Horror genre in national cinemas of East Slavic countries

Abstrakt

HORROR GENRE IN NATIONAL CINEMAS OF EAST SLAVIC COUNTRIES

The article looks at the past and the present of horror film in post-Soviet countries: Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. It focuses on the recent 2000–onwards development of horror as a genre of mainstream cinema and what cultural, social and political forces shape its development. The article adapts two venues of exploration: the global or transnational tendencies in horror cinema, namely its reliance on Hollywood genre formulae; and the local perspective, or how the East Slavic horror films position themselves as the site of difference, reflecting their own cultural condition. The article analyzes the post-Soviet horror as a part of newly emerged popular culture, shaped by the globalized cinema market, Hollywood hegemony and local sensibilities of distinct cinematic and pop-culture traditions.