The Cripped-Up Horror of Halloween Movies
What do Split, Phantom of the Opera, A Quiet Place, and Bird Box have in common? All four movies utilize disability as a means to create thrill and horror. But do they all do disability justice? CW: This article contains descriptions of murder, gore, trauma, and suicide within dramatic film. Split (2016) is a horror movie featuring a villain […]
Asylum or Ableism? Halloween’s Glamorization of Mental Illness
During the 1960s, people with mental illness were reintegrated into society, following mass deinstitutionalization efforts of the United States government, rendering state-funded mental hospitals outdated. Many of these buildings were repurposed as “haunted houses”, with heart-stopping tours and actors dressed in hospital gowns smeared with blood. Hundreds of people flock to these attractions every fall, […]