Women Make Horror: Filmmaking, Feminism, Genre

Published by Rutgers University Press 2020

Women Make Horror

Filmmaking, Feminism, Genre

Edited by: Alison Peirse
With contributions by: Alison Peirse , Alicia Kozma , Alexandra Heller-Nicholas , Martha Shearer , Katia Houde , Tosha R. Taylor , Dahlia Schweitzer , Laura Mee , Katarzyna Paszkiewicz , Maddison McGillvray , Molly Kim , Donna McRae , Erin Harrington , Lindsey Decker , Valeria Villegas Lindvall , Janice Loreck , Amy C. Chambers and Sonia Lupher

https://doi.org/10.36019/9781978805156

Overview
Contents

About this book

Winner of the the 2021 Best Edited Collection Award from BAFTSS
Winner of the 2021 British Fantasy Award in Best Non-Fiction
Finalist for the 2020 Bram Stoker Award® for Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction
Runner-Up for Book of the Year in the 19th Annual Rondo Halton Classic Horror Awards

“But women were never out there making horror films, that’s why they are not written about – you can’t include what doesn’t exist.”
“Women are just not that interested in making horror films.”

This is what you get when you are a woman working in horror, whether as a writer, academic, festival programmer, or filmmaker. These assumptions are based on decades of flawed scholarly, critical, and industrial thinking about the genre. Women Make Horror sets right these misconceptions. Women have always made horror. They have always been an audience for the genre, and today, as this book reveals, women academics, critics, and filmmakers alike remain committed to a film genre that offers almost unlimited opportunities for exploring and deconstructing social and cultural constructions of gender, femininity, sexuality, and the body.

Women Make Horror explores narrative and experimental cinema; short, anthology, and feature filmmaking; and offers case studies of North American, Latin American, European, East Asian, and Australian filmmakers, films, and festivals. With this book we can transform how we think about women filmmakers and genre.

Author / Editor information

ALISON PEIRSE is an associate professor in film and media at the University of Leeds, UK. She is author of After Dracula: The 1930s Horror Film and co-editor of Korean Horror Cinema.

Reviews

“It’s about time a book like this came to light! Why wouldn’t women make horror? We’ve been dealing with it forever. As artists we often bring up the very things we are most afraid of as a way of facing them, and there’s a lot to fear in this world where men still dominate. May books like this -- eloquently written -- help to bring about a shift toward equality and embracing female artistic perspectives, whatever they may be.”

— Katt Shea, Feature film writer/director

"This thrilling collection of essays confirms what women have known since Mary Shelley: patriarchy is scary, and the horror genre can gruesomely, gloriously play out its nightmares. It will jumpstart a new playlist of women’s horror cinema and will provoke us to rethink the films we’ve already seen."

— Linda Mizejewski, distinguished professor of women's, gender and sexuality studies at Ohio State University

"New Releases--2020"
https://www.ladiesofhorrorfiction.com/lohf-new-releases/

— Ladies of Horror Fiction

"Clearly written by people who love the genre, but are also experts in their field. And while the level of detail is certainly indicative of scholarly journals, it is clear that the authors know what they are talking about, and are also excited to share their distinct viewpoints and theories. Women Make Horror is an excellent addition to any fan’s library who is interested in the scholarly examination of a genre that is often demonized or dismissed by critics."

— Conskipper

Typical Books: Horror Reading video review of Women Make Horror
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ecke5wDYSs

— Typical Books: Horror Reading

"Women Make Horror excels in providing rigorous criticism of horror cinema in terms
of the genre’s production and reception....As a collection, Women Make Horror succeeds in this aim and provides new interpretative angles which will intrigue fans, students, and scholars interested in the future of horror cinema."

— Goulish

"There are many reasons why Women Make Horror is an important book: it responds to its time (the #metoo movement, the horror resurgence and the renaissance of women in horror), it starts the uphill battle of filling the gap in the scholarship regarding women as makers of horror and carves up space for filmmakers and the writers of the book to be recognised within the ‘boys club’ that is the industry and academia (as mentioned by Peirse in her chapter). The book stands as a point of entry for anyone who wants to delve into the issue of gender in the horror genre, while also offering avenues for research to be expanded."

— The Dark Arts Journal

"Women Make Horror would make an invaluable reference tool for anyone writing about or creating horror as its scope is broad and varying. Its tone is heavily academic but so rich in its offerings that there is no doubt that repeated readings will provide a rewarding experience. Upon finishing the book, I found to my great delight that I had amassed a treasure trove list of previously undiscovered films, festivals and resources to sink my teeth into. As a woman who often writes from a feminist perspective, I found this collection of essays (the first all-female and female edited book of its kind) deeply moving, oftentimes upsetting and always incredibly inspirational. As one contributor remarks: ‘the impossible can only become possible when we know it is already being done.'"

— Ghouls Magazine

"The aim and the encouragement of the book is clear. It points out the potential of the female voice in genre filmmaking and horror as a means of expression and as a challenge to the status quo, a possible path towards gender equality and resistance."

— Film International

"Clearly written by people who love the genre, but are also experts in their field. And while the level of detail is certainly indicative of scholarly journals, it is clear that the authors know what they are talking about, and are also excited to share their distinct viewpoints and theories. Women Make Horror is an excellent addition to any fan’s library who is interested in the scholarly examination of a genre that is often demonized or dismissed by critics."

— Conskipper

"The aim and the encouragement of the book is clear. It points out the potential of the female voice in genre filmmaking and horror as a means of expression and as a challenge to the status quo, a possible path towards gender equality and resistance."

— Film International

"This thrilling collection of essays confirms what women have known since Mary Shelley: patriarchy is scary, and the horror genre can gruesomely, gloriously play out its nightmares. It will jumpstart a new playlist of women’s horror cinema and will provoke us to rethink the films we’ve already seen."

— Linda Mizejewski, distinguished professor of women's, gender and sexuality studies at Ohio State University

"New Releases--2020"
https://www.ladiesofhorrorfiction.com/lohf-new-releases/

— Ladies of Horror Fiction

"There are many reasons why Women Make Horror is an important book: it responds to its time (the #metoo movement, the horror resurgence and the renaissance of women in horror), it starts the uphill battle of filling the gap in the scholarship regarding women as makers of horror and carves up space for filmmakers and the writers of the book to be recognised within the ‘boys club’ that is the industry and academia (as mentioned by Peirse in her chapter). The book stands as a point of entry for anyone who wants to delve into the issue of gender in the horror genre, while also offering avenues for research to be expanded."

— The Dark Arts Journal

Typical Books: Horror Reading video review of Women Make Horror
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ecke5wDYSs

— Typical Books: Horror Reading

"Women Make Horror would make an invaluable reference tool for anyone writing about or creating horror as its scope is broad and varying. Its tone is heavily academic but so rich in its offerings that there is no doubt that repeated readings will provide a rewarding experience. Upon finishing the book, I found to my great delight that I had amassed a treasure trove list of previously undiscovered films, festivals and resources to sink my teeth into. As a woman who often writes from a feminist perspective, I found this collection of essays (the first all-female and female edited book of its kind) deeply moving, oftentimes upsetting and always incredibly inspirational. As one contributor remarks: ‘the impossible can only become possible when we know it is already being done.'"

— Ghouls Magazine

"Women Make Horror excels in providing rigorous criticism of horror cinema in terms
of the genre’s production and reception....As a collection, Women Make Horror succeeds in this aim and provides new interpretative angles which will intrigue fans, students, and scholars interested in the future of horror cinema."

— Goulish

“It’s about time a book like this came to light! Why wouldn’t women make horror? We’ve been dealing with it forever. As artists we often bring up the very things we are most afraid of as a way of facing them, and there’s a lot to fear in this world where men still dominate. May books like this -- eloquently written -- help to bring about a shift toward equality and embracing female artistic perspectives, whatever they may be.”

— Katt Shea, Feature film writer/director

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
1. Women Make (Write, Produce, Direct, Shoot, Edit, and Analyze) Horror Alison Peirse Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. Stephanie Rothman and Vampiric Film Histories Alicia Kozma Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	24
3. Inside Karen Arthur’s The Mafu Cage Alexandra Heller-Nicholas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
4. The Secret Beyond the Door: Daria Nicolodi and Suspiria’s Multiple Authorship Martha Shearer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	47
5. Personal Trauma Cinema and the Experimental Videos of Cecelia Condit and Ellen Cantor Katia Houde Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	60
6. Self-Reflexivity and Feminist Camp in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare Tosha R. Taylor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	69
7. Why Office Killer Matters Dahlia Schweitzer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
8. Murders and Adaptations: Gender in American Psycho Laura Mee Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	91
9. Gender, Genre, and Authorship in Ginger Snaps Katarzyna Paszkiewicz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	104
10. The Feminist Art Horror of the New French Extremity Maddi Mcgillvray Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	122
11. Women-Made Horror in Korean Cinema Molly Kim Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	133
12. The Stranger With My Face International Film Festival and the Australian Female Gothic Donna Mcrae Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
13. Slicing Up the Boys’ Club: The Female-Led Horror Anthology Film Erin Harrington Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	156
14. The Transnational Gaze in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night Lindsey Decker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	170
15. Gigi Saul Guerrero and Her Latin American Female Monsters Valeria Villegas Lindvall Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
16. Uncanny Tales: Lucile Hadžihalilović’s Évolution Janice Loreck Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	196
17. The (Re)birth of Pregnancy Horror in Alice Lowe’s Prevenge Amy C. Chambers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209
18. The Rise of the Female Horror Filmmaker-Fan Sonia Lupher Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	222
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	237
Notes on Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245