February events seek to ‘reclaim horror’

English Professor Jacqueline Morrill began teaching part-time at Clark University ten years ago. The published poet and essayist’s courses covered a range of writing topics. 

Then, since her own research and writing took her down the dark path of horror studies, Morrill decided to add courses on the genre — and Clark students were all in. 

“The horror genre-loving population of students at Clark is immense,” Morrill says. 

In 2020, inspired by her students and her own love of the genre, she launched Women in Horror Month at Clark University. 

The original and nationally celebrated Women in Horror Month was created in 2010 with a concentration on female creators and characters. At Clark, the month focuses on “marginalized bodies and how they are creatively and authentically represented within the multifaceted genre of horror,” Morrill explains. The month is designed “to appreciate, challenge, interact, normalize, and reclaim horror for the many forms of a fairer sex.”

Already this month, events have included “Terror at the Opera,” a program filled with horror-inspired classics from “Othello,” “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Sweeney Todd,” and “I Pagliacci,” and a screening of the 1976 film “Carrie.”  

Events still to come include:

• Horror Trivia by Candlelight (Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 7 p.m. in the Grind)
• Bloody Valentines: A DIY Valentine’s Day craft inspired by “final girls” of horror films over the decades (Friday, Feb. 14, from noon to 2:30 p.m. in the Higgins University Center) 
• Women in Horror Student Panel (Wednesday, Feb. 19, from 2 to 4 p.m. in Jefferson 118)
• Screening of “Revenge” (Friday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. in Jefferson 218), with an introduction by CHOICES, an on-campus peer sexual health resource 
• Student Horror Art Exhibit and Poetry Reading (Wednesday, Feb. 26, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. in the Lurie Conference Room in the Higgins University Center), showcasing the visual, musical, and literary arts of student submissions ranging from photography to self-portrait and even sculpture.

“I’m so happy to see how far Women in Horror Month at Clark has come in the last five years,” Morrill says.

Morrill’s first book, a collection of horror-inspired essays about gender and body transformation co-written by Mallory Trainor ’22, M.A. ’23, will be published in 2026 by McFarland Books.