Reflections - Eighteenth Century Gothic and Contemporary Horror Cinema

One of things we try to achieve in the Gothic Reading Group is a balance of different media, including non-print materials. This allows us to reflect a little on what kind of legacy or influence the "Gothic" exerts in different mediums and in different periods: asking what it is that makes a text "Gothic" or how an understanding of the "Gothic" that might be useful in approaching other texts. It also means we get to watch movies. This semester, we're starting with a viewing of the recent Evil Dead reboot, but a small group of us are also off to see Insidious Chapter 2 for a bit of "pre-season" Gothic. Ahead of that, we thought we'd reblog the following excellent post on the School of English blog by one of our organising team: Adam James Smith. Here Adam tackles exactly the sort of questions posed above and looks at the way in which some key features of the Gothic's original mediation are alive and well in a burgeoning sub-genre of contemporary horror cinema...

2013 Autumn Semester Schedule Announced

It's taken some cross-referencing of faded manuscripts, forgotten tomes and other academic commitments, but we now have a schedule prepared for the Gothic Reading Group. So, if you're a new or returning student... here are the most important dates for your diary this semester.

Next Text? - The Evil Dead

The new academic year is very nearly upon us and we'll soon be finalising a schedule for the Gothic Reading Group, including picking a text for our first meeting. With that in mind, here's the first in what will hopefully be a semi-regular "feature" here on the GRG site: a brief blog post taking a look at a potential text. Our blogger on this occasion is Kathleen Hudson, a second-year PhD student in the school of English. Here Kathleen takes a look at theEvil Deadfranchise (a strong contender for a debut film?) pondering what it is that separates the recent 2013 reboot from the original series, what kind of generic shift occurs en route and how vital a sense of the Unheimlichmight be in producing the kind of experiences appropriate to a certain type of horror cinema.