We live in a golden age of horror cinema, in which Americans can screen films of fright from all over the globe. But, until less than fifteen years ago, you couldn’t watch an Israeli horror film. This had nothing to do with streaming or geopolitics: it was because, strictly speaking, there weren’t any. At all. They simply didn’t exist. And then, as tends to happen with horror, the situation changed — quickly.
In her new book, Olga Gershenson, a professor of Jewish studies and film studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, tells the story of that change — of the boomlet of Israeli horror cinema in the 2010s — engagingly and masterfully. She weaves institutional factors germane to Israeli culture with the global culture of horror cinema that made these films possible. Gershenson examines the nature of Israeli public film financing, the culture of film studies in Israeli academia, and the inner workings of admissions to Israeli film festivals, among other topics.
Gershenson also asks questions about what makes a film “Israeli.” Does it have to be narrowly political, addressing what’s so often described as “the conflict”? (No, according to Gershenson; in fact, many of the movies eschew the subject — although, like so much of the horror genre, a lot of this work is done allegorically.) Does it have to be “Jewish” in sensibility? (No, although it sometimes is; and what that means can change radically from movie to movie.) One of the most interesting features of Israeli horror that Gershenson points out is that many of Israel’s most notable horror films take place during daylight hours, due to budgetary reasons and as a way of differentiating the product from other countries’ horror movies. But, as everyone knows, daylight is not the usual time for monsters to make their appearance.
And the monsters! Gershenson gives her readers enough plot and description to understand her incisive analyses, but not so much that she keeps us from slavering for more. She is a dedicated fan of horror who understands the movies’ global influences, giving us plenty of comparands to movies we know well, including zombie movies, slasher films, and serial killer flicks.
All of these films and more are now available to you in Hebrew and with subtitles — if you dare to watch them. And Gershenson’s book provides us with a robust introduction.
Jeremy Dauber is a professor of Jewish literature and American studies at Columbia University. His books include Jewish Comedy and The Worlds of Sholem Aleichem, both finalists for the National Jewish Book Award, and, most recently, American Comics: A History. He lives in New York City.
