To see or not to see: Historical trauma and the production of fear in contemporary South Korean horror cinema

Abstract

This article analyses techniques that contemporary South Korean horror films use to depict historical trauma, how these techniques are harnessed to frighten audiences and how different approaches articulate different relationships to the historical traumas that they depict. It analyses Gidam (Epitaph) () and Gonjiam (Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum) () as case studies for how the articulation of historical trauma operates by showing historical trauma in the former, but by concealing it in the latter. It considers not only how history is referenced on-screen but also how historical consciousness can be felt through the horror genre.