Psychoanalysis and Euro-Horror:

Freud’s Worst Nightmares?
 

by Steven Schneider

What, if anything, makes the European horror film particularly susceptible to psychoanalytic theorizing, and does it make sense to speak of such a thing as the “European horror film” at all?  How does a negative answer to the latter question affect one’s views on the former?  In my introductory remarks to this panel, I shall raise the questions above, offer up some possible responses as food for thought, and set the stage for the papers to follow.

Steven Schneider is a Visiting Lecturer at Tufts University (Massachusetts), and is completing PhDs in Philosophy at Harvard University and in Cinema Studies at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.  He has published widely on the horror genre in various journals and edited collections.  Forthcoming books as author and editor include Fear Without Frontiers: Horror Cinema Across the Globe (FAB Press), Freud’s Worst Nightmares: Psychoanalysis and the Horror Film (Cambridge University Press), and Dark Thoughts: Philosophic Reflections on Cinematic Horror (Scarecrow Press).

  epff@psychoanalysis.org.uk