AustLit

'Ann Turner’s 1989 debut film Celia has often been classified as horror, due in large part to the presence of the monstrous Hobyahs that haunt Celia’s dreams. While Celia is not a horror film per se, this is complicated by the film’s application of horror tropes. Film scholars acknowledge the family as a common site of the horror film and for the character of Celia, who lives in an oppressive home environment, the Hobyahs clearly signify one of horror’s key concerns: the return of the repressed. In addition, Celia shares numerous narrative similarities with Mervyn LeRoy’s 1956 monster child film The Bad Seed, leading some commentators to compare the two films. Like Rhoda in The Bad Seed, Celia and her spiteful cousin Stephanie, can both be read as monster children. Through close analysis of key scenes in Turner’s film and a reconsideration of genre, this essay concludes that the close relationship Celia shares with the horror genre justifies its reception by some audiences as horror.'

Source: Abstract.