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Women Make Horror
Filmmaking, Feminism, Genre
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Edited by:
Alison Peirse
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With contributions by:
Alison Peirse
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2020
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
"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"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"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."
— Goulishof 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."
— Typical Books: Horror Reading
“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"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"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 InternationalTopics
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Frontmatter
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Contents
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1. Women Make (Write, Produce, Direct, Shoot, Edit, and Analyze) Horror
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2. Stephanie Rothman and Vampiric Film Histories
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3. Inside Karen Arthur’s The Mafu Cage
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4. The Secret Beyond the Door: Daria Nicolodi and Suspiria’s Multiple Authorship
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5. Personal Trauma Cinema and the Experimental Videos of Cecelia Condit and Ellen Cantor
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6. Self-Reflexivity and Feminist Camp in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare
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7. Why Office Killer Matters
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8. Murders and Adaptations: Gender in American Psycho
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9. Gender, Genre, and Authorship in Ginger Snaps
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10. The Feminist Art Horror of the New French Extremity
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11. Women-Made Horror in Korean Cinema
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12. The Stranger With My Face International Film Festival and the Australian Female Gothic
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13. Slicing Up the Boys’ Club: The Female-Led Horror Anthology Film
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14. The Transnational Gaze in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
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15. Gigi Saul Guerrero and Her Latin American Female Monsters
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16. Uncanny Tales: Lucile Hadžihalilović’s Évolution
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17. The (Re)birth of Pregnancy Horror in Alice Lowe’s Prevenge
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18. The Rise of the Female Horror Filmmaker-Fan
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Acknowledgments
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Notes on Contributors
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Index
245
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
August 5, 2021
eBook ISBN:
9781978805156
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook ISBN:
9781978805156
Keywords for this book
Communications; horror genre deconstruction; halloween; festivals; academy; sexuality; female auteurs; global horror cinema; industry gatekeepers; Australia; Alison Peirse; body and horror; body; Gender Studies; experimental cinema; Women's Studies; Horror; Media Studies; filmmaker; Social Science; horror film history; Video; European; Criticism; East Asian; History; gender; Single Working Womens Day; horror and gender politics; academic; feminist film criticism; Latin American; horror film festivals; women horror screenwriters; women in genre film; fans; Arts; feminist cinema studies; female horror directors; Film; academic film criticism; horror film industry bias; feminism; femininity; international women directors; festival programmers; horror and the female body; women writers; writer; filmmaking; filmmakers; feminist horror filmmakers; North American; feminist horror studies; horror filmmaking women; women filmmakers; feminist film anthology; Genres; festival programmer; gender and horror cinema; gender and sexuality in film; women in horror film; women academics; Cultural Studies; female gaze in horror
Audience(s) for this book
For a non-specialist adult audience
