• Faculty of Horror

New THE FACULTY OF HORROR episode sets its sights on “Peeping Tom” and “Psycho”

THE FACULTY OF HORROR Is back with a brand new episode! In it, Alex and Andrea look through an illicit peephole into the world of the mad and macabre.  Both Peeping Tom and Psycho caused sensations when they were released in the same year, causing Western audiences to question the nature of evil, our proximity to one another and how many women we can watch die on screen.

REQUIRED READING

Peeping Tom. Dir. Michael Powell, 1960.
Psycho. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1960.

EXTRA CREDIT

Class of 2018 T-shirts – Get ’em while their hot!
 
Salem Horror Fest – We’ll be back October 12-14! Get your tickets now.
 
Visual Pleasure in Narrative Cinema. Laura Mulvey’s groundbreaking essay on the cinematic gaze
 
Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Carol Clover’s genre-defining book from 1992.

“Have You Ever Seen the inside of One of Those Places?”: Psycho, Foucault, and the Postwar Context of Madness. Cynthia Erb’s essay on institutionalization and Psycho.

Michael Powell’s ‘Peeping Tom’: the film that killed a career. An overview of the release and reaction to Peeping Tom.

The Misogyny of the Modern Slasher Film. Anna Biller’s blog post about the slasher sub-genre.

LISTEN

Right click or option-click here and choose “Save Target As…” to download the mp3.

.
Tune in every month for a brand new episode of The Faculty of Horror!

Read More

Get The Grim Reader.
Rue Morgue's free newsletter.
Editor's notes.
Cultural insight.
Curated horror across film, books, music, and art.
First looks.
Select previews.
No algorithms.
Join Free

Advertisement

In Print Since 1997

Issue 231

Rue Morgue #231 Jul/Aug 2026

Plus

Inside Rue Morgue #231 – Summer Slasher Issue FEATURES Filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun’s TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA guts the slasher formula from the inside out, turning it into a romance about the horror of becoming who you were always meant to be. Plus! GILLIAN ANDERSON and HANNAH EINBINDER unpack Schoenbrun’s radical dismemberment of…

Issue 230

Rue Morgue #230 May/Jun 2026 – RARE

Plus

Inside Rue Morgue #230 FEATURES Filmmaker Curry Barker transforms a simple wish into a spiralling nightmare of love, possession, and bloodshed in his breakout feature OBSESSION. Plus: The story of Barker’s found-footage shocker MILK & SERIAL, which turned a micro-budget experiment into a viral horror breakout. Hollywood made it a monster. History tells a different…

Issue 229

Rue Morgue #229 Mar/Apr 2026

Plus

Inside Rue Morgue #229! FEATURES A nerve-shredding found-footage thriller built around sound, UNDERTONE signals the arrival of a terrifying new voice in Canada’s booming independent horror scene. Plus! Meet the new breed of independent Canadian horror filmmakers behind DREAM EATER, SWEETNESS, HANGASHORE, THE LAND OF NOD and THE CURSE OF GHOST ISLAND. Part post-punk, part…

Issue 228

Rue Morgue #228 Jan/Feb 2026

Plus

Inside Rue Morgue #228! FEATURES He fascinated audiences in 2001 with the French period martial arts horror film BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF. Then he followed it up in 2006 by bringing the eerie world of SILENT HILL to cinematic life. Now, visionary director CHRISTOPHE GANS unleashes his latest nightmare with RETURN TO SILENT HILL. Plus!…