May 1, 2026
Auteur Almanac: May
Month 5 of Auteur Almanac: A Curation of Atmospheric, Alluring Assemblage Art
Welcome to Auteur Almanac, a new monthly series in which I will explore a unique dark theme curated through a gothic lens. Each installment will serve as a guide to the season, featuring these four categories:
- Visual Vault: A Moodboard
- The Midnight Marquee: A Movie Watchlist
- Ambient Accords: Fragrance Notes
- The Grim Advent: Curated Dates
This month is about the body as a specimen: the obsessive need to carve, collect, and keep what we love behind glass. Looking at the rows of jarred teeth, the delicate spinal columns, and the gleaming chrome of surgical trays, May is a tribute to the silence that lingers long after the heart stops beating.
Visual Vault
The Midnight Marquee
May (2022) - dir. Lucky McKee
Synopsis: A socially awkward veterinary assistant with a lazy eye and obsession with perfection descends into depravity after developing a crush on a boy with perfect hands.
Thoughts: I’m starting this month with the namesake of the issue (kind of lol). May isn’t just a lonely girl but a Shelley-esque curator of the ‘perfect’ person. There is something haunting in her want to preserve connection so badly that she is willing to sew it together herself. If you liked Pearl (2022) then this is for you. They both explore psychosis and a descent into violence from a woman’s perspective which is starting to gain more entries as a subgenre.
American Mary (2012) - dir. Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska
Synopsis: A young medical student struggling to pay tuition is drawn into the shady world of underground body-modification.
Thoughts: One thing the Soska sisters knew how to bring was the clinical gothic aesthetic and the remarkable non-judgmental space toward the body modification community. They depict procedures in such gruesome detail yet highlight that the individuals seeking them are emphasizing their need for autonomy. If you are looking for a “good for her” movie that shifts horror away from “the freak” and instead onto the “normal” people who abuse power then I would say to check this one out first.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) - dir. Jonathan Demme
Synopsis: Clarice Starling is a top student at the FBI’s training academy. Jack Crawford wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a violent psychopath, serving life behind bars for various acts of murder and cannibalism. Crawford believes that Lecter may have insight into a case and that Starling, as an attractive young woman, may be just the bait to draw him out.
Thoughts: How could I not mention the first, and only, horror film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture? Its enduring popularity stems from its elevation of the psychological thriller into something more visceral. The meticulous way Buffalo Bill treats skin as a fabric captures the idea that we can be preserved and changed and maybe not in the most ideal way. It explores objectification in a way that is scarily similar to taxidermy; it’s the physical reality of the body as a raw material. All that to say, it is terrifying in every way imaginable and definitely one of those movies that should be watched first if it has been sitting in a watchlist.
The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) - dir. André Øvredal
Synopsis: Father and son coroners receive a mysterious unidentified corpse with no apparent cause of death. As they attempt to examine the “Jane Doe,” they discover increasingly bizarre clues that hold the key to her terrifying secrets.
Thoughts: This is the epitome of haunting the narrative and proves that even a corpse can tell a story. The story is quite literally inside the body which makes it clinical, eerily quiet, and acts as a sacred puzzle and physical archive of trauma. Forcing the audience to look closer at the gore to find the narrative, it makes for a visceral and intellectually stimulating watch rather than just shocking.
The Eyes of My Mother (2016) - dir. Nicolas Pesce
Synopsis: A young, lonely woman is consumed by her deepest and darkest desires after tragedy strikes her quiet country life.
Thoughts: Shot in high-contrast black and white, this movie exudes minimalist, beautiful, and deeply haunting visuals. There is this eerie stillness that I was made to sit with from the beginning of the movie. Instead of solely relying on explicit gore, this movie focuses on the trauma, loneliness, and warped perspective of main character Francisca. I love when movies are just a little captivating yet haunting and that is exactly what this is.
Martyrs (2008) - dir. Pascal Laugier
Synopsis: A young woman’s quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tortured her as a child leads her and her best friend, also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.
Thoughts: I absolutely had to put this film last with how intense and terrifying the portrayal of hitting a philosophical limit is. The entire movie is about transcendence through trauma and although this is the movie most likely to scar you on this list, it does offer an interesting take on what lies beneath the physical shell.
Ambient Accords
The Grim Advent
I’ve curated some dates this May for those who love putting on a latex glove for some spring cleaning. A little reminder World Goth Day is at the end of this month! Start to curate a watchlist and figure out how you’re going to celebrate!
Monthly Celebrations
Asian American MonthPacific Islander Heritage MonthMystery MonthNational Photograph MonthDaily Celebrations
2: Brothers and Sisters Day3: Garden Meditation Day5: Cinco de Mayo6: Beverage Day9: Birth Mother’s Day9: National Babysitters Day9: Lost Sock Memorial Day10: Mother’s Day10: Lilac Sunday11: Eat What You Want Day11: Twilight Zone Day13: National Apple Pie Day15: National Chocolate Chip Day16: Love A Tree Day16: National Mimosa Day17: World Baking Day 18: International Museum Day22: World Goth Day25: Memorial Day