Long-running horror franchises are either defined by their reinvention or lack thereof. To watch the series in order is to witness a distinct evolution. From Bride of Chucky onwards, the series moves away from the familiar trappings of 80s slasher cinema into a much more distinctly queer text.
One needs to explore how the discourse around “saving” Muslim women, in particular, often comes from a colonial, culturally superior gaze that strips them of their agency. Instead, by using the distinct lens of radical films like Joyland and Seed of the Sacred Fig, we see how gender, sexuality, artistic expression and resistance take shape in very specific cultural and political realities.
