Professors, experts, and storytellers giving thought-provoking lectures in NYC bars.

Lecture: "The Ring, The Wailing & More: Ghost Films of East Asia"
Speaker: Dr. Jason Abbott

Join us for a chilling and insightful evening as Dr. Jason Abbott explores why some of the most haunting ghost films come from Japan and South Korea. Far from simple scares, films like The Ring, The Grudge, The Wailing, and Exhuma emerge from societies marked by colonialism, war, and a powerful urge toward "official forgetting."

This talk examines what ghost films are really doing in East Asian cinema: why the dead keep returning, what unresolved histories they embody, and why the image of the haunted woman carries such immense cultural weight. Dr. Abbott will unpack how these films turn buried trauma into unforgettable horror, revealing the deeper political and social anxieties lurking beneath the jump scares.

Dr. Jason P. Abbott is Professor of Political Science at Montclair State University, specializing in International Relations and Asian politics. His recent work focuses on historical memory and popular culture. He has appeared on BBC, Al Jazeera, CNN, and NPR—and he enjoys a good scare.

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