In Robin Wood’s renowned essay “The American Nightmare” he discusses the family as being the site of repression. His essay primarily focuses on how families limit expression of anything other than white, heterosexual, monogamous behaviors. Most clearly he talks about how the sexuality of children and women are regulated by having other forms of sexuality repressed. As an extension of his argument I suggest that horror film families reject most that which is not heterosexual, white, middle class, and performatively acceptable. What I mean by this is the “Keeping up with the Joneses” syndrome. Interlopers are ejected; people who don’t look right, act right, or just don’t “fit in”, are eliminated or hidden. Similarly in V.C. Andrews’ book Flowers in the Attic the children who are a product of incest are locked in the attic so their mother can secure her father’s fortune. Again, this concept is not new, however, I wholeheartedly believe the most visibly memorable representation of this trope comes to us via Pet Sematary’s Zelda Goldman (played by Andre Hubastek). {read}