Photo of Sorcha Ni Fhlainn

Dr Sorcha Ní Fhlainn

Reader in Film Studies and Co-Director of the Screen Studies Network

My profile

Biography

I am a Reader in Film Studies with a specialism in American Film here at MMU. My background is in History, Politics and American Studies and consequently, my work is largely rooted in socio-cultural, historical and Marxist approaches to Film Studies, Cultural Studies, Popular and Contemporary American Literature and Popular Cinema. I also specialise in Gothic Studies, Horror Cinema, with my research particularly focussed on Vampires (fiction, culture and film), Postmodern subjectivity, and monster studies.

My approach to teaching is rooted in discussion and interdisciplinarity. I like to examine multiple ideas and disciplines and nurture a continuing dialogue with students that explores the subject in a meaningful yet accessible way. I require my students to work hard, to show enthusiasm and to always ask questions. My approach is to encourage, advise and most importantly impart a love of the subjects I teach.

Beyond academia, I am a huge music fan with eclectic taste from Irish traditional fusion to classic rock (and Hair/Heavy Metal), and I foster a particular love of all things rooted in the 1980s (including its music and film scores!). As a history, politics and American Studies graduate I am acutely interested in current affairs, journalism, feminism,  US culture and politics, US Presidential history - and I am an Oscars fanatic. In my spare time, I also adore reading detective fiction,  rock music, tattoos, travel and reading about astronomy.

Words of wisdom

Find the one thing that really spurs on your love for the subject and ask yourself, why do I love this? Why do I care about this subject? Why is it important? What is it trying to convey, communicate and articulate? These are the fundamental ideas that drive forward good students. Challenge yourself and you will find academia endlessly rewarding and exciting. Remember, texts (films, literature, culture at large) are puzzle boxes - it is our imperative to encourge you to discover and decipher them.

Academic and professional qualifications

Qualifications:

  • PhD in English (Postmodern Vampires in Fiction, Culture, and Film) - Trinity College, Dublin. Ireland
  • MA in American Studies - University College Dubin, Ireland.
  • BA in Arts (History and Politics) - University College Dublin, Ireland

Additional HE Education Qualifications:

  • MA in Higher Education - Manchester Metropolitan University
  • Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice - MMU
  • AdvanceHE Aurora (2020 Graduate).
  • Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA)

Other academic service (administration and management)

At MMU:

  • Programme Leader for Film and Media Studies
  • Deputy Chair for QAA Subject Benchmark Statement Group, Communication, Media, Film and Cultural Studies area. (Term: Nov 2022 – March 2024)
  • Chair of the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS) (Elected, Term: 2021–2022)
  • MA English Studies Admissions Officer. (2013 - 2019)

Languages

 Irish (Gaelic/Gaeilge) and English.

External examiner roles

I have served as External Examiner on numerous PhDs, including: 

  • The Neo-Western, HBO and a Creative Novel
  • 21st Century Vampire Literature and American Politics
  • Queer Horror Cinema
  • Blood Narratives in Vampire Literature and Film
  • Cannibalism and Film
  • Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles
  • History of Satan in Popular Culture

Expert reviewer for external funding bodies

Peer Reviewer for:

  • Adaptation, Oxford University Press, UK.
  • Alphaville: The Journal of Film and Screen Media (Open Access Journal), Cork, Ireland.
  • Anthem Press, London, UK.
  • Bloomsbury Publishers. New York. USA.
  • Dark Arts: New and Emerging Voices in Gothic Studies, Manchester, UK. Online journal. 
  • Genre: Forms of Discourse and Culture (Print Journal), University of Oklahoma, USA.
  • Gothic Studies (Print Journal), Manchester University Press, UK.
  • Horror Studies (Print Journal), London: Intellect Ltd., UK.
  • Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies.  Dublin, Ireland.
  • Manchester University Press, Manchester, UK.
  • Medical Humanities (Open Access Journal), London: British Medical Journals, UK.
  • Palgrave Macmillan publishers. Basingstoke, UK. 
  • Peter Lang publishers. Bern & Oxford. Germany/UK.
  • Routledge (Taylor and Francis) publishers, New York. USA.
  • Science Fiction Film and Television (Journal), Liverpool, UK.
  • Studies in Gothic Fiction (Journal). San Diego, USA.
  • The Journal of Monsters and The Monstrous (Print Journal) Oxford, UK.
  • University of Texas Press, Austin, USA.

Editorial Board Memberships:

  • Dark Arts: New and Emerging Voices in Gothic Studies, Manchester, UK.
  • Gothic Studies, Manchester, UK.
  • The Journal of Monsters and The Monstrous Oxford, UK. (2010-2012)
  • Lexington Books Horror Series, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Maryland, USA.
  • Open Screens (Open Access Journal/ Open Library of Humanities), London, UK
  • Palgrave Gothic Series, Basingstoke, UK.
  • Vampire Studies, Australia.
  • Studies in Gothic Fiction. San Diego, USA & Cardiff, UK.

Media Consultancy:

Radio:

  • BBC [Radio] including World Service. [weekly slot as Film reviewer and film expert)
  • The Discovery Channel (documentary on the history of vampires and folklore)
  • Riverhouse Productions (pitched documentary series researcher - The Four Fathers of Horror).
  • Radio interviews: BBC Radio, World Service, and local affiliates: 120+ interviews (since 2013) across BBC Network (Scotland, Radio 4, 5Live), including Newshour, Today Show programme (7.2M listeners per week) andThe Forum(flagship discussion programme, BBC World Service,269 million listenersglobally) [BBC Audience figures]

News/Documentaries:

  • Consultant for Arrow Films: Hellraiser Quadrilogy release (Oct 2023) and Documentary Interview on filmmaker Clive Barker (30 mins).
  • Television Interviews: ‘Teen Screams’ documentary(Hellmouth Productions, 2023) on 1980s Horror;TRT World (Turkish Television), on Marvel and Universal Film Franchises, June 2020 and Screenwriter David Koepp (May 2021); BBC Television (BBC One), on I Lár an Aoinigh. Irish Language interview on Stoker and Vampires. 10 November 2019. Bram Stoker Agus Dracula. TG4 (Nov. 2011).

Print and Podcasts:

Funding and Research

  • 2023: Harry Ransom 2023/24 Fellowship in the Humanities, University of Texas at Austin. Proposal: ‘Warren Skaaren: 1980s Hollywood Gothic’.. (One-Month USA research residency)
  • 2023: British Association of American Studies Research Travel Award. ResearchProject: ‘It’s About time’: The Creative Partnership of Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale’. Award for research at the University of Southern California and the Margarey Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences (Oscars), Los Angeles, USA.
  • 2020: Lord Ruthven Prize. Best Monograph. March 2020. Awarded by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts, USA.
  • 2018-19 Research Sabbatical for Dark Days and Plastic Realities: The Gothic 1980s Project - Research and Knowledge Exchange award. (Sabbatical period in early 2020)
  • 2015-16 Fellowship in Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences - Research and Knowledge Exchange.
  • 2017 and 2018: Recipient of Blue Skies funding

Get in touch

0161 247 6155
Room 436 Geoffrey Manton Building
Thursdays 1-2pm (Gothic on Screen); BA/MA/PhD Dissertation Students - Please email for an appointment

Projects

The Gothic 1980s - My current research project, which includes special issues of Gothic Studies, Horror Studies, public lectures and a forthcoming monograph, spans the long 1980s and its significance in Gothic and Popular Culture today. 

I am currently co-authoring a book on director Robert Zemeckis for Columbia University Press. 

Teaching

Why do I teach?

It is my aim to make an impact in terms of teaching and researching Film Studies,  American Studies and Gothic Studies and to promote forms of critical thinking through which we better understand why we need to create films, books and tales of the macabre. We tell stories, create moving images and share ideas for countless reasons - it is our duty as critical thinkers to explore their meaning and importance in the world today.

Postgraduate teaching

MA English Studies: The Gothic (2016 - ):

  • Teaching on courses/units:
  • 20th Century Gothic (Vampires, serial killers, Faustian bargains/Clive Barker, and monsters)
  • Post-Millennial Gothic (mashups, vampire romance, Serial killing and Stephen King)

Subject areas

I am particularly interested in supervising dissertations (at MA and PhD level) on:

  • Vampires (novels, films, TV, folklore)
  • Horror Film Franchises and Serial Killers (fiction, film, television, and including Slasher cinema)
  • US Cultural History (1960s onwards)
  • Subjective monsters
  • Gothic and Horror Authors incl. Clive Barker (Fiction/Film), Stephen King (Fiction/Adaptation), Anne Rice. 
  • Hollywood films incl. Blockbusters (Star Wars transmedia franchise, Back to the Future, cinema of John Hughes… Batman transmedia franchise)
  • Science Fiction, especially Time Travel, Cyborgs, Alternate histories
  • Adaptation
  • Stars and Stardom (1970s - )
  • Directors, especially Christopher Nolan, Stanley Kubrick, Neil Jordan, 
  • Politics, Screen censorship.

Supervision

MA Dissertation Topics (currently supervising)

Topics supervised include:

  • Homosocial desire in NBC’s Hannibal (2013-15)
  • The Saw Franchise
  • Anne Rice’s Vampire fiction
  • Corporate 1980s Cinema
  • Female Predators
  • Time Travel TV drama
  • Southern gothic in True Detective
  • Vampires as Southern Others
  • True Blood and Southern vampire Mysteries (as M.Phil Diss - TCD, Dublin).

PhD Supervision:

Completed: 

  • Frustration and frustrated fiction in Postmodern Literature.
  • Ramsey Campbell
  • The TV series and Films of Aaron Sorkin
  • Satanic Panic, Gothic Cinema, and Masculinity in Crisis (1980-2020)

In progress:

  • The Transmedia Works of Clive Barker
  • Scoring the Universe on Film (with RNCM)
  • Bisexual Erasure in Gothic Television (1997 - 2022)
  • The Cinema of John Carpenter

Research outputs

Gothic and Horror Cinema; Vampire Studies, Teratology (Monster Studies).

Popular Cinema, Popular Culture. American Studies; Film Studies;

Decade Studies (1960s -); Popular Science Fiction and Time Travel; Cultural Materialism; Cultural History; Politics;

Screen Studies; Star Studies; Blockbusters.

  • Exhibitions

    N� Fhlainn, S. (2021) Merry 80s Christmas. [Exhibition] HOME, Manchester, 11/12/2021 - 23/12/2021.

    Ni Fhlainn, S. Notes for the Joker displays for Portico Gothic Exhibition. [Exhibition]

  • Books (authored/edited/special issues)

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2022) TWENTIETH CENTURY GOTHIC. EUP.

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2019) Postmodern Vampires. Palgrave Macmillan UK.

    Fhlainn, S.N. (2017) Clive Barker.

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2017) Clive Barker: Dark Imaginer. Manchester University Press.

    McCardin, M. (2017) Horror Literature through History: An Encyclopedia of the Stories that Speak to Our Deepest Fears. ABC-CLIO.

    Ni Fhlainn, S. (2010) The Worlds of Back to the Future: Critical Essays on the Films. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland.

    Ni Fhlainn, S. (2010) Our Monstrous (S)Kin: Blurring the Boundaries Between Monsters and Humanity. Oxford, UK: The Inter-Disciplinary Press.

    Myers, W., Ní Fhlainn, S. (2006)  The Wicked Heart: Studies in the Phenomena of Evil. Oxford: At the Interface Press, 2006.. Oxford: At The Interface Press, Oxford.

  • Chapters in books

    N� Fhlainn, S. (2022) '‘Gothic Horror Films at the Fin-de-Millennium: From Nightmare Videos to Filtered Realities (1980 – 2000)’.' In Ni Fhlainn, S., Murphy, B.M. (ed.) Twentieth-Century Gothic: An Edinburgh Companion. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 144-162.

    Ni Fhlainn, S., N� Fhlainn, S. (2022) ''Put on a Happy Face: The neoliberal horrors of Joker/s’.' Breaking Down Joker Violence, Loneliness, Tragedy. Routledge,

    N� Fhlainn, S. (2021) '‘What happens to us in the future?’: Stranger Things 3 goes Back to the Future (1985)..' In Mollet, T., Scott, L. (ed.) Investigating Stranger Things Upside Down in the World of Mainstream Cult Entertainment. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 109-129.

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2021) ''What happens to us in the future?': Stranger Things 3 Goes Back to the Future (1985).' Investigating Stranger Things: Upside Down in the World of Mainstream Cult Entertainment. pp. 111-131.

    N� Fhlainn, S. (2021) '‘Cruising the Vampire: Hollywood Gothic, star branding, and Interview with the Vampire (1994)’.' In Redmond, S. (ed.) Starring Tom Cruise. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, pp. 133-151.

    Fhlainn, S.N. (2017) ''To darken the day and brighten the night': Clive barker, dark imaginer.' Clive Barker. pp. 3-22.

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2017) ''To darken the day and brighten the night': Clive Barker, dark imaginer.' In Ni Fhlainn, S. (ed.) Clive Barker: Dark imaginer. Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 1-22.

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2017) 'The Devil and Clive Barker: Faustian bargains and gothic filigree.' Clive Barker: Dark imaginer. Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 208-229.

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2017) 'Entries on: Clive Barker (1952 - ); The Damnation Game (1985).' In McCardin, M. (ed.) Horror Literature through History: An Encyclopedia of the Stories that Speak to Our Deepest Fears.. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO,

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2017) '‘Aboard The Midnight Meat Train – Clive Barker’s Urban Nightmare’.' In Dillon, S. (ed.) Australia: Oz Horror Con Publishers,

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2016) 'Vincent Schiavelli (1948-2005).' In Murphy, B., McCarthy, E. (ed.) Lost Souls of Horror and the Gothic: Fifty-Four Neglected Authors, Actors, Artists and Others. McFarland,

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2016) 'Screening the American Gothic: Celluloid Serial Killers in American Popular Culture.' American Gothic Culture: An Edinburgh Companion. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 187-202.

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2015) '“You keep telling yourself what you know, but what do you believe?”: Cultural Spin, Puzzle Films and Mind Games in the Cinema of Christopher Nolan..' The Cinema of Christopher Nolan: Imagining the Impossible. New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 147-162.

    Ni Fhlainn, S. (2014) '“‘Old Things, Fine Things’: Of Vampires, Antique Dealers, and Timelessness.”.' In Bacon, S., Bronk,, K. (ed.) Undead Memory: Vampires and Human Memory in Popular Culture. Oxford and Berlin: Peter Lang, pp. 183-210.

    Ni Fhlainn, S. (2011) '“‘All Dark Inside’: Dehumanisation and Zombification in Postmodern Cinema”.' In Christie, D., Lauro, S.J. (ed.) Better Off Dead: The Evolution of the Zombie as Post-Human. New York: Fordham University Press, pp. 139-157.

    Ni Fhlainn, S. (2011) '“Immortal Bodies in Crisis: The Postmodern Vampire’s Diet”.' In Menegaldo, G. (ed.) Gothic N.E.W.S. Vol II: Cinema. Paris: Michel Houdiard,

    Ni Fhlainn, S. (2011) '“‘Wait till they get a load of me!’: The Joker from Modern to Postmodern Villainous S/laughter.”.' In Fahraeus, A., Çamoğlu, D.Y. (ed.) Villains and Villainy: Embodiments of Evil in Literature, Popular Culture and Media.. Rodopi,

    Ni Fhlainn, S. (2011) '“The Eternal Changeling: Dracula’s Transformations in the 1970s”..' In Yoder, P.L., Kreuter, P.M. (ed.) The Horrid Looking Glass.

    Ni Fhlainn, S. (2010) '"It's About Time".' In Ni Fhlainn, S. (ed.) The Worlds of Back to the Future: Critical Essays on the Films. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, pp. 1-28.

    Ni Fhlainn, S. (2009) '“‘His Eyes Blazed Redly’: Skinning, Satanism and Mephistophelian Romance – Hannibal Lecter and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)”.' In Fhlainn, S.N. (ed.) Our Monstrous (S)kin: Blurring the Boundaries Between Monsters and Humanity. Oxford: The Inter-Disciplinary Press,

    Ni Fhlainn, S. (2008) '“Sweet, Bloody Vengeance: Class, Social Stigma and Servitude in the Slasher Genre”.' In Baumgartner, H.L., Davis, R. (ed.) Hosting the Monster: Critical Essays on the Monstrous.. Rodopi,

    Ni Fhlainn, S. (2007) '‘“It’s Morning in America’: The Lost Boys as a Musical Metaphor for the Religious Right and the Deserved Death of the 1980s Vampire”.' In Scott, N. (ed.) The Role of the Monster: Myths and Metaphors of Enduring Evil. Oxford: The Inter-Disciplinary Press, pp. 143-155.

    Ni Fhlainn, S. (2006) '“1976: The Duality in Postmodern Vampiric Identity and Evil in George A Romero’s Martin and Anne Rice’s Interview With The Vampire.”.' In Ni Fhlainn, S., Myers, W. (ed.) The Wicked Heart: Studies in the Phenomena of Evil.. Oxford: The Inter-Disciplinary Press, pp. 171-181.

  • Media

    Ni Fhlainn, S., N� Fhlainn, S. (2018) Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: the birth of a gothic monster.

  • Internet publications

    Ni Fhlainn, S. (2013) Hannibal (TV Series – Review). http://irishgothichorrorjournal.homestead.com/.

    Ni Fhlainn, S. (2011) “Having an Old friend for Dinner: The Cultural Legacy of ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ (1991)”. http://www.gothic.stir.ac.uk/guestblog/having-an-old-friend-for-dinner-the-cultural-legacy-of-the-silence-of-the-lambs-1991/.

    Ni Fhlainn, S. (2011) “Lost in Translation: The Cultural Problem of Re-imagining our Beloved Movie Monsters”. http://www.gothic.stir.ac.uk/guestblog/lost-in-translationthe-cultural-problem-of-re-imagining-our-beloved-movie-monsters/.

    Ni Fhlainn, S. (2011) “Gothic Transformations – The Monstrous and Fragile Body in the cinema of Darren Aronofsky”. http://www.gothic.stir.ac.uk/guestblog/gothic-transformations-%E2%80%93-the-monstrous-and-fragile-body-in-the-cinema-of-darren-aronofsky/.

    Ni Fhlainn, S. (2008) Dark Reflections, Monstrous Reflections: Essays on the Monster in Culture.

    Ni Fhlainn, S., Myers, W. (2006) The Wicked Heart: Studies in the Phenomena of Evil..

  • Journal articles

    Fhlainn, S.N. (2022) '‘I have to return some videotapes’: The long 1980s and horror culture.' Horror Studies, 13(2) pp. 155-160.

    N� Fhlainn, S. (2022) 'A rift between worlds: the retro-1980s and the neoliberal Upside Down in Stranger Things.' Gothic Studies, 24(2) pp. 201-218.

    N� Fhlainn, S. (2022) 'Introduction: A Decade of Dreams and Nightmares: Popular Gothic in the 1980s.' Gothic Studies, 24(2) pp. 111-117.

    Marini, A.M., Ní Fhlainn, S. (2022) 'Vampire and monster narratives: an interview with Sorcha Ní Fhlainn.' REDEN. Revista Española de Estudios Norteamericanos, 3(2) pp. 145-158.

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2017) '‘A Very Special Vampire Episode: Vampires, archetypes, and postmodern turns in late-1980s and ‘90s cult TV shows.’.' Horror Studies, 8(2) pp. 255-274.

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2017) 'Book Review: The Shining: Studies in the Horror Film.' Horror Studies, 8(1)

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2015) ''There's Something Very Familiar About All This': Time Machines, Cultural Tangents, and Mastering Time in H.G Wells's The Time Machine and the Back to the Future trilogy.' Adaptation, 9(2) pp. 164-184.

    Ni Fhlainn, S. (2011) '“Reoccurring Nightmares: Rebooting 1980s American Horror on Elm Street.”.' The Journal of Monsters and the Monstrous, 1(1) pp. 107-116.

  • Conference papers

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2018) '‘Sparkles and Sinew: The political afterlife of the 21st century vampire.’.' In British Association of Film, Television, and Screen Studies Conference.. University of Kent, 12/4/2018 - 13/4/2018.

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2017) '‘Dreams are fleeting… only nightmares last forever!’ – Clive Barker’s gothic imagination..' In 13th Biennial Conference of the International Gothic Association. Puebla, Mexico, 18/7/2017 - 21/7/2017.

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2016) '“Dead but Delicious”: Rewriting, performing and revising vampirism in Dracula Untold (2014) and What We Do in the Shadows (2014).' In Transylvanian Society of Dracula: 4th World Congress. Trinity College, Dublin, 20/10/2016 - 21/10/2016.

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2015) '‘“I am the vampire of this age”: Adaptations, Dislocations, and the End of the Articulate Undead in Anne Rice’s Prince Lestat and Dracula Untold (2014)’.' In International Gothic Association. Vancouver, Canada, 28/7/2015 - 1/8/2015.

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2015) '“‘You keep telling yourself what you know, but what do you believe?’: Cultural Spin, Puzzle Films and Mind Games in the cinema of Christopher Nolan”. (Extracted Version).' In BAFTSS - British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies. Manchester, UK, 16/4/2015 - 18/4/2015.

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2013) '“‘The Oz you haven’t seen before!’: The Problematic Gothic Aesthetic of Return to Oz (1985)..' In Returning to Oz: The Afterlife of Dorothy Conference. Manchester, UK, 7/2/2013 - 7/2/2013.

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2013) '“A Very Special Vampire Episode: Gothic television, Vampires, and Postmodern turns in The X Files (1993-2002) and Friday the 13th: The Series (1987-1990)”..' In TV Fangdom: A Conference on Television Vampires. Northampton, UK, 7/6/2013 - 8/6/2013. Intellect,

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2012) '“Hating Others, (still) Othering Women? - Post 9/11 Torture Porn and its problematic gender politics’ or, ‘Why Torture Porn Fails as a classification’”.' In Gender, Sexuality and Horror Symposium. Dublin, Ireland, 17/5/2012 - 18/5/2012.

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2012) '“Bad Science, Hybridity and ‘Eating Machines’: Postmodern Vampirism, Evolution, and the Presidency of George W. Bush”..' In Vampire(s) & Science: a one-day trans-disciplinary conference marking the centenary of Bram Stoker’s death. Dublin, Ireland, 20/4/2012 - 20/4/2012.

    Ní Fhlainn, S. (2011) '“‘Old Things, Fine Things’: Of Vampires, Antique Dealers, and Timelessness.”.' In Vampires: Myths of the Past and Future Conference. University College London, 2/11/2011 - 4/11/2011.

Press and media

Media appearances or involvement

I have been interviewed by numerous media outlets on my research projects and expertise on radio, television and in print/digital media, including BBC World Service and BBC 4 (The Today Show; The Forum); The Guardian (featured in “Improbable Research” column); CNN International; The Conversation (UK Edition);  Rue Morgue (Horror Magazine, USA); RTE Radio (The John Murray Show, The Dave Fanning Show, The Ryan Tubridy Show, The Derek Mooney Show), Phantom FM (regular appearances on film segments for The Kiosk with Nadine O’Regan) and Spin 1038 (Ireland). Television appearances include TV3 (Midday), TG4 Documentary - “Bram Stoker agus Dracula” (Irish language channel), and Irish.tv.