This course will consider the horror genre within the specific context of two national cinemas: France and Italy. For France, the focus will be largely, albeit not exclusively, on the contemporary period which has been witnessing an unprecedented revival in horror. For Italy, there will be a marked emphasis on the 1960s-1970s, i.e. the Golden Age of Gothic horror and the giallocraze initiated by the likes of Mario Bava and Dario Argento. Issues of ethics, gender, sexuality, violence, spectatorship will be examined through a variety of critical lenses (psychoanalysis, socio-historical and cultural context, aesthetics, politics, gender, etc.)