Cullen Wade
LightNews LightNews
banner
cullenwade.bsky.social
Cullen Wade
@cullenwade.bsky.social
460 followers 660 following 320 posts
Author, S(p)lasher Flicks: The Swimming Pool in Horror Cinema (McFarland, 2025) | words @ Paste mag, Night Tide mag, Horror Homeroom, HorrorGeekLife, et al. | charlottesville, va, usa | autistic he/him | 🇵🇸BLM🏳️‍🌈ACAB🏳️‍⚧️FDT
https://linktr.ee/cullenwade
Posts Replies Media Videos
cullenwade.bsky.social
Silver Shamrock motherfucker.
A hand-carved jackolantern with a lightning bolt smile & a 3rd eye in the middle of the forehead
October 30, 2025 at 12:57 PM
cullenwade.bsky.social
Went apple picking today & somehow got the most Halloweenish photo that has nothing overtly Halloween about it.
The author posing in a pastoral vista, in a flannel shirt & holding a bag of apples.
October 11, 2025 at 8:54 PM
cullenwade.bsky.social
Anyone local to Charlottesville, there is a short-notice action at Western Albemarle HS this evening w/ @happyscenesbyemma.bsky.social
“WAHS Homecoming is tonight fyi. Come join us on the street outside the school (not on school grounds) at 5:30 to hold signs in solidarity with trans students at WAHS. Their school and school board may have failed them, but we won’t.” A sign reading “protect trans students” with the Western Albemarle high school logo.
October 10, 2025 at 8:40 PM
cullenwade.bsky.social
I understand some commenters’ pov & generally agree with not forcing animals into clothes. I would never make a dog wear anything it hated.

I’m a bit less understanding of ppl who presume based on 1 photo to know my dog’s body language better than I do.
Anyway for those saying she looks unhappy:
October 6, 2025 at 7:38 PM
cullenwade.bsky.social
Presenting Chappell Bone. Yes she will wear this for the rest of October.
A white pit bull dog dressed as Chappell Roan on the The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess album: sparkly blue dress, red wig, tiara, sash reading “Chappell”
October 5, 2025 at 6:57 PM
cullenwade.bsky.social
6 days until I present in my 1st #horrorstudies symposium! The support of the v cool @momoshaty.bsky.social—who didn’t know me from Adam but apparently decided I had worthwhile things to say—has been huge in me getting words out there. @nighttidemag.bsky.social is a great platform, & going places!
CULLEN WADE- ADAPTIVE AQUATICS — DISABILITY, EUGENICS AND THE HORROR FILM SWIMMING POOL Cullen Wade (he/him) is a writer, teacher, and author of the forthcoming S(p)lasher Flicks: The Swimming Pool in Horror Cinema (McFarland, 2025). His film criticism has appeared in Paste Magazine, Horror Homeroom, and NightTide, while his fiction appears in anthologies such as This Exquisite Topology. He lives in Virginia with his family and rescue dogs. Meeting of the Morbid Minds - The Horror of Becoming, A Virtual Symposium on October 4th and 5th
September 28, 2025 at 10:54 PM
cullenwade.bsky.social
There are very few famous people I’ll ask for a picture with, but Bob Mould is one.
Me in a yellow Blondie shirt posing for a photo with guitarist & songwriter Bob Mould
September 27, 2025 at 3:57 AM
cullenwade.bsky.social
Excited to give a talk at the virtual #horrorstudies symposium facilitated by the fabulous @nighttidemag.bsky.social! You’ll never guess what my presentation is about…
#horrorsky #filmsky
NightTide Magazine presents Meeting of the Morbid Minds: The Horror of Becoming, a two-day virtual symposium dedicated to the rigorous, creative study of horror. Across keynotes, talks, and panels, we’ll examine the transformation of the self, the body, the community, and the universe, through four subgenres that reshape how we think about fear and existence. Themes we’ll explore: The Monstrous Mind: Psychological Horror and the Fear of the Self: Madness, trauma, perception, and the instability of the human psyche. Folk Horror and the Fear of the Outsider: Community, ritual, isolation, and the friction between tradition and modernity. Cosmic Horror and the Limits of Comprehension: Vastness, dread, and the curse of knowing too much. Body Horror and the Politics of Transformation: Mutation, autonomy, identity, sexuality, and technological intrusion. Why NightTide? NightTide champions rigorous horror analysis and elevates diverse voices—scholars, critics, and creators who interrogate folklore, fear, and transformation in culture. This symposium brings that mission into a live, shared space for collective thinking. CULLEN WADE- ADAPTIVE AQUATICS — DISABILITY, EUGENICS AND THE HORROR FILM SWIMMING POOL Cullen Wade (he/him) is a writer, teacher, and author of the forthcoming S(p)lasher Flicks: The Swimming Pool in Horror Cinema (McFarland, 2025). His film criticism has appeared in Paste Magazine, Horror Homeroom, and NightTide, while his fiction appears in anthologies such as This Exquisite Topology. He lives in Virginia with his family and rescue dogs.
September 4, 2025 at 3:57 PM
cullenwade.bsky.social
A feminine figure wrapped in a translucent shawl, the Night Tide Magazine logo, the title “Meeting of the Morbid Minds: The Horror of Becoming,” & the dates October 4th & 5th—virtual”
September 4, 2025 at 1:46 PM
cullenwade.bsky.social
Favorite isn’t interesting so I’m gonna post the worst one.
A still from the 2006 film Desperation
September 2, 2025 at 11:06 PM
cullenwade.bsky.social
Bone Face was good yall.
#filmsky #horrorsky

www.deafsparrow.com/2025/07/22/b...
A review of the 2025 film Bone Face on Deafsparrow.com
July 22, 2025 at 9:47 PM
cullenwade.bsky.social
Animated gif of Quentin Tarantino in Reservoir Dogs saying “hence, “Like a Virgin”
July 22, 2025 at 5:19 PM
cullenwade.bsky.social
When your face is too hot so you turn it away from the sun & give mom & dad momentary panic that you broke your neck.
A ginger cat lies in a windowsill, head turned backwards in a way that looks unnatural
July 8, 2025 at 7:40 PM
cullenwade.bsky.social
Post yourself from a different era
A white man of about 27, wearing a knitted beanie, an open burgundy dress shirt over a Washington Nationals tee, and baggy jeans with four necklaces, including two medallions in the shape of the continent of Africa, speaking into a microphone onstage in an old bookstore
July 6, 2025 at 12:06 AM
cullenwade.bsky.social
Probably my best 4th of July memory has nothing to do with murica it was that time I met Frankenstein
A bearded man posing with another man dressed as Frankenstein’s monster, on the sidewalk outside The House of Frankenstein in Lake George NY
July 4, 2025 at 5:34 PM
cullenwade.bsky.social
The problem is not that the shark in Jaws looks fake. The shark in Jaws looks real. The problem is that real sharks look fake.

You can’t tell me this doesn’t look like a toy.
A sandbar shark in the aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, NC
July 1, 2025 at 2:16 AM
cullenwade.bsky.social
On to pt. 2. I realize that opening shot starting off in the burbs comes as a surprise to us today than it would have been at the time.
June 13, 2025 at 6:12 AM
cullenwade.bsky.social
Sitting down for part 1. It’s gonna be a long night.
Was Camp Crystal Lake a Christian camp back in the ‘50s? What’s with the hymn?
June 13, 2025 at 4:27 AM
cullenwade.bsky.social
🧵for my Friday the 13th marathon attempt. For the record, this is my ranking as of today. Other data: the first one I saw was Jason Takes Manhattan. The first I saw in theaters was Freddy vs. Jason. My favorite Jason is Kane Hodder.
June 13, 2025 at 3:35 AM
cullenwade.bsky.social
Hazel is helping me with my research. “How many pit bulls are in there?”
Latest acquisition from @mcfarland.bsky.social & @bpduggan.bsky.social
#booksky #horrorsky #dogsky #horrorstudies
April 30, 2025 at 10:36 PM
cullenwade.bsky.social
Thanks to the power of professional photography & judicious cropping, I finally have an author photo that makes me look appropriately writerly & minimally like a doofus.
Spouse (regrettably) cropped out.
www.mccownphotography.com
A Caucasian man with a large greying beard, short cropped hair & glasses, in a brown & black striped turtleneck sweater, looking to the left & smiling.
April 13, 2025 at 4:45 PM
cullenwade.bsky.social
A historic moment: March 13, 2020, the last time I thought “conspiracy theorist” was a cute, politically neutral thing.
A screenshot of a letterboxd review, dated March 13, 2020, of the movie Crawlers (2020). It reads “If you’re gonna write a conspiracy theorist character into your film, at least make them talk about some interesting deep conspiracy theories and not just basic ass ‘aliens exist, moon landing fake, feds spy on you’ shit.”
March 22, 2025 at 3:54 PM
cullenwade.bsky.social
Here’s 40 great but somewhat lesser known #horror films directed by women because any day is a great one to celebrate female filmmakers but especially #internationalwomensday
#letterboxd #horrorsky #filmsky
Advantageous, Amer, Apartment 7A, Bad Things, Black Christmas, Brides to Be, Broken Mirrors, Carver, Culture Shock, Dark Angel: The Ascent, Face of Evil, Fatal Frame, Girls Dance With the Dead, Good Manners, Hard Labor, Head Count, House of the Dead (aka Alien Zone), Huesera, Ju-On: White Ghost, Black Ghost, Kill Your Lover Lurkers, The Mafu Cage, Messiah of Evil, Most Beautiful Island, Murdercise, Pure, Salome, Slumber Party Massacre 2021, Slumber Party Massacre II, Spookies, Strange Girls, Stripped to Kill, The Stylist, Torn Hearts, Under Your Bed, The Velvet Vampire, Violation, Visible Secret, Welcome to Hell, Wishing Stairs
March 8, 2025 at 8:25 PM
cullenwade.bsky.social
Yo I just got my 1000th #letterboxd follower, let’s goooooo
A screenshot of the letterboxd profile of user “tobe_whooper” showing 1000 followers
March 8, 2025 at 6:01 AM
cullenwade.bsky.social
#WomenInHorrorMonth: A woman invented the monster movie. The Lost World, the first SFX-heavy full-length creature feature, turns 100 this year & was written by Marion Fairfax.

Bonus fact: she was a native of Richmond VA. #2up2down
Black & white autographed photo of a young Marion Fairfax
March 4, 2025 at 1:37 AM