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WiHM: 5 Classic Horror Movies Co-Written by Women

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WiHM female writers

We love seeing female screenwriters working in horror. Films like Cam and Ginger Snaps were beautifully woven by women who brought their experiences and insight into their work, and there are several incredible female directors who play double-duty as screenwriter.

But we rarely see recognition for the female co-writers who worked behind the scenes to flesh out the scripts of classic horror films. These women are often overshadowed, but they deserve every bit of recognition for their efforts.

Let’s take a moment to appreciate these women and their excellent work.

Halloween (1978)

via IMDb

Of course, everyone knows that the late, great Debra Hill was instrumental to John Carpenter’s oeuvre. Hill served as a producer on dozens of films (including Clue and The Dead Zone), but she also worked with Carpenter to co-write Halloween, Halloween II, The Fog, and Escape From L.A.

Halloween was such a wild success that it spawned several sequels and reboots, qualifying it as one of the most popular franchises in the horror genre.

King Kong (1933)

via RKO

In 1926, Ruth Rose was working as the official historian on a New York Zoological Society expedition to the Galapagos Islands. She went on to co-write the epic, iconic feature starring the great Fay Wray and a giant ape.

Two writers had initially worked on the script; one – Edgar Wallace – died before he was able to make any significant changes. The other, James Ashmore Creelman, wrote a script that was supposedly bogged down by slow pacing and flowery dialogue.

Rose was given the script to rework it; she cut out long, unimportant scenes to make the film more fast-paced, tweaked the characters, and can be credited with writing such memorable lines as “Oh, no. It wasn’t the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast”.

Suspiria (1977)

via IMDb

Dario Argento’s eye candy classic was co-written with actress Daria Nicolodi (Shock, Tenebre, Deep Red). She’s said that the film – which was her first screenwriting credit – was something that she wrote for her partner, Argento.

In an interview with GoreZone Magazine UK, Nicolodi shared that Suspiria was inspired by a story her grandmother told her about her experience at an acting academy — she discovered that the staff were “teaching arts, but also black magic”.

Dead Alive (1992)

via IMDb

This classic Kiwi splatter-gorefest had a great team behind the screams. Dead Alive (aka Braindead) was co-written by Stephen Sinclair, Peter Jackson, and his Oscar-winning long-term partner, Fran Walsh.

Walsh has collaborated with Jackson on all of his scripts and also wrote some of the original music for The Lord of the Rings (for which she won a “Best Original Song” Oscar to go along with her “Best Adapted Screenplay” and “Best Picture” wins).

Blacula (1972)

via IMDb

Joan Torres co-wrote the Saturn award-winning Blacula and Scream, Blacula, Scream with Raymond Koenig. As noted in Shudder’s Horror Noire documentary, Blacula is one of the most iconic Blaxploitation films of the 70s; it also holds the honor of being one of the highest-grossing films of 1972.

At its initial release, critics praised the fast-paced and genuinely chilling script by Torres and Koenig that deftly touched on topics of slave trade and racism. Blacula has a strong, trailblazing place in Black Horror history and in the hearts of genre fans.

Honorable mention: The Birds (1963)

via American Cinematheque

Though the screenplay itself was written by Evan Hunter, Hitchcock’s classic avian horror was based on a novella by Daphne Du Maurier (her stories also inspired Rebecca and Don’t Look Now). We all know about the brilliant literary minds of Anne Rice, Shirley Jackson, and Mary Shelley, but Du Maurier rarely gets credited for crafting such a terrible tale of terror.

Related:
Women in Horror Month: 6 Real Life Lessons From Horror’s Finest Final Girls
Women in Horror Month: Why Do We Love Horror?

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Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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