Nik McGrath
About WiHM
Women in Horror Month (WiHM) celebrates its 11th year in 2020! The international movement is about acknowledging, sharing and celebrating works by and featuring women in the horror genre. It’s also about creating a database of WiHM events and projects in February.
I first became aware of WiHM thanks to Mel’s brilliant work at the Melbourne Horror Film Society (MHFS)! Her screening of Goodnight Mommy (2014) in February 2017, written and directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, was the first WiHM screening at MHFS. I found something in horror that I could truly relate to and feel passionately about, horror directed by women featuring stories about women.
Goodnight Mommy (2014)
This inspired me to create a list (I’m an archivist, we love lists!) of Horror Films Directed by Women on Letterboxd. So far I have 131 films listed. I’ve only seen 29% on this list! I’ve found many of these films are really hard to come by, but the challenge makes the discoveries all the more sweet.
My History with Horror
I’ve become a horror fan over the past 3 years or so through my exposure to many brilliant films at MHFS, and the passion of horror fans. Before I became a regular at MHFS, I dabbled in horror films.
One of the biggest impacts a horror film had over me from a very early age was seeing Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) possibly a decade after it came out. I saw it late one night on TV, refusing to go to bed, I was captivated by the soundscape, the screams, and the suspense. Mum would put her hands over my eyes every time the shark appeared, but that only further ignited my imagination. I think I was about 5 years old. Fast forward to the first year of high school and I used a sample of John Williams’ iconic score in a drama class interpretive dance with a group of classmates. I’ve seen Jaws so many times now, it has become part of my psyche. I love this film.
Another iconic horror film which left a big impression on me at high school was Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). I had a friend who was obsessed with Anthony Perkins. Then I had an English teacher who would roll the TV and VCR into the classroom, and rather than teach, she would put on a vampire film then leave the room. We saw so many vampire films. I remember seeing F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922) and Joel Schumacher’s The Lost Boys (1987).
Why do I mention all these men when I should be talking about women in horror? I wanted to make the point that historically women have not had the same opportunities to direct and feature in films as men, and this is especially prevalent in horror.
31 Days of Horror
So, to further my horror education, last year I decided to watch a horror film every day of October, all directed by women. In alphabetical order, here are the 31 films I watched:
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014), director Ana Lily Amirpour
American Mary (2013), directors Jen Soska and Sylvia Soska
American Psycho (2000), director Mary Harron
Among Friends (2012), director Danielle Harris
Blood & Donuts (1995), director Holly Dale
Blood Diner (1987), director Jackie Kong
Blood Punch (2014), director Madellaine Paxson
Carrie (2013), director Kimberly Pierce
Faust et Méphistophèles (1903), director Alice Guy (world's first female director)
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), director Rachel Talalay
Honeymoon (2014), director Leigh Janiak
In My Skin (2002), director Marina de Van
Jennifer’s Body (2009), director Kathryn Kusama
Kiss of the Damned (2012), director Xan Cassavetes
Mirror Mirror (1990), director Marina Sargenti
Near Dark (1987), director Kathryn Bigelow
Pet Sematary (1989), director Mary Lambert
Pet Sematary 2 (1992), director Mary Lambert
Ravenous (1999), director Antonia Bird
Razor Tooth (2007), director Patricia Harrington
Silent House (2011), directors Laura Lau and Chris Kentis
Slumber Party Massacre (1982), director Amy Holden Jones
Slumber Party Massacre II (1987), director Deborah Brock
Slumber Party Massacre III (1990), director Sally Mattison
Suspense (1913), director Lois Weber (first American woman to direct a full-length feature film)
The Babadook (2014), director Jennifer Kent
The Being (1983), director Jackie Kong
The Bye Bye Man (2017), director Stacy Title
The Last Supper (1995), director Stacy Title
The Mafu Cage / Don't Ring the Doorbell (1978), director Karen Arthur
Trouble Every Day (2001), director Claire Denis
Watching horror directed by women every day for 31 days led me to make an observation about myself. I enjoy films directed by women, because women often have to fight to have their stories told. Many of the directors of these films also wrote the story, and produced. I can’t say I loved every film on this list, but I was happy to watch all of these films and support the work of female filmmakers.
Nik can be found on Instagram @bleedingheartprints and Twitter @n_l_mcgrath
_______________
This is the first of a 3 part article by Nik McGrath, who will also be screening Dans Ma Peau (2002) as part of Women in Horror Month on Tuesday the 11th of February. You can find the event details here.