Women In Horror Series: “Hellraiser”

"I have seen the future of horror and his name is Clive Barker." So declared reigning horror master Stephen King upon the publication of Barker's first story collection, Books of Blood, in 1984. In the decades since Barker rose to prominence as one of the genre's best and most innovative creators, but he's immortalized for a specific contribution...

Women In Horror Series: “The Slumber Party Massacre”

With a title like The Slumber Party Massacre, you know what you're getting into - or not. Written by activist Rita Mae Brown as a parody of the slasher genre but directed by Amy Holden Jones as straight horror, the clashing visions result in a unique for the time (if discordant) mishmash of dark humor, graphic gore,...

Women In Horror Series: “Black Christmas”

Murders on a holiday. A mystery man stalking women. Teenage girls trapped in a house. Sound familiar? The 1974 Canadian cult classic Black Christmas never reached the same level of recognition as the 1978 film that drew heavy inspiration from it - aka, John Carpenter's legendary Halloween. Both films eschew gore for suspense and utilize their low budget to...

Bright Wall/Dark Room: “Though I Do Not Know The Way”

Absolutely thrilled to share the piece I contributed to Bright Wall/Dark Room this month. "Though I Do Not Know The Way," part of BWDR's timely Survival Kit issue, is about The Lord of the Rings, mental illness, and fear. Frodo’s fear, his pain, is not a flaw to be overcome or eradicated. It must be...

All Right, Y’all, Let’s Shout Out Some Of My Favorite Fictional Moms

Putting this haphazard list together spur of the moment only reminded me just how badly mothers lack decent media representation. The majority are either dead, too absent to matter, flawless inspirations without character, or evil corruptors. They’re, especially, almost all white, cisgender, heterosexual, and able-bodied. Sigh. Please tell me your favorites and any I’ve missed! Cordelia...

“I Am The Thing That Monsters Have Nightmares About”: Thank You Letters To The Scooby Gang

I've watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer since I was eleven years old. At twenty-seven, I reflect. Thank you Willow, for showing that while society may ostracize you as a shy, socially awkward, bookish computer nerd, there’s nothing wrong with you; those are, in fact, your strengths. People who value and uphold you exist out there,...

Bright Wall/Dark Room Contribution – “We Contain Multitudes”

I'm thrilled and honored to announce I have a piece in this month's issue of the remarkable Bright Wall/Dark Room! I wrote about my life-long emotional connection to the protagonists of Studio Ghibli, and you can find it on BWDR's website. I highly encourage you to subscribe if you can. Their content is masterful and worth...

Thomas Harris, Clarice Starling, and Me

The name Hannibal Lecter was a constant in my household. Long before I was cognizant of the context, I knew the infamous character and his creator, Thomas Harris, were held in reverence. My mom and sister vociferously devoured (pun intended) the 1981 novel Red Dragon and its fame-eclipsing sequel, The Silence of the Lambs, on...

John Wick: Chapter 2 Is A Cathartic Balm To The Soul

Keanu Reeves is American cinema’s greatest action star. Wait, what about — nope. It’s Keanu. Over thirty years in showbusiness, dozens of revered films to his credit, an inarguable pop culture icon with chameleon-like genre versatility, and it took until 2014’s majestic, breathtaking sleeper hit John Wick for the man to finally start receiving, in slow drips,...

We Need To Talk About Split

(Spoilers from word one.) M. Night Shyamalan and I have always had a complicated viewer-filmmaker relationship. He directed three of my most beloved movies — Signs, The Sixth Sense, and Unbreakable, the latter an underrated masterpiece. He also made one of my most loathed, The Last Airbender, a tone-deaf white-washed adaptation of the stunningly progressive animated series of...