Conjunctions Between Holocaust and Horror Films

Based on a Forthcoming book with SIU Press:Frames of Evil: The Holocaust as Horror in

American Film

Caroline (Kay) Picart, Associate Professor of English,Courtesy Associate Professor of

LawFlorida State U.

Aims: To show thata relationship between Holocaust and Horror films is traceable even before the 1990s; Holocaust imagery is used in many horror films. Horror imagery is used in Holocaust films—for example, Schindler’s List references Psycho

The Authentic “Look” of the Holocaust

Nazism as the new monster

60’s and 70’s American movies usually exploited the infamy of the Third Reich as grist for horror and science fiction movies

Nazi As Stock Monster

The New American Gothic: Psycho and it Spawn--1

The New American Gothic: Psycho and it Spawn--2

The New American Gothic: Psycho and it Spawn--3

The Addiction: Vampirism and Nazism

American History X and shower scenes

Schindler’s List’s “Realism”

“Shooting in black-and-white ________________________________”

The BilderverbotSL is too _______ in rendering visible an event that defies depiction, whose horror renders any attempt at direct representation ____________.

             

Schindler’s List and Psycho

Schindler’s List uses formal properties that mime Psycho but produces a different story

Conclusions:There are cross fertilizations between Holocaust and horror film conventions.Schindler’s List borrows from classic horror conventions to tell the story of the Holocaust.Schindler’s List references the look of Psycho, a contemporary or postmodern horror film, but tells the story of the Holocaust as though it were a classic horror tale.