POKRETNE SLIKE UŽASA: DRUŠTVENI ASPEKTI JUGOSLOVENSKOG HOROR ŽANRA (1973–1990)
THE MOVING PICTURES OF TERROR: SOCIAL ASPECTS OF YUGOSLAV HORROR GENRE (1973–1990)

Summary/Abstract: The analysis of Yugoslav horror subgenres enables reading film texts. This form of fantasy reveals the fears, anxieties, hopes and objectives of the society. Serving as a means of distorting the dominant values, it is also figures as their criticism. Flirting with the sub-genre of apocalypse, drama, slasher movie, ontological film and even comedy, horror film show the reverse side of social reality. In this sense, the Yugoslav horror indicates fear of disrupting social relations, porosity of values which built socialism, anxieties of economic meltdown, the relativity of concepts such as progress, freedom, and a better future. While the narrative of some films can be read as a critique of the present, others anticipate future conflicts and point out political problems in the rise of ethnical and confessional conflicts. With the disintegration of the state, the aesthetic value of horror subsides, and fantastic side of the genre is suppressed with war and anti-war theme. Fifteen years later, horror was transformed into a pure genre lacking ontological and existential depth.

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