Geografías movedizas y monstruosas: La maternidad y sexualidad femenina en tres filmes de terror del Cono Sur

Abstract

This essay analyzes the female subject in connection to motherhood, sexuality, and the geopolitical space in the horror genre productions from the Southern Cone, Rooms for Tourists (Adrián García Bogliano, 2004), Baby Shower (Pablo Illanes, 2010), and Hidden in the Woods (Patricio Valladares, 2012). In all three slasher films, the representation of women oscillates between the role of a victim and that of an aggressor, a horrific threat to the patriarchal establishment and its social and ideological expectations. In order to examine such dichotomies in the portrayal of femininity, we apply the influential ideas of Barbara Creed through the so-called monstrous-feminine, which exposes other manifestations of female monstrosity such as the vagina dentata, the femme castratrice, and the castrating mother.