News

Horror Pride Month: Award Winning Filmmaker and Actress Rakefet Abergel

Published

6 years ago

June 5, 2018

I first met Rakefet Abergel at Nightmares Film Festival in 2017 after she appeared on a panel discussion about social progress in the horror genre. She was, perhaps, the most infectiously funny person I’d ever met.

She was also the most easily scared!

One evening, the festival had scare actors mixed in the crowd and when I looked over the railing from the upstairs lounge to discover who had let out the most fantastic scream downstairs, there was Rakefet, clutching her drink with her eyes closed as a menacing voodoo queen disappeared back into the crowd.

Months later, as I began putting messages out online that I was looking for a series of interviews for iHorror’s Horror Pride Month celebration, I got a message from Rakefet on Facebook.

“I’m one the of the Bs in LGBT,” she said. “but the B is silent.”

To say I was intrigued was an understatement. I was unaware when we met that she was a member of the LGBTQ community at all, but something more was there in that statement that I couldn’t put my finger on.

After a bit of a scheduling debacle, we finally manage to carve out time to chat about her experiences as a bisexual in the film industry and how, even after she included her bisexuality in her award-winning short thriller Jax in Love, no one seemed to notice.

Naturally, my first question in our interview was, “What do you mean the B is silent?”

“Well, it isn’t silent for me!” Abergel laughed. “I’m very open about who I am, but I feel like in the LGBTQ community the B is really silent. Sometimes it feels like the community doesn’t take us seriously.”

Suddenly, her previous statement not only made sense, but it seemed a heavy weight to carry, and as she went on to relate her experiences earlier in the life while touring with a lesbian comedy troupe, the weight of that statement grew even heavier.

She appeared on the tour, along with her wife whom she was in a relationship with for 13 years, when some of the other comedians began making snide remarks about how she didn’t really belong there because she talked openly about her bisexuality in her act.

Some of these women had lived their entire lives as straight, only coming out in their 40s and 50s after having husbands and children for years. And yet, they pointed their fingers at her as if she was the one who didn’t really belong.

“They didn’t want anyone to judge them,” she said, “but they were really good at handing out judgement themselves.”

Abergel took a lot of the frustration and pain she’d felt over the years and poured it into Jax in Love, creating a cold-blooded serial killer who just wants someone to return the love she’s so willing to give.

And yet, though Jax, who Abergel has won numerous awards for playing in the film, is attracted to both men and women, no one seems to bring it up at all.

“I don’t recall anyone ever mentioning it,” Abergel said. “That either means that it was done so normally that no one questioned it, or that aspect of the character was just ignored.”

I’d like to think it’s the former reason, and Abergel agreed that this normalized view was what she hoped for in the long run.

The film is quite terrifying as Jax can switch from “I love you” to “I’ll kill you” very quickly, and Abergel admits she was afraid she might be perpetuating the worst stereotype about the bisexual community.

“People, both straight and LGBT, will come right out and say things like ‘So, that means you’re attracted to everyone, right?'” Rakefet laughed. “And I’m like ‘Are you attracted to every man or woman in the world? No!'”

It’s a problem in every aspect of the film industry. Normalized portrayal of bisexual characters seems to be non-existent, and Abergel wondered what she might do in another film to help correct this.

She even joked that maybe the answer was aliens.

“Getting rid of all the boxes won’t happen until the aliens come,” she said. “There can only be two boxes then, and it’ll either be the alien box or the human box when they attack our asses. It’s what happens in every sci-fi/horror movie with aliens.”

I’d personally love to see what Abergel could do with that idea, but her next big film project will actually be a supernatural horror film about ghosts and possession with subtle hints of What Lies Beneath in its DNA, though she admitted she had not seen the Harrison Ford/Michelle Pfeiffer film herself.

As for future representation both within the horror genre and without, she said that she hopes that filmmakers will learn to portray the reality of bisexuality.

“I’d like to see characters where it isn’t a phase,” she said. “It’s not someone who is confused either. The way I explain it to people is that I’m attracted to a person, not a gender, and that’s what I’d like to see someone get right for a change.”

We’re with you on that, Rakefet.

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Movies

Trailer for ‘The Exorcism’ Has Russell Crowe Possessed

Published

10 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Timothy Rawles

The latest exorcism movie is about to drop this summer. It’s aptly titled The Exorcism and it stars Academy Award winner turned B-movie savant Russell Crowe. The trailer dropped today and by the looks of it, we are getting a possession movie that takes place on a movie set.

Just like this year’s recent demon-in-media-space film Late Night With the Devil, The Exorcism happens during a production. Although the former takes place on a live network talk show, the latter is on an active sound stage. Hopefully, it won’t be entirely serious and we’ll get some meta chuckles out of it.

The film will open in theaters on June 7, but since Shudder also acquired it, it probably won’t be long after that until it finds a home on the streaming service.

Crowe plays, “Anthony Miller, a troubled actor who begins to unravel while shooting a supernatural horror film. His estranged daughter, Lee (Ryan Simpkins), wonders if he’s slipping back into his past addictions or if there’s something more sinister at play. The film also stars Sam Worthington, Chloe Bailey, Adam Goldberg and David Hyde Pierce.”

Crowe did see some success in last year’s The Pope’s Exorcist mostly because his character was so over-the-top and infused with such comical hubris it bordered on parody. We will see if that is the route actor-turned-director Joshua John Miller takes with The Exorcism.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

News

Win a Stay at The Lizzie Borden House From Spirit Halloween

Published

11 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Spirit Halloween has declared that this week marks the start of spooky season and to celebrate they are offering fans a chance to stay at the Lizzie Borden House with so many perks Lizzie herself would approve.

The Lizzie Borden House in Fall River, MA is claimed to be one of the most haunted houses in America. Of course one lucky winner and up to 12 of their friends will find out if the rumors are true if they win the grand prize: A private stay in the notorious house.

“We are delighted to work with Spirit Halloween to roll out the red carpet and offer the public a chance to win a one-of-a-kind experience at the infamous Lizzie Borden House, which also includes additional haunted experiences and merchandise,” said Lance Zaal, President & Founder of US Ghost Adventures.

Fans can enter to win by following Spirit Halloween‘s Instagram and leaving a comment on the contest post from now through April 28.

The prize also includes:

An exclusive guided house tour, including insider insight around the murder, the trial, and commonly reported hauntings

A late-night ghost tour, complete with professional ghost-hunting gear

A private breakfast in the Borden family dining room

A ghost hunting starter kit with two pieces of Ghost Daddy Ghost Hunting Gear and a lesson for two at US Ghost Adventures Ghost Hunting Course

The ultimate Lizzie Borden gift package, featuring an official hatchet, the Lizzie Borden board game, Lily the Haunted Doll, and America’s Most Haunted Volume II

Winner’s choice of a Ghost Tour experience in Salem or a True Crime experience in Boston for two

“Our Halfway to Halloween celebration provides fans an exhilarating taste of what’s to come this fall and empowers them to start planning for their favorite season as early as they please,” said Steven Silverstein, CEO of Spirit Halloween. “We have cultivated an incredible following of enthusiasts who embody the Halloween lifestyle, and we’re thrilled to bring the fun back to life.”

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Spirit Halloween is also preparing for their retail haunted houses. On Thursday, August 1 their flagship store in Egg Harbor Township, NJ. will officially open to start off the season. That event usually draws in hordes of people eager to see what new merch, animatronics, and exclusive IP goods will be trending this year.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Movies

’28 Years Later’ Trilogy Taking Shape With Serious Star Power

Published

13 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Danny Boyle is revisiting his 28 Days Later universe with three new films. He will direct the first, 28 Years Later, with two more to follow. Deadline is reporting that sources say Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes have been cast for the first entry, a sequel to the original. Details are being kept under wraps so we don’t know how or if the first original sequel 28 Weeks Later fits into the project.

**Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes**

Boyle will direct the first movie but it’s unclear which role he will take on in the subsequent films. What is known is Candyman (2021) director Nia DaCosta is scheduled to direct the second film in this trilogy and that the third will be filmed immediately afterward. Whether DaCosta will direct both is still unclear.

Alex Garland is writing the scripts. Garland is having a successful time at the box office right now. He wrote and directed the current action/thriller Civil War which was just knocked out of the theatrical top spot by Radio Silence’s Abigail.

There is no word yet on when, or where, 28 Years Later will start production.