'Faces of Fear' - Masks and The Face in Horror and Gothic Films

'Faces of Fear' - Masks and The Face in Horror and Gothic Films with Laura Sedgwick

Join us for this special Halloween event and delve into the many faces of fear on film. Laura Sedgwick, who co-authored "Gothic Dissections in Film and Literature: The Body in Parts" will take us on a frightening journey through the use of masks, the distorted face and injury in Gothic and Horror films. Expect creepy film clips and candlelight, as well as mulled cider (or non-alcoholic mulled cordial). The museum will be decorated with the terrifying faces of carved pumpkins for this special, spooky event.

There will be plenty of time to peruse the paintings and specimens at 6:30pm before Laura Sedgwick's talk.

“About Face” is a multidisciplinary series of events focusing on the face in a medical-humanities arena. The delicate ontological balancing act between life and death, public display and spectacle, ‘being’ and ‘not being’, and how we identify, are some of topics which inspired “About Face” at QMUL’s Pathology Museum. From the first recorded facial surgery in approximately 600 BC to the present, faces have been moulded, manipulated and even made from scratch. Why is this part of the physical body considered our ‘identity’ and what does that mean? In the world of the selfie, are our faces even our selves? What do we see when we look at the faces of others? Does our opinion change depending on the face? Why?

Topics included in this series include face transplants, ‘faces of fear’, facial surgery then and now, death masks and the forensic reconstruction of a skull from this collection. All events include wine, non-alcoholic drinks and nibbles, as well as a chance to see the "Saving Faces" paintings by Mark Gilbert. Full list of the A/W 2018 events is HERE

Laura Sedgwick is studying for a PhD in Film and Gothic Studies at the University of Stirling, Scotland, currently focusing on set design in contemporary haunted-house films. She also writes Dark Fantasy and Gothic novellas under the name Icy Sedgwick.