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WiHM: 5 Classic Horror Movies Co-Written by Women
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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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Movies
’28 Years Later’ Trilogy Taking Shape With Serious Star Power
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.
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.
The original film followed Jim (Cillian Murphy) who wakes from a coma to find that London is currently dealing with a zombie outbreak.
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Watch ‘The Burning’ At The Location Where It Was Filmed
Fangoria is reporting that fans of the 1981 slasher The Burning will be able to have a screening of the film at the location where it was filmed. The movie is set at Camp Blackfoot which is actually the Stonehaven Nature Preserve in Ransomville, New York.
This ticketed event will take place on August 3. Guests will be able to take a tour of the grounds as well as enjoy some campfire snacks along with the screening of The Burning.
The film came out in the early ’80s when teen slashers were being churned out in magnum force. Thanks to Sean S. Cunningham’s Friday the 13th, filmmakers wanted to get in on the low-budget, high-profit movie market and a casket load of these types of films were produced, some better than others.
The Burning is one of the good ones, mostly because of the special effects from Tom Savini who had just come off of his groundbreaking work on Dawn of the Dead and Friday the 13th. He declined to do the sequel because of its illogical premise and instead signed on to do this movie. Also, a young Jason Alexander who would later go on to play George in Seinfeld is a featured player.
Because of its practical gore, The Burning had to be heavily edited before it received an R-rating. The MPAA was under the thumb of protest groups and political bigwigs to censor violent films at the time because slashers were just so graphic and detailed in their gore.
Tickets are $50, and if you want a special t-shirt, that will cost you another $25, You can get all the information by visiting the On Set Cinema webpage.
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Movies
‘Longlegs’ Creepy “Part 2” Teaser Appears on Instagram
Neon Films released an Insta-teaser for their horror film Longlegs today. Titled Dirty: Part 2, the clip only furthers the mystery of what we are in for when this movie is finally released on July 12.
The official logline is: FBI Agent Lee Harker is assigned to an unsolved serial killer case that takes unexpected turns, revealing evidence of the occult. Harker discovers a personal connection to the killer and must stop him before he strikes again.
Directed by former actor Oz Perkins who also gave us The Blackcoat’s Daughter and Gretel & Hansel, Longlegs is already creating buzz with its moody images and cryptic hints. The film is rated R for bloody violence, and disturbing images.
Longlegs stars Nicolas Cage, Maika Monroe, and Alicia Witt.
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