A review by hojichad
Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters by Jack Halberstam

5.0

One of my favorite theory books that I reread and come back to all the time. I think about this book constantly, it changed the way I think about horror. This book has some points of contention that have not aged well, particularly how Halberstam writes off Candyman as irredeemably racist and undeserving of the nuanced analysis he later gives to Dracula or Buffalo Bill. But, there are so many things in this book that are still salient and rare to see even 25 years later, whether it's horror analysis from an LGBTQ perspective, or even the fact that psychoanalysis is insufficient without sociopolitical context. The final chapter on postmodern horror and the way that "the banality of evil" has changed horror and even most fiction (I'm thinking blockbuster superhero movies) is still so relevant today.