天美传媒

Student Engagement & Experience Officer, Chemistry

鈥淚鈥檓 an absolute horror film fanatic!鈥�

鈥淔or me, horror isn't just for Halloween. I'll happily watch a scary film any month of the year.

I love all kinds of horror, from classic chills like Hitchcock's Psycho to films that poke fun at the genre, such as the Scary Movie series. Those films introduced a whole new audience to classics like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, which are both brilliant in their own right. But if I had to pick one favourite, it would be John Carpenter's The Thing. If you haven't seen it, give it a go.

People often ask where my love of horror came from and honestly, I'm not entirely sure. I can't point to one defining moment, but I do remember being fascinated by the creepy appearances of Nosferatu in SpongeBob SquarePants and the wonderfully weird Courage the Cowardly Dog. Rather than putting me off, they made me curious. I wanted to discover more. I've never looked back since, although if horror films have taught me anything, it's that looking back is usually the first mistake you make when a serial killer is chasing you!

That fascination eventually found its way into my academic life too. My particular area of interest is French horror cinema. It's a niche subject and not one that attracts huge audiences, but that's part of what intrigued me. The more I explored, the more I wanted to learn. I've since published research on French film and media and my second book has just been released which explores the links between horror and humour.

Last year I also helped organise Warwick's first-ever Terrifier conference. We welcomed scholars from around the world to discuss the killer clown franchise, and the event was such a success that we're already planning the next one.

My Warwick story began 13 years ago and, naturally, one of the first things I did was join Film Society. Back then, I arrived as a Maths student. A year later, everything changed during a quiz night in the Dirty Duck. One of my teammates was talking about her language degree and made it sound so exciting that I went away and swapped courses to French. Looking back, that decision probably explains my later obsession with French horror.

Alongside my studies, I also became heavily involved with The Boar. Over the course of a decade, I wrote more than 2,000 articles and set myself a challenge to contribute to every section of the paper. It took a couple of years to complete. Finance and Sport definitely tested me, but film reviews were always my comfort zone. If there's one thing I've spent enough time doing to call myself an expert, it's writing about films.

Warwick has changed enormously during my time here, but it has changed me even more. When I first arrived, I was fairly set in my ways and reluctant to step outside my comfort zone. Now I'll give almost anything a try. That's largely thanks to the people I've met along the way. One unexpected example is music. At school, it never really clicked with me. These days, I play the piano and have even carved out a niche role accompanying silent films, which feels fitting given my love of cinema.

Hopefully, my enthusiasm for horror hasn't given you nightmares. If you ever spot me around campus, don't worry, I'm nothing like any of the characters in the films I watch. Quite the opposite. I'm usually walking around with a big smile on my face. Stop me and tell me your favourite horror film. We'll have a chat, and I'll happily recommend something spooky for Halloween, Christmas, or any other time of year.鈥�