enter: sensual terrors, an indispensable source of thought leadership
caro c. (they/them) is the non-binary final girl behind sensual terrors, a project which explores both the beauty and horror of identity.
they conceived the idea for the sensual terrors substack in january 2025, having been overtaken by the feral ecstasy of andrzej zuławski’s 1981 film possession on new year’s eve 2024.
they gave birth to sensual terrors on jan. 15, 2025, and published their first post about using rejection as redirection a day later. having been ghosted by one potential employer in the movie space and downright rejected by a couple others, caro decided to strike on their own — and make space for film in their life.
what started out as a radical act of spiritual survival blossomed into something so much bigger than that.
along with writing weekly dispatches about film culture, caro has consistently penned the “gut reactions” column, which contextualizes gory first-time movie watches (hence the gut part) with their cultural significance.
not only did they expand the scope of this cinematic special interest (first watches) to other cinephiles during the sinners craze in april and during pride with jennifer’s body, but they also ended up interviewing horror directors and horror authors about how they craft their work.
in may, caro also took a press trip to the university of pittsburgh library’s horror archives, which includes a vast collection of materials related to horror genre — particularly following the acquisition of blair witch project ephemera.
they interviewed the academic leads overseeing the horror program there, which bears the name of the greatest horror auteur pittsburgh has seen: george a. romero.
they later covered the dc/dox film festival in june 2025, which included a dark documentary co-produced by darren aronofsky, flexing their ability to draw out the horror in any work.
they also attended nyc-based jordan peele retrospective, “the other america: a cosmology of jordan peele’s us,” as press, riffing off their previous work regarding dualities (à la dead ringers) by covering body & soul in conversation with peele’s work.
along with highlighting latin filmmakers for hispanic heritage month, caro spent spooky season writing about horror, the black occult (hoodoo) and presenting on black representation in the genre.
november was marked by guillermo del toro’s frankenstein and how his re-imagining of mary shelley’s gothic tale touched something tender in viewers across the world.
as the year wraps up, caro continues to produce and moderate the “black gxrls on…” series, which is a substack live event featuring black women and non-binary co-panelists discussing film and fandom.
SENSUAL TERRORS 