Pitted in a fight for survival, with horrible odds on making it out in one piece. Being treated with excessive cruelty, then hounded out of safe spaces while shadowy baddies threaten you with unspeakable things… No, this isnt the plot of the latest horror film. This is what its like to make one as a woman.
When Sophia Takal the first ever woman to direct a film for horror production company Blumhouse released her remake of 1970s cult slasher flick Black Christmas last December, the online reaction was arguably more terrifying than the film. One Twitter user, so incensed at the affrontery of this retelling, posted that the film made him root for every man in every horror film to rape the female lead. The films screenwriter, April Wolfe, also reported a litany of foul-mouthed abuse. Takal has now made her Twitter account private. I contacted her agency to see if she is working on anything else, but have been met with silence.
Even at a subtler, less notably shocking level, the barriers to finding a foothold let alone peer-to-peer respect within the industry are real.
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