Lifelong horror fan Robyn Bourgeois says her favourite genre is having a moment, and she couldn’t be more thrilled.

With headlines dominated by horror films and television shows breaking records for both viewership and critical acclaim, the Associate Professor in Brock’s Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies is gearing up to share her love of the genre this spring in WGST 2V91 – Horror: Decolonial and Feminist Perspectives.

Students can expect spirited discussions as they exercise their critical analysis skills to find meaning in the macabre, viewing horror content through lenses of gender and colonialism to uncover complex themes and connections.

The course has no prerequisites and will appeal to both newcomers and devoted fans because, as Bourgeois says, “everybody has a connection to horror, whether they love it or they hate it.”

“What attracts me to horror is that it forces us to confront our biggest fears,” she says. “Horror isn’t just a form of grotesque entertainment — there can be some incredible cultural critique and exploration of humanity. There is so much more to horror than meets the eye.”

Bourgeois says the genre has much to say to about contemporary society and its challenges, confronting everything from consumerism to the Cold War to the most pressing issues of today.

“There is a reason that Sinners is at forefront of our cultural landscape right now,” she says. “There’s something that resonates with people, so let’s have the conversation about why and what that means about the world we live in. What does horror achieve for us as a society — and how does the society we live in influence the kind of horror we make and enjoy?”

By focusing primarily on films this term, Bourgeois says the class experience will also resurrect a key aspect of the horror genre that many young fans may not have fully experienced.

“One of the things I think we’ve lost a bit with a shift to streaming is the theatre experience,” she says. “There is something powerful about watching films together, and this class creates an opportunity for us to collectively watch and then talk through what we’ve seen in the film with a shared language that we will build as a group.”

In addition to Sinners, Bourgeois says students can expect to take a closer look at a few cult classics, such as the Canadian slasher film Black Christmas. The franchise was rebooted with a feminist take, and in this course, students will dissect how the different versions are in conversation with each other.

Studying Laura Hall’s recent book, Bloodied Bodies, Bloody Landscapes: Settler Colonialism in Horror, students will also examine the horror genre in the context of Indigineity and colonialism, which Bourgeois says reflects the “incredible Indigenous contemplation of horror” currently underway.

After the course wraps up in July, Bourgeois will head to the annual Native American and Indigenous Studies Association conference in Chile to present as part of a cross-national panel speaking on Indigenous horror.

“This is all part of a larger trajectory of Indigenous scholarship addressing horror and how it relates to the world we live in,” she says. “This is more pressing than ever, when we’re seeing daily horrors of children being killed in war or crackdowns against people simply because of who they are or what they believe in. There has never been a more important time to think about horror than right now.”

For more information on Brock’s Spring/Summer courses or to register, visit brocku.ca/springsummer