Revisiting and Updating H.P. Lovecraft’s “THe Dreams in the Witch House”: Jaume Balagueró’s Venus as a Contemporary Feminist Witch Tale

Abstract

Jaume Balagueró’s film Venus (2022) adapts H.P. Lovecraft’s short story “The Dreams in the itch House” (1933), which amalgamates characteristic traits of cosmic horror, but presents them around the horror archetype of the witch. Balagueró’s adaptation transforms Lovecraft’s tale into a cinematic narrative which arises as a contemporary feminist story that vindicates female empowerment in the era of fourth-wave feminism and the post-humanities. A comparative analysis between both textualities based on Gérard Genette’s narratological theories will pave the way for identifying intertextual, metatextual and hypertextual connections, while it will also underscore the evolving interpretation of the witch from a figure of monstrosity to an icon of feminist struggle against patriarchy.