Would You Like Extra Cheese with That?: What We Can Learn and Gain from Cheesy Horror Films

For some, cheesy horror films elicit eyerolls if not derision. For others, these films hold a campy, or even nostalgic, appeal. Few, however, see these films as critically brilliant or as culturally important works of art. With attention to films such as "Dracula’s Daughter" (1936), "Satan’s School for Girls" (1973), "VelociPastor" (2017), and "Amityville in Space" (2022), this talk proposes that in cheesy horror films we actually encounter substance and significance. This talk thus encourages broader ways of both enjoying and appreciating and otherwise approaching these films.

Phillip Serrato (B.A., M.A., Ph.D. University of California, Riverside) is an associate professor of English and Comparative Literature at San Diego State University. His research interests include gothic and horror studies, Chicanx literature, film, and performance, and children’s and YA literature. At the undergraduate level he teaches introductory surveys of children’s and YA literature as well as upper-division special topics courses such as “Cheesy Horror Cinema” and “Stranger Things.” At the graduate level he teaches seminars in Chicanx children’s literature, children’s gothic and horror literature and film, and the gothic literary tradition. He is currently at work on a number of research projects, including a book on gothic literature and media and another on Chicanx children’s literature.

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