Psychoanalysis and Horror Films

Psychoanalysis in/and/of the Horror Film by Stephen Jay Schneider, an excerpt from the introduction to Freud's Worst Nightmares.

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This isn't a collection of psychoanalytic criticism of particular genres, trends or films, but is a collection of essays analyzing the psychoanalytic criticism that has been applied to horror. Stephen Jay Schneider insists on a meta-theoretical approach in this collection that looks at why and how psychoanalysis has been applied to horror films and what assumptions and conclusions have been made about horror as a result of those analyses.

Although I'm not a huge fan of psychoanalysis in most forms (and a vehement Freud-hater), I do think it's a worthwhile pursuit. And it can be fascinating when applied to horror films, but often the results of these analysis seem at odds with one another. Are horror movies dependant on oedipal desires? Are they the result of castration fear? penis envy? Since they are based on fears, according to standard psychoanalytical theory, they must also contain a desire. What are those desires? This can be a fun exercise, AND it can serve to point out pervasive societial fears/desires...or it can be a self-serving waste of time.

One of my favorite genres to "analyze:" werewolf films. They lend themselves beautifully to psychoanalytical theory, and the best films realize the connection and exploit or contort the tradition to expose something new and interesting about the furry insides of humanity. Some good werewolf (with great psychoanalytical possibilities) films to see: "Ginger Snaps," "Ginger Snaps II," "Ginger Snaps Back," "In the Company of Wolves," "The Howling II/III" and "Brotherhood of the Wolf." Or wait for the new release of "Blood and Chocolate". I hope they've at least thought about the tradition of werewolf films and metaphors...it seems they may have considering the title. (Oh, it's about women...they like chocolate...hurk hurk. Sometimes I hate how clever hollywood thinks it is. If it were half as clever as all that, there would never be a bad big budget horror flick.)

I do think it is an interesting project to analyze analyses. I've done this myself with several critical theories and rhetorical strategies. It can be quite telling about the nature of critical thought.