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| Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween |
Last year’s Horror Week was so awesome that we’re doing it again this year!
Confession: I love horror films. Sometimes I endlessly scroll through Netflix in search of the film that will most scare the shit out of me. Of course, many horror films subject their women characters to endless torture, brutal deaths (usually as punishment for engaging in sexual relationships with men), and gratuitous nudity as they inevitably fall seventeen times while running from the Almost Always Male killer. I struggle to reconcile the sexism-induced rage I often experience while watching horror films–especially with this recent eruption of the “torture porn” genre–with my need to get the shit scared out of me. (You can play
The Never-Ending Story on repeat only so many times before The Nothing starts ruining your life For Real.) We can’t, however, ignore Carol J. Clover’s Final Girl theory. She argues in her book
Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film, that horror films are actually obsessed with feminism in that they force male viewers to identify with the Final Girl, the lone girl who doesn’t die, who gets her shit together, who kills the killer (or at least escapes him). I can think of several Final Girl films off the top of my head:
Halloween,
Scream,
Friday the 13th, and
many more exist. Others believe Clover’s theory doesn’t hold up, arguing that the Final Girl theory
excuses the audience’s sadism.
Well, Bitch Flicks is interested in reading your perspectives on women in horror films. We’ve compiled a list of women-centered horror-esque flicks from last year’s theme week for your perusal (see below). Note that “women-centered” doesn’t necessarily mean “feminist,” and the film you choose might in fact be anti-feminist; but as for guidelines, reviews should be from a feminist perspective (and you can certainly choose not to discuss the Final Girl theory in your review).
Feel free to take a look at last year’s reviews for some ideas:
Sleepaway Camp by Carrie Nelson
The Silence of the Lambs by Jeff Vorndam
The Sexiness of Slaughter: The Sexualization of Women in Slasher Films by Cali Loria
Amanda Young, Gender Erasure, and Saw’s Unexpected Pro-Woman Attitude by Elizabeth Ray
Hellraiser by Tatiana Christian
Drag Me To Hell by Stephanie Rogers
The Blair Witch Project by Alex DeBonis
The Descent by Robin Hitchcock
The Madwoman’s Journey from the Attic into the Television – The Female Gothic Novel and its Influence on Modern Horror Films by Sobia
Let This Feminist Vampire In by Natalie Wilson
House of 1000 Corpses by Dierdre Crimmins
A Feminist Reading of The Ring by Sobia
Ellen Ripley, A Feminist Film Icon, Battles Horrifying Aliens…And Patriarchy by Megan Kearns
Rosemary’s Baby: Marriage Can Be Terrifying by Stephanie Brown
As a reminder, these are a few basic guidelines for guest writers on our site:
>–We like most of our pieces to be 1,000 – 2,000 words, preferably with some images and links.
>–Please send your piece in the text of an email, including links to all images, no later than Friday, October 19th.
>–Include a 2-3 sentence bio for placement at the end of your piece.
Hi!
This is so awesome! I’m super pumped to submit! What email address should we send our submissions to? I probably just overlooked it, but I couldn’t find anything.
Hi Jeremy! So glad you’re excited about Women in Horror Films Week! We’re pretty excited about it too
You can email your submission to us at btchflcks@gmail.com. Looking forward to reading what you write!