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Book Review: 1000 Women in Horror, 1895-2018 by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

cover art for 1000 Women in Horror

1000 Women in Horror, 1895-2018 by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

BearManor Media, 2020

ISBN-13: 9781629333861

Available:  Hardcover, paperback ( Bookshop.org )

 

1000 Women in Horror, 1895-2018 is a beautiful book that includes the stars and women behind the scenes who have molded the horror genre. Heller-Nicholas provides a global view of the “vast number of women who have worked in the creation of dark and spooky movies for well over a century, both behind and in front of the camera, and in films both widely known and comparatively obscure.” The author includes an incomplete, as she mentions, but still impressive filmography of full-length movies directed or co-directed by women in an appendix. Also included interspersed throughout book are interviews with Rutanya Alda, Tara Anaïse, Tonjia Atomic, Anna Biller, Axelle Carolyn, Aislinn Clarke, BJ Colangelo, Mattie Do, Julia Ducournau, Jordan Hall, Catherine Hardwicke, Katherine Kean, Karen Lam, Izzy Lee, Barbara Magnolfi, Marsha Mason, Donna McRae, Patrushkha Mierzwa, Hannah Neurotica, Alexandra Paul, Isabel Peppard, Cassandra Peterson, Debbie Rochon, Mia’Kate Russell, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Elizabeth Shepherd, Jen and Sylvia Soska, Brinke Stevens, Barbie Wilde and Silvana Zancolò.

 

Since this is more of a reference book with entries in alphabetical order, readers may not want to read it from cover to cover of course. However, having done so myself, it is wonderful to see how many women, and by no means a complete list of them, have had a direct hand in horror films. I found it particularly interesting that Heller-Nicholas chose to include those in front of the camera. As she points out in her introduction, acting “is a job” and often requires hard work, dedication, and time.  With WiHM, we so often focus on the filmmakers that the actors themselves tend to go unnoticed in their efforts.

 

Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, a film critic from Melbourne, Australia, holds a PhD in Screen Studies from the University of Melbourne and is an Adjunct Professor at Deakin University and a Research Fellow at RMIT University. She has written eight books on cult, horror and exploitation cinema with an emphasis on gender politics. Given the quality of the research and care that went into 1000 Women in Horror, 1895-2018, I will definitely be checking out her other work. I do hope that at some point in the future there will be a Kindle edition released for accessibility.

 

Highly recommended

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Editor’s note: 1000 Women in Horror, 1895-2018  is a nominee on the final ballot for the 2020 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Nonfiction. 

Posted on March 7, 2021 by , Reply

Magazine Review: Horror Scholar Volume 1, edited by Cecelia Abate

Horror Scholar Journal Volume 1 edited by Cecilia Abate

Horror Scholar, 2019

Available: free and online at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-dPP15cficp5M8LxuSHz5K5TKLSqxo8J/view

This is a review for the first issue of Horror Scholar’s (Cecilia Abate) experimental themed literary magazine, Horror Scholar Journal, Volume 1. She launched the journal “in response to the intimidating process of pitching to formal literary magazines and the niche community of horror scholars looking to further their work” (p. 4). The focus of the first issue is American Horror Story.

Spinster Eskie, in the article titled “Coven’s Forgettable Witch”, discusses the blank canvas trope in horror, focusing on Zoe and how her role was “a safe bet for the series (white, boring, etc.)”. Rather than taking a chance on giving attention to Queenie or Nana would have rejected tradition, something the author argues that witches typically break.

In Dodie Miller-Gould’s article, “Gothic Representations of Mothers and Daughters in AHS: Freakshow“, uses Gothic tropes to discuss Elsa Mars and her mothering, or lack thereof, regarding Dot and Bette Tattler, and Barbara (Imma Wiggles).

Abate herself argues, in “The Pop-Horror Temporality of Cult and Apocalypse“, that these two seasons in particular stand out as being closer to the viewer than the others, as they address what was occurring and worrying people at that point in time. This is especially true of Cult and its political commentary.

The last article, Paula Ashe’s “Class Anxiety in Murder House“, presents good information, but is admittedly a dense read. Ashe argues that American Horror Story: Murder House is “an ideologically potent response to the realities of risk society colliding with the values of neoliberalism” (p. 25),  and that “at its heart, American Horror Story is a conservative morality tale about a neoliberal family in material crisis”(p. 22), making valuable points in that regard. Be prepared for a lot of information in this one.

I think the only criticism I have for this volume is that it could go through another edit, as I noticed a few typos, but other than that, this was a very solid first issue for Horror Scholar Journal. It is worth a read if you are interested in horror analysis, but be warned that if you have not viewed the seasons of American Horror Story that are discussed, there are spoilers ahead. I’m looking forward to the next issue. Highly recommended.

Contains: spoilers

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on February 2, 2020 by , Reply