Blood Work: The Craft and Culture of Gore Cinema

Often dismissed as gratuitous or artistically empty, gore remains one of horror cinema’s most contested pleasures. This lecture reframes gore as an aesthetic practice rooted in tactility, craft, and collaboration. Tracing the devaluation of gore films and their fandoms, it situates graphic violence within broader artistic traditions and examines practical effects as a form of resistance to digital smoothness. Focusing on contemporary examples such as the Terrifier series, the talk explores how gore invites viewers to look closer, foregrounding process and texture as central to horror’s enduring appeal.