“Sit down, little boys, the grown-ups are talking,” swears author Alexandra Heller-Nicholas at the beginning of the brand new documentary, 1000 Women in Horror, based on her 2020 book. Documenting the years 1895-2018, the presentation brings together a diverse panel of women filmmakers, including Mattie Do (The Long Walk), Nikyatu Jusu (Nanny), and Cerise Howard (Program Director of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival), to dissect the roles women have played in horror. In fact, you could argue that Mary Shelly, who conceived the idea for Frankenstein when she was 18, birthed the genre. Throughout history, women have played an integral part in horror films, both in front of and behind the camera. This documentary serves as a timely reminder that women have commanded the conversation and frequently been squashed by cis straight white men. The doc also disproves the long-held belief that women don’t like horror.
1000 Women in Horror is a welcome addition to a growing collection of Shudder-helmed documentaries, following Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror and the mini-series Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror. All three encompass marginalized voices that have had to fight, tooth and nail, to be heard and seen. As Do blasts: she doesn’t need a dick to hold a camera. That well-worn rage, and rightfully so, threads together a documentary in which women declare that “enough is enough,” as they reclaim their seats at the table.
Such names as Akela Cooper (writer of M3GAN and Malignant), Kate Siegel (Hush, Midnight Mass, The Haunting of Hill House), Toby Posner (part of family filmmaking trio, The Adams Family, behind films like Hellbender and Mother of Flies), April Wolfe (Black Christmas (2019)), Brea Grant (Lucky, 12 Hour Shift), Mary Harron (American Psycho), Roseanne Liang (Shadow in the Cloud), and the legendary Lin Shaye offer pointed insight into their experiences in horror storytelling. It certainly hasn’t been easy, and truth be told, they’ve had to shed some blood, sweat, and tears just to get their movies made. Women have always faced the same problem: fragile men and their egos. It doesn’t matter how much experience a woman filmmaker has. They will be gaslit into questioning their work. 1000 Women in Horror confronts the patriarchal system like Zena the Warrior Princess heading into battle. No men will be left standing.
Judging by online comments from men, there’s already a flurry of disgusting and misogynistic comments being made. And it’ll likely never stop. Director Donna Davies excellently draws out some sage wisdom from the panel. The documentary flips through the various stages of womanhood—girlhood, school years (including menstruation), adulthood, work life, pregnancy and motherhood, and aging—with a fine-tooth comb. The films that are discussed include Bad Seed, Us, Poltergeist, Interview with the Vampire, The Exorcist, Carrie, Ginger Snaps, Black Christmas (2019), Nanny, The Hair Stylist, Rosemary’s Baby, The Babadook, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Suspiria (1977), and Relic. The group dives deep into the dynamics between older and younger women, how aging impacts shared stories, the catharsis found in rape/revenge films, and what it means to be a woman.
Kate Siegel even describes, in great detail, her unexpected C-section during the birth of her first child. It’s that raw, visceral honesty that makes 1000 Women in Horror a crucial must-watch. It lays all the cards on the table and doesn’t shy away from the sometimes devastating reality of being a woman in horror filmmaking. As inclusive as the online “community” claims to be, there’s still plenty of work that needs to be done. When the documentary drops, sit back and watch the incel babies lose their fucking minds. I’ll grab the popcorn.
1000 Women in Horror hits Shudder this Friday (March 20)
2 responses to “Review: ‘1000 Women in Horror’ documentary will make incel babies rage”
I thought it was a pretty mean doc. As a Woman, I wanted to love it. Many of the moments that were meant to be big cheering moments felt like hollow retread of the post me too movement confusing power with mean nature narcissism. I was so excited for this and so let down. Power and Grace can (and should) go hand and hand. Maybe the scary truth is that most of my sisters here aren’t failing because of male lead projects, it’s just that their ideas aren’t that fresh. The parts that I really loved focused on the Women achieving their goals, the part I hated the most was the unnecessary trash talk “female empowerment” at the expense of others. I’m certainly not an “Incel baby”. and I’m not raging at the film, I suspect MOST won’t even know it exists. It just feels so condescending to me that as a viewer I’m treated like I should be excited by crass rudeness. “I didn’t need a ****ing D** to hold the camera. In fact, I think it would be pretty hard to hold a camera with your c***. ” Smugly stated by Mediocre film Maker Mattie Do. Um, Okay girl… When I watched your interview with Locrano Film Festival you claimed to champion films and story telling “For Everyone”. As a Woman, I want to feel excited about this, but it feels more condescending to me. I did like the RARE moments that the Women actually talked about their craft.
P.S. Black Christmas (2019) is one of the worst films I have ever seen in theaters. It wasn’t maligned because of the patriarchy, it was just bad.
“Maybe the scary truth is that most of my sisters here aren’t failing because of male lead projects, it’s just that their ideas aren’t that fresh.”
Respectfully disagree. There are tons of woman directed films that are just as fresh, or quite frankly, even fresher, than their male counterparts. As much progress has been made, women still face an uphill battle to get their films made.