An exhibition on the history of horror at the Academy Museum: nearly 350 objects and the idea that horror is a way of reading history
On 8 October 2026 Smithsonian covered The Horror Show at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles: a long corridor, six chambers by type of horror and nearly 350 costumes, props and posters, from Bela Lugosi's cape to the Xenomorph. I go through how the exhibition is arranged, which figures the outlet gives on the genre's popularity, and what the curators mean when they call horror a way of studying history.
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