Welcome to the first week of the course!
Please click here to see your syllabus and assignment breakdown, and click here to see the course schedule. We will be having asynchronous course discussions via our Slack workspace, which I have emailed and listed under “Announcements” on Blackboard. As it says in the syllabus, you must post and respond to classmates in the Slack workspace weekly:
Slack posts (30%)
You must post a response to the Slack channel for each film, due on Thursday of each week. In these posts, you’ll apply the critical reading to the film you’ve been assigned to watch that week and do some analysis of your own. These responses should typically be about 200 words. Then, reply to another classmate’s posting on Slack by Sunday. This is an opportunity to both process your thoughts after watching the film, and to engage with your classmates and their ideas. (You are of course welcome to post as many replies to each other as you like!) I recommend you add a photo to your Slack profile so that we can all put a face to a name.
You can find a list of the films viewable online for free at this page, as well as a list of streaming services that include them as part of their subscriptions. All of the films on the syllabus can be rented cheaply or purchased through Amazon Prime and YouTube, as well as some other sites. (I asked e-campus if it would be possible to put any of these films for free on Blackboard, and they declined that request due to copyright laws.)
For this first week, you’ll need to watch Night of the Living Dead (1968), and then read the articles provided in the Night of the Living Dead folder on Blackboard (click on Course Materials in the sidebar). After watching the film and reading the criticism, head over to the #nightofthelivingdead channel on our Slack workspace to share your thoughts and converse with one another.
We’re starting this course with Night of the Living Dead because it is the film — the groundbreaking, seminal film— to establish the post-war Western horror genre. For the purposes of this class, it is the “first” modern horror film, because of the massive influence it had (and still has!) on the genre as we currently know and understand it, both in the US and internationally. It is often cited as a film uniquely “ahead of its time” because of this legacy, and a major formative influence for many horror directors and writers, as well as for many filmmakers in general.
Keep this legacy in mind as you watch it. Also keep in mind the sociocultural and historical context of the film. What was going on in 1968 that might have influenced aspects of this film? In what ways is the film “breaking ground” not only artistically, but politically and/or culturally? What are some images or scenes that surprised you, or got you thinking about the horror genre as a contemporary phenomenon, and/or about its significance psychosocially and culturally? What is horror for, and how does this film help you understand horror and/or help you formulate a definition or purpose for it?
However, while it is our first film in the course, Night of the Living Dead is of course not literally the first horror film. The horror film genre more generally has its roots in silent films, beginning as early as the late 19th century. You can find a brief rundown of the early horror genre at this site, and I have included an optional article titled “Ghoulies and Ghosties” on Blackboard that you might also want to read.
In the face to face version of this course, I typically show Nosferatu (1922) on the first day because of its lasting influence on the genre. You can watch the film here its entirety (about 90 minutes), or view the vampire scenes only here. The film is beautiful and scary at the same time, and worth watching for context, but not required for the course.