This course explores how horror films stage unconscious conflict, desire, fear, and transformation. Drawing on Freud, Lacan, and Jung, we will examine key films across six subgenres-Mind, Body, Nature, Aliens, Vampires, and Home Invasion. Through close readings of titles including Donnie Darko, Carrie, Cujo, Predator, Twilight, and Misery, participants will engage with horror as a psychological text that reveals what culture r...
Learning modes and locations may be different depending on the course start date. Please check the location of your chosen course and read our guide to learning modes and locations to help you choose the right course for you.
Please note: We offer a wide variety of financial support to make courses affordable. Just visit our online Help Centre for more information on a range of topics including fees, online learning and FAQs.
This course offers a structured and imaginative framework for understanding why horror cinema grips us so powerfully. Rather than treating horror as mere shock or spectacle, the course approaches films as expressions of unconscious processes-sites where anxiety, desire, repression, and transformation are given visual form. Across six thematic strands, participants will explore how horror stages crises of identity, bodily boundaries, sexuality, family structures, and social order. Psychoanalytic concepts are introduced clearly and applied directly to specific films, enabling participants to think with theory rather than feel intimidated by it. Sessions balance close film analysis with guided discussion, encouraging personal reflection as well as critical insight. Just in time for Halloween, this course is designed for curious viewers, cinephiles, therapists-in-training, artists, and anyone interested in how cinema reflects inner life. No prior knowledge of psychoanalysis is required-only a willingness to look meaningfully at what horror films reveal about the psyche.
What will we cover?
The following horror subgenres and associated psychoanalytic concepts will be covered: • Mind - Identity fracture, delusion, and psychic collapse; breakdown of reality and the instability of the self. • Body - Abjection, transformation, sexuality, and the limits of flesh; confrontation with disgust and vulnerability. • Nature - Ecological threat, animal aggression, and the return of the natural world as an uncontrollable force. • Aliens - Otherness, paranoia, and existential anxiety; encounters with what is radically unfamiliar or inassimilable. • Vampires - Seduction, immortality, desire, and erotic power; exploration of dependency and transgression. • Home Invasion - Domestic space and the collapse of safety; exposure of what is already unstable within the home.
What will I achieve? By the end of this course you should be able to...
Understand the relationship between psychoanalysis and cinema
Learn film interpretation techniques to approach moving image in a deep and investigative way
Discover the horror genre as a strong representation of psychoanalytic themes and motifs
What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?
This course is open to all levels; there are no pre-requisites to register. Interest in film is desirable.
How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?
Psychological terms will be taught in an inclusive, accessible and engaging way with the help of bespoke PowerPoint slides and video montages. Group discussion will be encouraged, and there will be no assignments outside of class.
Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?
There are no additional costs beyond the enrolment fee. Material for taking notes will suffice during sessions. Scenes will be shown during the course; students are not required to obtain them.
When I've finished, what course can I do next?
Please look for further film studies courses on our website: https://www.citylit.ac.uk/courses/humanities/film-studies
Mary Wild is a film lecturer with an academic background in psychoanalytic theory. Her research interests include cinematic representation of identity, the unconscious, mental illness and auteur studies (e.g., Andrei Tarkovsky, Lars von Trier, and Fritz Lang). In addition to teaching at City Lit, Mary is a regular speaker at the Freud Museum and Hackney Picturehouse.
Please note: We reserve the right to change our tutors from those advertised. This happens rarely, but if it does, we are unable to refund fees due to this. Our tutors may have different teaching styles; however we guarantee a consistent quality of teaching in all our courses.
product
https://www.citylit.ac.uk/psychoanalysing-horror-cinema3051574Psychoanalysing Horror Cinemahttps://www.citylit.ac.uk/media/catalog/category/strange-tails-HF054-1024.jpg7979GBPInStock/Courses/Courses/Culture, history & humanities/Courses/Culture, history & humanities/Film studies/Courses/Online courses/Courses/Culture, history & humanities/Film studies/Film theory228511771580173120941228511771580<p>This course explores how horror films stage unconscious conflict, desire, fear, and transformation. Drawing on Freud, Lacan, and Jung, we will examine key films across six subgenres-Mind, Body, Nature, Aliens, Vampires, and Home Invasion. Through close readings of titles including Donnie Darko, Carrie, Cujo, Predator, Twilight, and Misery, participants will engage with horror as a psychological text that reveals what culture represses, disavows, and returns through fear.</p><p>Mary Wild is a writer, lecturer, and podcaster with an academic background in psychoanalytic theory. She is the author of Psychoanalysing Horror Cinema (2025, Routledge).</p>003050929Psychoanalysing Horror Cinema7979https://www.citylit.ac.uk/media/catalog/category/strange-tails-HF054-1024.jpgInStockDaytimeSatOnlineAvailable courses1 to 4 weeksWeekend2026-10-24T00:00:00+00:00Beginners, Some experience, Advanced, Suitable for allOct 2026Culture, history & humanitiesHF4287979Psychoanalysing Horror Cinema635179Mary Wildpsychoanalysing-horror-cinema/hf428-2627<p>This course explores how horror films stage unconscious conflict, desire, fear, and transformation. Drawing on Freud, Lacan, and Jung, we will examine key films across six subgenres-Mind, Body, Nature, Aliens, Vampires, and Home Invasion. Through close readings of titles including Donnie Darko, Carrie, Cujo, Predator, Twilight, and Misery, participants will engage with horror as a psychological text that reveals what culture represses, disavows, and returns through fear.</p><p>Mary Wild is a writer, lecturer, and podcaster with an academic background in psychoanalytic theory. She is the author of Psychoanalysing Horror Cinema (2025, Routledge).</p>0000-Available|2026-10-24 00:00:00<p>This course offers a structured and imaginative framework for understanding why horror cinema grips us so powerfully. Rather than treating horror as mere shock or spectacle, the course approaches films as expressions of unconscious processes-sites where anxiety, desire, repression, and transformation are given visual form. Across six thematic strands, participants will explore how horror stages crises of identity, bodily boundaries, sexuality, family structures, and social order. Psychoanalytic concepts are introduced clearly and applied directly to specific films, enabling participants to think with theory rather than feel intimidated by it. Sessions balance close film analysis with guided discussion, encouraging personal reflection as well as critical insight. Just in time for Halloween, this course is designed for curious viewers, cinephiles, therapists-in-training, artists, and anyone interested in how cinema reflects inner life. No prior knowledge of psychoanalysis is required-only a willingness to look meaningfully at what horror films reveal about the psyche.</p><p>This course explores how horror films stage unconscious conflict, desire, fear, and transformation. Drawing on Freud, Lacan, and Jung, we will examine key films across six subgenres-Mind, Body, Nature, Aliens, Vampires, and Home Invasion. Through close readings of titles including Donnie Darko, Carrie, Cujo, Predator, Twilight, and Misery, participants will engage with horror as a psychological text that reveals what culture represses, disavows, and returns through fear.</p><p>Mary Wild is a writer, lecturer, and podcaster with an academic background in psychoanalytic theory. She is the author of Psychoanalysing Horror Cinema (2025, Routledge).</p><p>The following horror subgenres and associated psychoanalytic concepts will be covered:<br>• Mind - Identity fracture, delusion, and psychic collapse; breakdown of reality and the instability of the self.<br>• Body - Abjection, transformation, sexuality, and the limits of flesh; confrontation with disgust and vulnerability.<br>• Nature - Ecological threat, animal aggression, and the return of the natural world as an uncontrollable force.<br>• Aliens - Otherness, paranoia, and existential anxiety; encounters with what is radically unfamiliar or inassimilable.<br>• Vampires - Seduction, immortality, desire, and erotic power; exploration of dependency and transgression.<br>• Home Invasion - Domestic space and the collapse of safety; exposure of what is already unstable within the home.<br> </p><ul><li>Understand the relationship between psychoanalysis and cinema</li><li>Learn film interpretation techniques to approach moving image in a deep and investigative way </li><li>Discover the horror genre as a strong representation of psychoanalytic themes and motifs<br> </li></ul><p>This course is open to all levels; there are no pre-requisites to register. Interest in film is desirable. </p><p>Psychological terms will be taught in an inclusive, accessible and engaging way with the help of bespoke PowerPoint slides and video montages. Group discussion will be encouraged, and there will be no assignments outside of class.</p><p>There are no additional costs beyond the enrolment fee. Material for taking notes will suffice during sessions.<br>Scenes will be shown during the course; students are not required to obtain them.<br> </p><p>Please look for further film studies courses on our website: https://www.citylit.ac.uk/courses/humanities/film-studies</p>Film studiesFilm theoryvirtual637951HF428NONESat24/10/26 - 31/10/2610:30 - 13:0010:3013:002 sessions (over 2 weeks)21 to 4 weeksDaytimeWeekendONLOnlineMary WildBeginners, Some experience, Advanced, Suitable for allAvailable courses2026-10-24T00:00:00+00:00Oct 2026Culture, history & humanities7979Psychoanalysing Horror Cinemapsychoanalysing-horror-cinema/hf428-2627<p>This course explores how horror films stage unconscious conflict, desire, fear, and transformation. Drawing on Freud, Lacan, and Jung, we will examine key films across six subgenres-Mind, Body, Nature, Aliens, Vampires, and Home Invasion. Through close readings of titles including Donnie Darko, Carrie, Cujo, Predator, Twilight, and Misery, participants will engage with horror as a psychological text that reveals what culture represses, disavows, and returns through fear.</p><p>Mary Wild is a writer, lecturer, and podcaster with an academic background in psychoanalytic theory. She is the author of Psychoanalysing Horror Cinema (2025, Routledge).</p>0000-Available|2026-10-24 00:00:00<p>This course offers a structured and imaginative framework for understanding why horror cinema grips us so powerfully. Rather than treating horror as mere shock or spectacle, the course approaches films as expressions of unconscious processes-sites where anxiety, desire, repression, and transformation are given visual form. Across six thematic strands, participants will explore how horror stages crises of identity, bodily boundaries, sexuality, family structures, and social order. Psychoanalytic concepts are introduced clearly and applied directly to specific films, enabling participants to think with theory rather than feel intimidated by it. Sessions balance close film analysis with guided discussion, encouraging personal reflection as well as critical insight. Just in time for Halloween, this course is designed for curious viewers, cinephiles, therapists-in-training, artists, and anyone interested in how cinema reflects inner life. No prior knowledge of psychoanalysis is required-only a willingness to look meaningfully at what horror films reveal about the psyche.</p><p>This course explores how horror films stage unconscious conflict, desire, fear, and transformation. Drawing on Freud, Lacan, and Jung, we will examine key films across six subgenres-Mind, Body, Nature, Aliens, Vampires, and Home Invasion. Through close readings of titles including Donnie Darko, Carrie, Cujo, Predator, Twilight, and Misery, participants will engage with horror as a psychological text that reveals what culture represses, disavows, and returns through fear.</p><p>Mary Wild is a writer, lecturer, and podcaster with an academic background in psychoanalytic theory. She is the author of Psychoanalysing Horror Cinema (2025, Routledge).</p><p>The following horror subgenres and associated psychoanalytic concepts will be covered:<br>• Mind - Identity fracture, delusion, and psychic collapse; breakdown of reality and the instability of the self.<br>• Body - Abjection, transformation, sexuality, and the limits of flesh; confrontation with disgust and vulnerability.<br>• Nature - Ecological threat, animal aggression, and the return of the natural world as an uncontrollable force.<br>• Aliens - Otherness, paranoia, and existential anxiety; encounters with what is radically unfamiliar or inassimilable.<br>• Vampires - Seduction, immortality, desire, and erotic power; exploration of dependency and transgression.<br>• Home Invasion - Domestic space and the collapse of safety; exposure of what is already unstable within the home.<br> </p><ul><li>Understand the relationship between psychoanalysis and cinema</li><li>Learn film interpretation techniques to approach moving image in a deep and investigative way </li><li>Discover the horror genre as a strong representation of psychoanalytic themes and motifs<br> </li></ul><p>This course is open to all levels; there are no pre-requisites to register. Interest in film is desirable. </p><p>Psychological terms will be taught in an inclusive, accessible and engaging way with the help of bespoke PowerPoint slides and video montages. Group discussion will be encouraged, and there will be no assignments outside of class.</p><p>There are no additional costs beyond the enrolment fee. Material for taking notes will suffice during sessions.<br>Scenes will be shown during the course; students are not required to obtain them.<br> </p><p>Please look for further film studies courses on our website: https://www.citylit.ac.uk/courses/humanities/film-studies</p>Film studiesFilm theoryconfigurable
20941580Film theoryhttps://www.citylit.ac.uk/courses/humanities/film-studies/film-theory1/2/285/1177/1580/2094/Courses/Culture, history & humanities/Film studies/Film theory
