Peter Mullan in his award-winning movie, The Magdalene Sisters fictionalizes and reimagines the life stories of four former Magdalene asylum victims based on their testimonies in documentary Sex in a Cold Climate filmed in 2007. The film strongly criticizes the cruelties that occured between the walls of these institutions and the Roman Catholic Church. While genre-wise it is obviously a drama, however, it may easily be interpreted as a horror movie due to numerous elements distinctive of the genre. In the following I propose to explore the devices used in creating the horror atmosphere placing emphasis on the representation of the female characters and their bodies that contribute to it.
Creed heavily relies on Kristeva’s discussions of abjection…show more content… In the dining room the Sisters of Mercy are conveniently seated behind a wall with a seethrough panel eating wholesome food, while the inmates are feasting on mushy…show more content… Their bodies become grotesque in the critically scrutinous eyes of the virtually bodiless sisters, who can safely gaze at them clad in shapeless black and white robes. They are “literalized in the manner of the famous grotesque alphabets, to be cruelly observed in intricate detail but never allowed to make words” (Russo 6). Crispina who “wins” in the category of longest pubic hair bursts into a sobbing fit which seemingly unpuzzles Sister Clementine - after all, she has just won a prize for being a