The writer discusses the work of New York–based artist Jillian Mcdonald, a sort of horror-culture sociologist who studies the differences between zombies and vampires. Mcdonald's study and observation led to Horror Make-up, a 2006 performance in which she turned herself from a pleasant-looking young woman into a complete zombie while riding the L train in New York. She has progressed from this transitory beginning to more complicated narratives. In her most recent work, RedRum, she plays with the horror-movie conventions found in The Shining, a classic 1980 film directed by Stanley Kubrick.