What Sleeps Beneath is an online magazine that explores the horror genre as one of the most important cultural vehicles of our time. It is a home for all horror-loving nerds, and a space to investigate what the genre tells us about ourselves. We write book and movie reviews, conduct interviews, and write original academic research.
Browse the full archive, or search for a specific article. Not sure where to start? Use the drop-down to browse by topic, format, or subgenre.
Archive
- B-Movies & Cult Classics
- Body Horror
- Books & Literature
- Classic Horror Films
- Cosmic Horror
- Cults & Religious Horror
- Essays
- Events
- Folk Horror
- Found Footage & Mockumentary
- Gendered & Queer Horror
- Ghosts & Hauntings
- Holiday Horror
- Independent Films
- International Horror
- Interviews
- Lists
- Possession & Exorcism
- Recipes
- Sci-Fi Horror
- Slashers
- Survival & Environmental Horror
- TV
- Thrillers
- True Crime
- Vampires
- Werewolves & Transformations
- Women in Horror
- Zombies
Things Heard & Seen: The Afterlife of Failed Marriages
Things Heard & Seen seemed to promise something new for Gothic horror, but where we expected ghosts, we got failed marriages.
Celebrating Independence with American Indie Horror Films
Celebrate the Fourth of July with some of the best in American indie horror flicks that investigate and satirize several elements of national identity.
The Nature of God in Andrzej Żuławski's ‘Possession’
Andrzej Żuławski's Possession, having gained cult status 40 years later, tells the story of a failing marriage and an equally devastating relationship to God and divinity.
Under the Shadow: A Haunted House in Wartime
Under the Shadow (2016), written and directed by Babak Anvari, is an incredibly important, needed, and timely Iranian entry in the haunted house subgenre, repoliticizing the concept of “house” and home.
The Amusement Park: The Horrors of Ageism
The Amusement Park, George A. Romero’s nearly lost PSA film from 1973, recently debuted on Shudder, showing a horror master’s cinematic perspective on the devastation of ageism.
Woman in the Window: The Potential of Netflix’s Latest Psycho Thriller
The Woman in the Window, one of Netflix’s latest psychological thrillers directed by Joe Wright, begins as a decent homage to Hitchcock, but weakens in its conclusion.
The Shining’s Final Girl: Wendy Torrance & Vulnerability
The real horror behind The Shining is the emotional labor of Wendy Torrance. Wendy Torrance is the ultimate Final Girl and the heroine we didn’t know we needed.
‘The Skin I Live In’: Abject, Object, and Gender
Pedro Almodóvar’s controversial 2011 film The Skin I Live In is the ultimate conundrum: It is both visually and auditorily appealing, exciting and shocking, and yet it is deeply problematic.
Review: Ghostwatch (1992)
Celebrating halfway to Halloween with Ghostwatch, the 1992 reality-horror, mockumentary-style film is one of the well-remembered examples of found footage, though it was taken from the air after its first showing.
Wicked Mothers: Horror Movies for Mother's Day
Celebrate Mother’s Day with a list of horror movies that examines monstrous mothers and their relationships with their children.
Who Said the Devil Was Ugly? Reviewing “John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise”
In the latest Peacock true crime documentary, John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise, viewers are taken through a detailed timeline surrounding the events of the 1960s and 1970s Chicago “Killer Clown” murders.
[Movie Review] Travis Stevens's ‘Jakob's Wife’ (2021)
Jakob’s Wife, directed by Travis Stevens and starring the highly acclaimed Barbara Crampton and Larry Fessenden, both plays well with a vampire and man-of-the-cloth dynamic, while also reinforcing the growing trend in horror of pushing subgenres in new, much-needed directions.
“Come Outside and Play”: Our Top Horror Picks for Springtime
Reignite your fear of the great outdoors with our list of recommended horror movies that celebrate the dark side of spring.
Dissecting a Serial Killer: The ‘Creep’ Franchise
The Creep duology is a carefully crafted combination that makes for a micro-budget psychological slasher we didn’t know we needed, but are so grateful to have.
Captivity: Yellow Fevers, Giallo Youth - Suspiria & van Gogh
Suspiria engages with color and atmosphere, and in this examination of Dario Argento’s use of the color yellow, we see Suspiria mirrored with the work of Vincent Van Gogh.
Sundance 2021: We're All Going to the World's Fair, Coming Home in the Dark, Censor
In the last round of Sundance movie reviews, Ande Thomas celebrates impressive entries and two surprise contenders.
Bly Manor Recommended Reading List
As we journey further into spring, we think of the verdant grounds in The Haunting of Bly Manor, and in honor of both, we put together a recommended reading list to capture the ghostly spirit of the season.
Cinequest 2021: The Yellow Wallpaper, reviewed
Indie filmmakers Kevin Ponntuti and Alexandra Loreth tackle the classic story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in a feminist narrative that just misses the mark.
Movie Review: Keith Thomas's “The Vigil” (2019)
The Vigil, written and directed by Keith Thomas as part of his directorial debut, is a largely paint-by-numbers supernatural horror affair that manages to expand the Jewish horror subgenre in an enjoyable way.
Cecil Hotel: Crime, Pop Culture, and Elisa Lam
Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel (created by Joe Berlinger), Netflix’s latest true crime documentary and story of Elisa Lam, is like many other Netflix documentaries, but falls short in some crucial ways.