This 3-week course will revisit The Birds (Hitchcock 1963) as an approach to two unique films on the edge of the apocalyptic tradition: Safe (Haynes 1995) and Take Shelter (Nichols 2011). Like The Birds, these are relatively quiet melodramas overtaken by an uncanny horror that scrambles space and subject, defying explanation and leaving cinematic representation up for grabs. Together, the three films will let us consider the boundaries of the horror genre as well as its capacity to intervene in other modes and complicate the project of realism.
Ned Schantz is a professor in the Department of English at McGill University, where he teaches courses on Hitchcock, horror, and the uncanny. His work on Hitchcock can be found in the journal CAMERA OBSCURA (2010) and in his book GOSSIP, LETTERS, PHONES: THE SCANDAL OF FEMALE NETWORKS IN FILM AND LITERATURE (Oxford 2008). His article on reenactment and GRIZZLY MAN appeared in the Fall 2013 issue of CRITICISM.
