre’s dissolution in the late 1960s, as Italian exploitation film continued to evolve.

In many ways, and for better or worse, the story of Italian gothic horror is the story of Barbara Steele.

Timestamps

0:00 - the Fellini detour

1:15 - Castle of Blood (1964)

5:21 - Nightmare Castle (1965)

8:59 - An Angel for Satan (1966)

15:10 - conclusion

This is also the final “main” installment of Goth Renaissance. The fifth and final chapter will offer concluding thoughts on this period in Italian filmmaking, and explain how the gothic slowly gave way to Italian exploitation film.

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This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gutterstudies.substack.com/subscribe

This is a video essay from the Gutter Studies Vault, exploring three movies that seem to confirm the worst fears of radical feminism.

Fair warning: it’s one of my most challenging and provocative essays on horror so far, drawing on some of the most grisly themes and images in the genre. The essay reads the graphic and disturbing nature of these films alongside the complex and controversial radical-feminist theory of Catherine MacKinnon, Andrea Dworkin, and Carol J. Adams, as well as the post-Lacanian feminism of Luce Irigaray. As you’ll see, the feminist theorists of the 1980s were themselves incredibly dark and morbid, and it’s interesting to observe that their work was roughly contemporaneous with the trend of films discussed here.

This essay works as a tie-in to the subject matter covered in part 3 of our Goth Renaissance series:

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This is part three in our ongoing series GOTH RENAISSANCE: A Critical Introduction to Italian Gothic Horror. You can explore the full series here, or dive right into this one.

In previous installments, we’ve seen how Italian gothic horror exhibits a preoccupation with female monsters, villains, and characters.

Beginning in 1962, a counter-tendency began to emerge. These films not only shifted a focus to the masculine perspective, but ended up on its dark side.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

1:52 - The Horrible Dr. Hitchcock (1962 dir. Ricardo Freda)

4:08 - understanding morbid desire in the gothic tradition

7:28 - trashy paperbacks and the birth of Italian giallo

8:14 - Horror Castle aka The Virgin of Nuremberg (1963 dir. Antonio Margheriti)

11:27 - Bloody Pit of Horror (1965 dir. Massimo Pupillo)

16:54 - sociological and film-historical perspectives on Italian masculinist cinema

Next time, as a “see further” on some of the more challenging and provocative themes covered here, we’ll be reposting a classic from the Gutter Studies Vault:

Stay tuned (if you dare!)

GUTTER STUDIES is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gutterstudies.substack.com/subscribe