PODCAST: REVENGE FANTASY AND THE WESTERN

Dr. Scahill served as the special guest this month on TheNecronomi.com: Horror as Social Commentary podcast, where hosts James Sabata and Don Guillory examine the political dimensions of horror cinema. Scahill was tasked with selecting a film within the genre that deserves more critical attention, and he chose the 2019 Brazilian horror/western/revenge fantasy Bacurau.

Bacurau tells the story of a small Brazilian town that fights for its survival as wealthy European and American tourists pay to have it removed from Google maps and hunt down its citizens. As the episode discusses, Bacurau offers a postcolonial critique of the Western genre and highlights the progressive potential of the horror genre.