Mums & Sons by Rebecca McCallum
Horror is an incredible vehicle for understanding and exploring the complexity of human relationships and the mother child connection is among the most powerful bonds that a person can experience in their life.
Using three definitive horror texts, this exploration will take a close look at how these relationships operate across three major stages in life: boyhood (The Babadook), teenage years (Hereditary) and adulthood (Psycho). Touchstones in this examination will include – the damaging nature of secrets, the importance of setting, notions of doubling and duality, acts of repression, outsider status and one of the greatest taboos of all – the horror of motherhood.
Mums and Sons is the first feature-length publication by Horror Scholar and Film Journalist Rebecca McCallum and offers insights through an in-depth study that will appeal to horror enthusiasts, academics, and anyone with an interest in film analysis.
Now on the Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker Award Recommended Reading List 2022
“Mums and Sons explores the idea that motherhood doesn't always smell of roses through the medium of three well-known horror films. It is an interesting and fresh look at a topic that is not spoken about enough - what if the bond between mother and son is broken, or fails to exist at all? Combining an academic approach with knowledge of these classic horror narratives, McCallum offers an insight into the phenomenon that not all women were born with maternal instincts.”
Janine Pipe - author of Sausages - The Making of Dog Soldiers
"If you think you know all there is to know about The Babadook, Hereditary, and Psycho, think again. In Mums and Sons, Rebecca McCallum examines the relationships between mothers and their sons, taking readers on a journey through three stages of complex emotional development: childhood, teenhood, and adulthood. Crafted with the voice of someone who is deeply reverent to horror's psychological intricacies, and with gorgeous illustrations by Ken Wynne, McCallum proves herself an essential voice in the realm of horror scholarship."
Mae Murray, Freelance writer and Editor of The Book of Queer Saints Horror Anthology
“Insightful, inquisitive and forensic - Rebecca McCallum is an important emerging voice in horror criticism, and Mums and Sons represents some of her best work to date.”
Tim Coleman, Editor Moving Pictures Film Club
'Mums and Sons is a stunningly cohesive analysis of three of horror’s most devastating and disturbing takes on the terrifying institution of family. Rebecca's passion for genre cinema is palpable in every word of this well-crafted and thoughtful piece. Rebecca has woven relevant thematic strands from all three films into a poignant tapestry that tackles the difficult topics of parental grief and oft-fraught relationships between mothers and sons with sensitivity and detailed understanding.'
Amber T -Ghouls Magazine
'It’s fascinating all the points that Rebecca focuses on in Mums & Sons, allowing her work to stand out as completely unique from the other horror essays and books that have been written about similar subjects'
Kim Morrison, Little Red Horror
34 page A5 zine
Professionally printed on 130gsm paper
This is a pre-order. Product will be posted on May 6th
Royal Mail first class postage. UK DELIVERY IS FREE!
