Behind the Scenes: The Liminality of Essay Crafting (Spotlight: Darkest Margins)
“Dementia in Dimensions: Trapped Between the Horrors of Cognitive Disease and Death” is my latest published essay in a one-of-a-kind study titled Darkest Margins: 24 Essays on Liminality and Liminal Spaces in the Horror Genre, edited by Matt Rogerson and released by 1428 Publishing Ltd. The essay analyzes elderly aging in horror films and how physical space elevates the allegories present in the liminal space of bodily decline. The three films I use to support the notion that elderly figures are easily villainized because they are harbingers of not only death but the loss of one’s self are The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014), The Visit (2015), and Relic (2020). All revolve around the theme of aging, specifically the curses of dementia and Alzheimer’s, using this mental liminal space to create ‘monsters’ of their aging characters, while their environments and settings use physical liminal spaces to manipulate and disorient as a means of enhancing the unfamiliar and the unknown. But the road to that destination had a few twists and turns between the initial call and final print. When Matt, a great friend, co-author, and, at times, mentor, put out a call for interest in a collection on liminal spaces in horror, I felt called to it immediately. Liminal space holds such an interesting, ambiguous range open for so much expression, interpretation, and analysis. Needless to say, it was right up my alley.
To approach finding a specific liminal space I wanted to explore, I began researching what constitutes liminality in the horror genre. Defined as “a state or place characterized by being transitional or intermediate in some way” and “any location that is unsettling, uncanny, or dreamlike,” it covers a broad spectrum of possible subject matter. I decided to look at it more as a topic of space occupied during a human’s terrifying transition from one natural state to another and how that can be perceived by others, which is why you will find it in the anthropology section of the book. We often see liminal space put to great use in coming-of-age horror films because the transition from childhood to adulthood can be a particularly scary change. It’s easy to see why so many filmmakers chose this period of life to play off common fears. Similarly, many films present parenthood as a metaphorical transition, motherhood especially, in that the beginning and creation of life can provide an extensive field of liminality to indulge. I figured those were two major spots of human existence that can constitute dark emotions, with the third being the big one: death itself. As one of the primary bases for a majority of horror, death seemed a little too dense a topic to look at for one essay, but it led me to think about the time where one may feel the most increasing anxiety regarding the great unknown which is senescence. Considering there is so much liminal space explored in the early milestones of life, I decided to focus on the latter, specifically the period of bodily change right before death.
The process of narrowing down my topic began like it does with most of my writing pieces: a list. I noted all the elderly figures in horror, and therefore all films that featured or centered the elderly as subjects of expression, that I could think of. Ti West’s X came to mind immediately as it was the most recently released at the time of brainstorming, with The Taking of Deborah Logan, The Amusement Park, The Visit, Relic, and The Dark and the Wicked following. Of course there are a few others (and a couple released since), but I found a common theme present within most of the films I compiled. A great majority of elderly characters in horror, mainly women, are presented as villains or great threats with their aging minds and bodies easily manipulated to turn them into monsters. This got me questioning why we feel the need to write senior citizens as antagonists or why it is so simple to turn them into vessels of evil. In an effort to refine my thesis and narrow my analysis (and keep within my word limit), I chose The Taking of Deborah Logan, The Visit, and Relic as the focal points of reference.
Thanks to an extensive academic horror library at home, I pulled as many books that could possibly fit my research criteria and watched all three films twice: once through with no distractions before taking notes during the second viewing. I took down as many quotes and texts I could find to support the essay’s purpose, and after reviewing my notes I noticed something very interesting that existed between the three films. In addition to using cognitive and physical decline through dementia to flesh out villains from seemingly sweet old people, the environments these characters inhabit take on an intentional liminal space of their own to not only up the horror ante, but enhance the themes further. Nana and Pop Pop’s basement in The Visit, Deborah’s attic in The Taking of Deborah Logan, and the interior walls of Edna’s home in Relic all have a significant meaning related to their cognitive health and provide strange, uneasy settings. This led me to further question: What physical spaces and environmental attributes serve to display the terror of aging? What effect do they have regarding the characters’ age and bodily deterioration? Ultimately, how filmmakers use mental, physical, and aesthetic factors to create a liminal space between elder existence and death, and how this liminal space sometimes creates villains of the elderly became the bottom line of my chapter.
Despite its existential darkness, I truly enjoyed writing this essay for Darkest Margins. It is a contribution I’m very proud of: I feel senior representation in horror is often used as mechanisms for shock value and humor on the surface, despite there being so much more to unpack when it comes to films that display all the aging quirks like The Visit. Dementia is a very real, common disease that occurs within the brain and currently there is no cure for it. It cannot be reduced or reversed once it sets in, leaving only room for the available treatments to somewhat slow its progression. Because it is something that attacks a person’s well being, it is physically debilitating and slowly erases one’s identity. It is a form of death before death, and I could not think of a scarier fate, let alone liminal space, to experience. Writing this has been a fortuitous journey, with so many of the moving parts clicking into place perfectly when it came down to putting pen to paper (hands to keys). As it happens, dementia runs in my family so this was a bit of a cathartic exercise. I now know more about the disease, how it occurs, ways to identify it and reduce the risk, but I also was able to come to terms with some of my own repressed anxieties and fears on a personal level. The fear of death is universal, but through this topic I now understand there are spaces to fear far more than the great unknown: the individual unknown.
The crowdfunder for 1428 Publishing's Darkest Margins - featuring twenty-four essays exploring liminality in horror - is crammed full of fun perks to complement the nuanced structure of the book...
Including our very own Filtered Reality, charting the progenitors and evolution of contemporary found footage horror! Paired with a first-edition paperback copy of Darkest Margins, you're getting double the trouble, for a discounted price (and a wee extra or two from us).
HoL’s very own Jessica Rose features in both books: her Filtered Reality chapter delves into the digitisation and digital evolution of American folklore (connecting storyteller, vehicle, and audience) in The Blair Witch Project and The Last Broadcast.
Treat yourself and support indie publishing - but be quick, the crowdfunder ends Friday 5 December 2025!