Collective Nightmares

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the 2025 film Weapons, written, produced, and directed by Z. Cregger. A box office sensation that is very entertaining but devoid of the skeleton to have staying power. The post Weapons (Cregger 2025) appeared first on Collective Nightmares .

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the 2025 body horror film Together from Michael Shanks and starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. The post Together (Shanks 2025) appeared first on Collective Nightmares .

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the horror film Alien Romulus. We've had an uneven history with Fede Alvarez's film here at Collective Nightmares. While Alien Romulus isn't groundbreaking, it is a solid film. And it continues some of the best messaging of the franchise: anti-corporate, pro-worker, and good diversity of representation especially wit...

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the horror film 28 Years Later. Well, 23 years later, not 28, but that’s not the problem. 28 Days Later was a groundbreaking film that introduced pop culture to fast, angry zombies. It established Cillian Murphy and Naomie Harris as stars. This film, does not do anything equivalent. While there were some very impress...

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the horror film Sinners. An original film from Ryan Coogler who returns to working with Michael B. Jordan as the acting lead. Sinners is an original film that is a much appreciated entry into the horror genre generally and more specifically black horror cinema. Sinners is an all around brilliant film that manages to...

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the 2025 Norwegian film The Ugly Stepsister, written and directed by E. Blichfeldt. This film is fantastic! A dark inversion of a Cinderella story, The Ugly Stepsister creates a twisted fantasy world where the aesthetics are grotesque but we learn all the right lessons. The post The Ugly Stepsister (Blichfeldt 2025)...

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the 2024 film It’s What’s Inside, written and directed by G. Jardin. This film is closer to the edge of horror than we usually venture, but the premise of the film was interesting enough that we gave it a chance. We hoped the film would explore the component of the sociological imagination that stresses the significa...

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the classic 1979 David Cronenberg film The Brood. This is another film in our mini-series related to pregnancy and women’s bodies. We thought it would be interesting to include a film from a different era that addresses these topics. The post The Brood (Cronenberg 1979) appeared first on Collective Nightmares .

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the 2023 film Birth Rebirth. This is another film in our mini-series related to pregnancy and women’s bodies. We had some disagreement on this one especially with regard to dominant versus contested readings of the film as it relates to it's possible messaging on fetal tissue and abortion. The post Birth/Rebirth (Mos...

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the 2024 film Immaculate. We couldn’t help but make significant comparisons to The First Omen, both released during the spring of 2024. Both address conservative religious control of women’s bodies, though one does significantly better than the other. The post Immaculate (Mohan 2024) appeared first on Collective Nigh...

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the 2023 film Red Rooms. Ostensibly this is a film about the dark web phenomemon of the titular red rooms. Oddly, the film did not actually offer any insight into red rooms. Nevertheless, we enjoyed watching it but can’t say we recommend it. The post Red Rooms (Plante 2023) appeared first on Collective Nightmares .

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the 2024 rendition of the film Nosferatu, written and directed by Robert Eggers. Eggers has proven to be a master of aesthetic, encourage excellent performances from actors, and captivating dialogue. However, we have real concerns about his choices for the character arcs of women characters. We also are critical of h...

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the 1980 film Cruising, written and directed by William Friedkin. This is such a fascinating film and well worth watching. The film focuses on the communities of young single gay men in NYC, and was made during the brief few years post Stonewall and before significant awareness of AIDS. The post Cruising (Friedkin 19...

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the 2024 film Heretic. An intensely set, brilliantly acted, and well written intellectually fascinating beginning, devolves into a fetid pile of Mormon propaganda. Or does it? Some discussion of the film I Saw the TV Glow is also included. The post Heretic (Beck and Woods 2024) appeared first on Collective Nightmares...

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut Woman of the Hour. We are generally fans of Kendrick and appreciate the effort at an original take within the serial killer sub-genre. However this film plays it too safe and in doing so rendered the film adequate rather than notable. The post Woman of the Hour (Kendrick 2023) appear...

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the film Strange Darling (Mollner 2023). Brilliantly constructed, acted, and executed! A fabulous film full of challenges to viewer expectations. The post Strange Darling (Mollner 2023) appeared first on Collective Nightmares .

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the breakout second film from Fargeat’s 2024 film The Substance. The film addresses topics of gender, aging, and the Hollywood expectations for appearance. The post The Substance (Fargeat 2024) appeared first on Collective Nightmares .

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the third Quiet Place film. Laura and Marshall agreed that this is another film shoehorned into the Quiet Place universe. Laura was relieved it wasn’t another typical Quiet Place film, while Marshall was aggravated by it. Laura also appreciated a number of the film choices, Marshall further found it just summarily un...

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of Oz Perkins’ 2024 film Longlegs. While we appreciate Perkins’ efforts to produce modern Brothers Grimm style fairy tales, we just don’t find this film successful. It is another in the disheartening trend of horror films that are just “vibes.” They lack any real scare power because of the superficial nature of the char...

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the epics of sci-fi cinema Alien directed by Ridley Scott in 1979), and Aliens directed by James Cameron in 1986. For us, the films still hold up both in subtext, messaging, and representation especially given their original production dates. The post Alien (Scott 1979) and Aliens (Cameron 1986) appeared first on Col...

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the 2024 film Abigail. Directed by Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett who have made very solid Scream requels and the excellent Ready or Not, we had high hopes. Unfortunately, we were very disappointed. The post Abigail (Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett 2024) appeared first on Collective Nightmares .

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of Cairnes and Cairnes 2023 critically acclaimed, indie horror hit, Late Night with the Devil. While entertaining the film is a cess pool of sexist tropes and conspiracy theory validation. The post Late Night with the Devil appeared first on Collective Nightmares .

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of Lanthimos' 2023 highly regarded, and possibly horror adjacent film, Poor Things. The post Poor Things (Lanthimos 2023) appeared first on Collective Nightmares .

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of Peckover's 2016 psychological thriller film, Better Watch Out. The post Better Watch Out (Peckover 2016) appeared first on Collective Nightmares .

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of McG's 2017 film The Babysitter. The post The Babysitter (McG 2017) appeared first on Collective Nightmares .