Spectral Boundaries: Gender and Sexuality in Asian Horror Cinema

Dr. Soumyarup Bhattacharjee

CALL FOR CHAPTERS

In recent years, Asian horror cinema has attained an unprecedented scale of visibility and acclaim. With the changing modes of accessibility and the rise of streaming culture, Asian horror cinema has become a ubiquitous presence among horror lovers, and today it is more easily available for viewing than ever before. J-Horror franchises such as the Ringu and Ju-On did not only introduce the international audience to a yet unexplored world of horror cinema but also paved the way for subsequent waves of Asian horror films, emerging out of countries like South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Iran, and India, to reach a global viewership. Firmly rooted in the cultural traditions that produced them, yet receptive to the tropes, elements, and entities of Western and, more specifically, Hollywood horror cinema, Asian horror cinema has consistently offered an alternative, multifaceted, and dynamic idiom of horror to fans of the genre. These “exchanges,” however, have often been multilateral. This is to say, just as Asian horror cinema has adapted and appropriated elements from the Western horror tradition(s), the long and shared history of cultural exchange, trade, and migration of people among regions and states within the Asian continent has ensured that it reflects the legacies of these shared histories. Therefore, this collection understands “Asian horror cinema” not as a category that stands distinctly in contrast with Western and, more specifically, Hollywood horror cinema, but as one that operates at the crossroads of multiple horror and cinema traditions. Similarly, the term Asian should be approached as the meeting point of numerous regional cinema traditions that are deeply diverse and heterogeneous in many respects. This collection approaches Asian horror cinema as a melting pot of regional variations, and, concomitantly, seeks to establish a multilateral conversation.

Asian horror cinema, like the horror genre at large, has also often functioned as a tool for commenting upon the deep-rooted and frequently repressed cultural anxieties regarding gender relations, material conditions, and sociopolitical realities. Historically, the horror genre has been particularly conducive to narrating the power of the unsaid and the unsayable: the repressed, the taboo, and the prohibited. Concomitantly, the genre has served as a means for reflecting on the desires as well as anxieties regarding gender roles and sexual relations that cannot be accommodated within the normative order in society or within the strictly realistic medium in art. While Asian horror cinema has enjoyed increased scholarly interest in recent years, critical discussions on films emerging from countries other than Japan and South Korea have remained relatively sporadic and peripheral. With this awareness, this collection of essays aims to transcend such geographical limitations by approaching Asian horror cinema through a more inclusive and holistic lens that prioritises cinema cultures and traditions across various Asian countries. It specifically focuses on the multifaceted entanglements between the horror genre and issues related to gender and sexuality, set against the backdrop of local social, material, and cultural realities. The purpose is to foreground how Asian horror cinema has negotiated with gender relations and sexualities beyond the normative that are deemed “unnatural,” “transgressive,” and “deviant,” and have been victimised, villainised, or simply suppressed or silenced.  

This collection, tentatively titled “Spectral Boundaries: Gender and Sexuality in Asian Horror Cinema,” invites 500-word proposals for chapters exploring the above. However, we will also consider proposed chapters that approach the issue(s) from any relevant perspective. We expect the essays to demonstrate an awareness of existing scholarship on Asian horror and Gothic traditions. Last date for submitting chapter proposals is January 31, 2026.

Peter Lang has shown initial interest in publishing the collection as part of their upcoming series titled “Gender and Sexuality Studies in South, Southeast, and East Asia.”

We welcome essays that deal with the following issues, but this list is not exhaustive by any means:

• The “Monstrous” feminine in Asian horror cinema
• The (Post)colonial horrors and womanhood
• Transgressive sexualities
• The “horrors” of sexual “deviance”
• The gendered “Other” as a source of horror
• The female/queer body in horror
• Gender at the crossroads of violence and revenge
• Crisis of masculinity as horror
• The erotic and the uncanny
• Ungendered bodies and posthumanism
• Gender and eco-horror

We also welcome essays on Asian horror films and/or franchises that have been significant or influential, such as Ringu (1998, Japan), Ju-on: The Grudge (2002, Japan), A Tale of Two Sisters (2003, South Korea), The Wailing (2016, South Korea), Shutter (2004, Thailand), Nang Nak (1999, Thailand), Satan’s Slaves (2017, Indonesia), Tumbbad (2018, India), Under the Shadow (2016, Iran/UK), and Impetigore (2019, Indonesia), among others. The list is not exhaustive.

Please mail your abstracts, bio-note, and latest CV to the following email address: asianhorror2025@gmail.com

Editor bio: Dr Soumyarup Bhattacharjee is currently an Assistant Professor of English at Swami Vivekananda University, India. He was previously a research scholar at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Bombay. His current research focuses on transcultural approaches to contemporary Gothic literature in South and Southeast Asia. His other areas of interest include adaptation studies, postcolonial Asian writing, and contemporary horror literature and cinema.