Revolting Child in Horror Cinema

Andrew Scahill is Lecturer in the Department of English at Georgetown University, USA.

• Introduction 1. Revolting Children: A Taxonomy of the Monstrous Child 2. Malice in Wonderland: The Terrible Performativity of Childhood 3. Demons are a Girl's Best Friend: Possession as Transgression 4. Raising Hell: Abuse, Rejection, and the Unwanted Queer Child 5. It Takes a Child to Raze a Village: Demonizing Youth Rebellion 6. Afterthoughts: Fear of a Queer Playground

"Deftly weaving together similar strands of queer theory, childhood studies, and horror film scholarship, Andrew Scahill argues for the queer pleasures and revolutionary potentials inherent in the figure of the monstrous child. His work makes a significant contribution to the growing scholarship on childhood and monstrosity, offering fresh perspectives on iconic bad kids from Rhoda (The Bad Seed) to Regan (The Exorcist). Informed, informative, and fun-to-read, The Revolting Child in Horror Cinema explores why we love to hate our monstrous offspring." - Harry Benshoff, author of Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and Horror Film "Andrew Scahill knows that childhood can be scary. His new book seeks to explain the real terrors of The Exorcist and Village of the Damned by using a convincingly sharp, jargon-free discussion of queer theory that breathes new life into cinematic texts weighed down by past interpretations. Politically vibrant and thoughtfully subversive, The Revolting Child in Horror Cinema is a welcome addition to the growing number of cultural studies on horror." - W. Scott Poole, author of Monsters in America and Vampira