ABSTRACT
From classical to Renaissance times the uterus was frequently drawn with horns to demonstrate its supposed association with the devil. ‘Fear of the archaic mother turns out to be essentially fear of her generative power. It is this power, a dreaded one, that patrilineal filiation has the burden of subduing’. In the horror film the ancient connection drawn between woman, womb and the monstrous is frequently invoked. As virtually nothing, to my knowledge, has been written about this subject, this chapter briefly discusses the narratives of several of these films before analysing The Brood in some detail. Horror films that depict monstrous births play on the inside/outside distinction in order to point to the inherently monstrous nature of the womb as well as the impossibility of ever completely banishing the abject from the human domain. The horror film exploits the abject nature of the womb by depicting the human, female and male, giving birth to the monstrous.
