by Kathryn Hampshire  When you hear the word “monster,” what comes to mind? Is it the black-and-white, somewhat blurry image of an undead creature from that horror film your parents didn’t know you were watching from behind the couch? Is it a memory of believing without a doubt that there was something sinister living under […]

by Maggie Weeks-Foy Him, a supervillain in The Powerpuff Girls, was one of the first plausibly gender-nonconforming monsters to grace the animated screen. A devil with high, high heels, an effeminate voice, and an adoration for his rubber duck, Quackers, Him strikes fear into the hearts of little kids, not only through his love of […]

by Noah Patterson  In William Peter Blatty’s film The Exorcist, the catalyst of demonic possession transforms Regan, a young girl, into a prime example of the abject and grotesque. Through reasons unknown (though one posited explanation includes playing with an Ouija board), Regan becomes the target of a powerful demon and is rendered unrecognizable by […]

By Sarah James “It was bloody. Messy. Thirty-one flavors of bottom-dwelling nasties. Hell, most days it felt like 360 degree combat. But there was something about being there.” These are the words Dean Winchester of The CW’s Supernatural chooses to describe his experience in purgatory. The idea of purgatory is not new; many religions have […]