From the silent era until today, the nightmares that have haunted our screen have been sculpted and embodied by women, but many of those artists have gone unrecognised – a historical oversight this documentary duly takes a chainsaw to.
　　Is horror a man’s world? You might assume so – but you won’t be thinking that way for long once you investigate the vast contribution women have made to horror movies for well over a century. In 2020, award-winning Australian critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas released the definitive book on the subject: 1000 Women in Horror, 1895–2018, an encyclopaedic work celebrating the many women – filmmakers, actors, producers and technicians – who have shaped the genre since the moment cinema’s light first flickered.
　　In her complementary documentary, US director Donna Davies interviews a stack of powerhouse women in the horror scene, and assembles a bevy of clips from classic and little-known films that women have left their mark on. From filmmaker and programmer Kier-la Janisse (Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror, MIFF 2021) and veteran performer Lin Shaye (A Nightmare on Elm Street; the Insidious franchise) to legendary Melbourne film scholars Cerise Howard and Heller-Nicholas herself, interviewees share their personal relationship with horror, addressing each theme the documentary explores sequentially: pregnancy, dolls, ageing, final girls and menstruation, to name just a few. Offering insights into the gender politics often explored through the genre, it’s a discussion that will continue even after you leave the cinema – while the smorgasbord of films referenced will have you scrambling for a pen and paper to take notes.
　　”Sit down, little boys; the grown-ups are talking.” – Alexandra Heller-Nicholas