Back with another book/movie pairing. This theme is: boarding school terrors.
I do not quite know why I love the setting of a girls boarding school but it seems to be something I am drawn to in any form of media. Plain Bad Heroines came out last fall and it is one of my favorite books that I’ve read in recent years Emily M. Danforth kills it with this multi generational story of a haunted boarding school and it’s connections with the writer Mary MacLane. It’s filled with chilling tales, queer romance, and the New England school feeling I miss oh so much. Despite the intimidating size of the book I tore through it and could not put it down.
Then there is the classic Picnic at Hanging Rock from 1975, directed by Peter Weir. His early films are endlessly fascinating especially with its picturesque Australian setting. This mystery surrounding the disappearance of several students and their teacher tears apart the world these people live in. Despite its horrors it has a dreamlike quality and also has queer love and trippy dream sequences. There is this idea of the small insular world of this school being torn apart by the events that unfold where Plain Bad seems to be more about how terrible events can curse a land. These ideas of time, place, and setting are an interesting contrast and make for unique stories.
There’s also a scene in the book where characters are watching Picnic so it’s kind of perfect.
The Neon Banshee 