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.

Ande Thomas 8/27/26 Ande Thomas 8/27/26

‘Penny Lane is Dead’: Ozploitation with a Punk Flare

The Land Down Under has a way of making its landscapes feel—deliciously hostile. In Wake in Fright, the scorched outback is the biggest threat of all; in Wolf Creek, the miles of empty road are essentially accomplices. In Mia’Kate Russell’s Penny Lane is Dead, however, the outback gives way to a beach house, but make no mistake—the beach is no less terrifying than the bush.

Ande Thomas 7/18/21 Ande Thomas 7/18/21

The Hauntological in ‘Lake Mungo’

Tragic, haunting, and immersive, Joel Anderson’s 2008 masterpiece Lake Mungo is one of the finest pieces of ghost storytelling in recent history, literalizing Jacques Derrida’s concept of hauntology, or the persistence of an element of the past.

Ande Thomas 6/26/20 Ande Thomas 6/26/20

Challenging Perception in ‘The Last Wave’

In lieu of any scary villains or boogeymen, The Last Wave allows a primal awareness to roll in like a storm cloud. Peter Weir is content to provide a framework of a story and allow Indigenous voices to drive the substance of the film.