Decter explores themes that are common in Ruilova's work including women as protagonists who confront existential and corporeal jeopardy, often trapped in narrative worlds that lack temporal and spatial cohesion.

Decter reviews Goner (2010) which, through its editing and POV, positions the viewer as assailant. While Ruilova attempts to address normative representation of women as hopeless victims in the horror genre, her protagonist, who is attacked by an invisible presence, is left without emancipation, which for Decter is problematic as it fails to subvert the genre.