In today's episode, it is early horror with an unexpected feminist twist in 1946’s The Spiral Staircase, directed by Robert Siodmak. Set in 1906, the film follows Helen (Dorothy McGuire), a woman with traumatic mutism, who cares for Mrs. Warren (Ethel Barrymore), the difficult and bedridden lady of the manor. When a serial killer begins killing off women with so-called afflictions, Helen is warned that she may be next. Adapted from Ethel Lina White’s novel Some Must Watch (1933), the film takes up themes such as disability and masculinity while simultaneously challenging the notion that the modern slasher film began with Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). We’re breaking it all down today with spoilers, so stay tuned.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/horror-homeroom/support1970s Horror: Our Top 10 Movies (Bonus Episode)
Doppelgängers of Death: Talking Us (2019)
1990s Horror: Our Top 10 Movies (Bonus Episode)
Breaking & Entering: Talking The People Under the Stairs (1991) & Don't Breathe (2016)
1980s Horror: Our Top 10 Movies (Bonus Episode)
Appropriating Aokigahara?: Talking The Forest (2016)
Horror Homeroom Conversations: Our Top 10 (Bonus Episode)
Feminist Exploitation?: Talking Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
Transgressing Grief: Talking Pet Sematary (1989)
The Pro-Sex Slasher: Talking Black Christmas (1974)
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