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How love is at the heart of the scariest horror films
Akela Cooper, the screenwriter behind "American Horror Story," joins the latest Love Letters episode to talk about the horror of vulnerability — and opening yourself up to love.
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Some good links to start the day:
The best thing in the world is a librarian wedding.
This is a question from a woman who hates her husband’s tattoos. He keeps getting more!
This is about a date that should lead to a second date. Because tea? Crocheting? Dancing? It all sounds good.
Now, a reminder: please send relationship questions to the Love Letters advice column. The letter doesn’t have to be about how much you despise your spouse’s tattoos. It can be about dating fatigue, friendships, divorce, new ways to find romance, etc. When you ask a question, you help others who are wondering the same thing.
Tuesday Scaries
If you listened to the podcast last week, you know that when I was at Syracuse University (late ‘90s), I took a class about the history of horror films.
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The weekly screening and lecture exposed me to a wide range of scary movies, from classics like “Halloween,” to truly traumatic stories like “I Spit on Your Grave,” to David Cronenberg’s “The Brood,” which gave me a lifetime fear of children wearing snowsuits (they do bad things in that movie).
This horror film class taught me an important lesson about storytelling — that some of the scariest horror films were successful at causing goosebumps because they were all about love.
These films explored our fear of losing people we care about. They exploited our panic about making the wrong choices in romantic relationships.
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They also empowered us, because usually at the end of these films, an everyday hero learns to conquer their threats and find happiness … until the sequel.
Today on the Love Letters podcast, I talk about all of this with Akela Cooper, one of the best horror writers in the business, in my opinion. Cooper’s work includes “American Horror Story,” “Malignant,” and “M3GAN,” the hit about the preppy AI doll who is so invested in protecting a cute kid that she’ll destroy anything standing in her way. The 2022 release is one of the funniest horror films I’d seen in a long time (our critic gave it three stars). It’s also PG-13, so it’s not even that violent.
Cooper has a film in development called “It’s Over,” which is about getting stuck in a relationship. Sony is on board to make it. In this podcast episode, Cooper explains her script — and I am desperate to see it.
To those who don’t like horror films: this is not a scary conversation.
For those interested in having a very Love Letters Halloween, with friends or partners, I recommend watching:
- “Lisa Frankenstein.” Yes, it’s kind of what it sounds like.
- “Only Lovers Left Alive.” My favorite vampire movie about what couples are like when they’re literally married forever. It’s also by Jim Jarmusch, so fans of his movies will be well fed.
- “Shaun of the Dead.” I know this is more comedy than zombie horror, but the relationship bickering in this film, as zombies are all around, is … relatable. Sometimes, when fighting zombies, we also have to figure out why we’re sick of each other.
- “Ready or Not.” This movie is very funny and scary. It’s for people who want a great reason to stay single instead of marrying a wealthy man who looks great on paper!
- “Little Monsters.” The one from 2019 with Lupita Nyong’o, not the 1989 one with Fred Savage.
- “Freaky.” My new favorite relationship horror film, which is mostly a body-swap comedy (like “Freaky Friday”) where a serial killer body swaps with a teen girl, and we get to watch Vince Vaughn experience a girl’s teen crush in the body of a villain. It’s a lovely, sweet film, and I think many missed it because it came out during lockdown.
Take a bite
Speaking of vampires and horror and love, I’ll leave you with a picture of dueling covers of “Twilight” at the Parkside Bookshop in Boston’s South End.
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Which do you prefer? The classic apple or the new floral 20th anniversary cover? I can’t vote because Maggie Enterrios, who made this new cover, also designed the cover of my book “Things That Grow” … so I love her, and I can’t be objective.
I want Maggie to wallpaper the world with her designs. See what I mean?
— Meredith
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