Monstrous Children and Childish Monsters

Markus P.J. Bohlmann is professor of English at Seneca College, Toronto. He is on the editorial board for Red Feather Journal: An International Journal of Children's Popular Culture and Children and Youth in Popular Culture. Sean Moreland has published numerous essays, primarily on literary and cinematic horror, as well as poetry and short fiction. He is chief editor of Postscripts to Darkness (pstdarkness.com), and is on the editorial board for the Edgar Allan Poe Review.

“a must read because of its breadth, scholarly approaches, and accessible language”—Albeit Journal; “a welcome addition to horror film studies”—Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts; “Instructs, entertains and provokes...exciting and substantial collection...witty and perceptive...rich cinematic detail, provocatively argued theories and solid historical grounding combine to make Bohlmann and Moreland’s substantial collection an inspiring source of reference on the monstrous child. It is crucial reading for scholars of fantasy and horror. A valuable resource on popular culture representations of otherness.”—Anna Powell, Research Fellow, Gothic Studies Centre, Manchester Metropolitan University

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vForeword deleteSteven Bruhm 1Foreword: Sweet Demons—And Us deleteJames R. Kincaid 7Introduction: Holy Terrors and Other Musings on ­Monstrous-Childness (Markus P.J. Bohlmann and Sean Moreland) 9Part I. Look Who’s StalkingMonstrous Newborns and the Mothers Who Love Them: Critiques of Intensive Mothering in ­Twenty-First-Century Horror Films (Karen J. Renner) 27“She needs more”: The Villainization of Infertile Women in Horror Films (Brooke W. Edge) 42When Procreation Becomes Perversion: Zombie Babies (Kristine Larsen) 61Part II. Frankenstein’s Kindergarten“My hideous cinematic progeny”: Rosemary’s Baby, Eraserhead and Frankenstein (Sarah Leventer) 79“Doesn’t everyone want their parents dead?” Monstrous Children in the Films of Ridley Scott delete(Colin Yeo) 96Of Radioactive Sprites and Diminutive Tyrants: Hammer’s Monstrous Children delete(Rebecca A. Brown) 107Part III. The Adoption Papers (Adaptations)What About Grendel’s Son? Shades of Monstrosity in Beowulf and Grendel delete(Danny Gorny) 125Bringing Out Henry James’s Little Monsters: Two Film Approaches to The Turn of the Screw delete(Fredrik Tydal) 142The Monstrous Child: Replacement and Repetition in The Shining (Dustin Freeley) 160Part IV. Troubled Teens and ­In-BetweensDemon Drugs or Demon Children: Take Your Pick (Sharon Packer) 173Disability and Slasher Cinema’s Unsung “Children” (John Edgar Browning) 177Monstrous Mammies in Lee Daniels’s Precious delete(Debbie Olson) 188Violent Nymphs: Vampire and Vigilante Children in Contemporary Cinema delete(Lisa Cunningham) 206Part V. ­Peek-a-boo: Future Monstrosities and Beyond “Insects trapped in amber”: The Mutant Child Seer in Contemporary Spanish Horror Film delete(Jessica Balanzategui) 225Hanna: The Child as Monster Who Is Supposed to Believe (Tamas Nagypal) 245Afterword: Monstrously Yours? deleteKathryn Bond Stockton 261Afterword deleteHarry M. Benshoff 267About the Contributors 271Index 275