Welcome to Women in Horror Month: An Exclusive Essay by the Twisted Twins

Jen and Sylvia Soska, also known as the Twisted Twins, burst onto the indie film scene in 2009 by writing, directing, producing, and starring in Dead Hooker in a Trunk – an over-the-top exploitation bonanza (now available on DVD from IFC Midnight). Their second feature, American Mary, is sure to raise the bar even higher. The Soska Sisters also serve on the Women in Horror Month Board of Directors and organize "The Massive Blood Drive" to coincide with WiHM every February. To keep up with these Canadian Creators of Carnage visit www.twistedtwinsproductions.net!

Jen and Sylvia Soska, AKA the Twisted Twins, were kind enough to pen this Ravenous Monster exclusive introducing Women in Horror Month. Please check out their website and purchase your copy of Dead Hooker in a Trunk on DVD! Read on, Fright Fans….

It’s February and with it comes something very special.

No, not just that one extra day that got snuck in there. That’s a 2012, leap year exclusive. I’m talking about the return of and third annual Women In Horror recognition month. Some of you may be well aware of this joyous event, but I’m sure some of you have no bloody idea what in the hell I’m talking about. Do Women In Horror need some kind of help? Is there a continent of starving Women In Horror that you’ve never heard about? FAR from it. Being women in horror ourselves, I daresay we are far harder on fellow females and are firm believers in working hard, applying yourself, and making sacrifices to get to where you want to be. No hand outs here, thank you kindly. Women In Horror recognition month is not an event that excludes the boys either. Come one, come all, there’s no reverse sexism here. So, what, in fact, is Women In Horror month all about?

So glad you kind of, sort of asked. It’s a month to celebrate and recognize the women who have helped make horror, in all art forms, what it is today. We’ve seen some amazing feats such as Kathryn Bigelow becoming the first female director to win an Academy Award for her film The Hurt Locker. In the past, only four others have even been nominated. In our life time we’ve seen Ridley Scott change the way we see the “final girl” character type when he cast Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley and showed that a woman can be every bit as fearless and strong as a male hero. And countless horror heroines have risen since and continue to rise. It’s also a time to remember a few names that weren’t remembered in their time and that could be all but forgotten if we didn’t take the time to educate ourselves about them and their work. Alice Guy was a pioneer in the film industry, but that name is virtually unknown. A real shame for the first director of nonfiction film, the first female director ever, and a woman who was involved in over 700 films. Horror being a favorite. It was research into Women In Horror that first introduced me to Alice Guy, who because of her gender and the generation she lived in isn’t credited for many of her works, and makes me strive to educate myself about the business I love and the women who have molded it into what it is today.

Women In Horror Recognition Month sees celebrations, conferences, conventions, and charitable events across the globe. A series of film festivals have commenced including Nia Edwards-Behi’s Ghouls on Film Festival, Andrew and Dione Rose’s The DOA Blood Bath Film Festival, and Jennifer Cooper’s Jennifer’s Bodies in addition to several long standing film festivals that have long celebrated the works of female artists like Shannon Lark and Heidi Honeycutt’s Viscera Film Festival. In fact, Ghouls on Film was the first festival that our film, DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK, played at. The month itself was started by feminist, writer, and woman in horror, Hannah Neurotica, of Ax Wound Zine. Its purpose being to educate, support, give back, recognize, encourage, share, and celebrate. We commenced the WiH Massive Blood Drive, an all month long worldwide event that encourages everyone to donate blood in the name of Women in Horror and to show the same kind of bravery that the women in front of and behind the camera have shown us.

So, what can you do? Educate yourself. Express yourself. Get involved. Just get off that bad ass of yours and do something. Watch a flick by a mistress of horror (we’d recommend AMERICAN PSYCHO, directed by Mary Harron). Give blood. Google Alice Guy and see who else is an imperative part of molding the art world into what it has become. We celebrate it but once a year, but you can always strive to educate and better yourself. After all, knowledge is power.

Fatally Yours,

Jen and Sylvia Soska