Cine-Excess 2026 Keynote Presentation: Professor David Greven on The Victim-Monster - Carrie, Horror Film, and the American Gothic

We are delighted to welcome David Greven as the keynote speaker to our 2026 conference component. David Greven is Professor of English at the University of South Carolina. His books include All the Devils Are Here: American Romanticism and Literary Influence (University of Virginia Press, 2024), Intimate Violence: Hitchcock, Sex, and Queer Theory (Oxford University Press, 2017), and Gender Protest and Same-Sex Desire in Antebellum American Literature (Routledge, 2016).

His keynote presentation titled "The Victim-Monster: Carrie, Horror Film, and the American Gothic" reinterprets Julia Kristeva’s Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection (1982) to develop a theory of the victim-monster as a being whose suffering initially incites sympathy but ultimately repels the spectator. David tracks this victim made monstrous figure throughout the various versions of Carrie from Brian De Palma’s 1976 film adaptation of Stephen King's 1974 novel to Michael Flanagan’s current Amazon Prime limited series.

Professor Greven’s Keynote Address takes place on Tuesday 20 October at 3.30pm – 4.30pm