Slasher Film Theology

Jeremy Marshall

Perhaps some of the most troubling portions of scripture are those passages in the Old Testament that call for the total annihilation of enemies. Some see them as wholly positive, even ethically normative. Others would erase them from scripture altogether. But is there a more excellent way of understanding and using these texts? Drawing on the early films of horror director Wes Craven, this class suggests that the Bible itself is ambivalent about, and even critical of, these texts. When read through the lenses of Craven's films, we find that the whole of scripture--especially the witness and ministry of Christ--questions and subverts the texts of genocide and vengeance.