While Barbara Creed's theory has undoubtedly achieved success in Anglo-Saxon academic literature, its engagement with Spanish cinema is far less so. It is surprising, to say the least, that within the historical context of a national cinema subjected, from the institutional political censors of the Franco regime to a fierce patriarchal system, the concept of the monstrous-feminine has not received the prominence it deserves. From the late Franco era and the transition to democracy, periods in which the construction of new female subjectivities was beginning to take shape beyond the horror genre, the monstrous-feminine could have unleashed its most subversive potential, which has now erupted in all its impulses and paradoxes with the incorporation of young filmmakers into the film industry. This issue of Comparative Cinema explores the various applications of Creed's "monstrous-feminine" concept to Spanish cinema through an exclusive interview with the author, a dialogue between Itxaso del Castillo and Alejandro Melero, and a series of articles focusing on films such as Creatura, Furtivos, La criatura, Salve Maria, [REC], Exorcismo, La endemoniada, Witching and Bitching, and more. The issue also features the dossier "Las atracciones o el otro propósito del cine," which contains previously unpublished Spanish translations of foundational texts by Tom Gunning on his concept of "attraction cinema."

Issue funded by the research project "Producción de nuevas subjetividades en los personajes femeninos y las actrices: el  cine español del final de la dictadura a la post-transición (1975-1992)" (financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, ref. PID2021-124377NB-I00) https://www.upf.edu/web/nuevas-subjectividades-femeninas-cine-espanol-1975-1992