By Corrinne Brownhill. From damsels in distress to bad-ass: the changing personae of women throughout slasher films is about to be changed by the Soskas.
Since the times of Hammer Horror days, the horror films have seen little change in roles for women. I find it disappointing in this day and age that women are playing the victim or needing a man to save the day.
What horror needs is a good kick up the backside. Welcome to the world of the Soska sisters, Jen and Sylvia: the ‘twisted twins’. Their first independent film firmly gripped the horror fans with massacre, mayhem and delight, mainly caused by the women. Dead Hooker in a Trunk, is a current horror festival favourite and Internet success; even Eli Roth (Hostel I & II) is a fan of their work. Their film brings a whole new concept to the attitude towards women in horror films; they decided to write, produce and star in their own horror film, due to the lack of 'suitable' acting roles available for twins.
Jen and Sylvia discuss their thoughts and opinions on woman's roles in horror films throughout the decades, shedding light on why they started making their own films.
CB: Since the start of the Hammer Horror, women have played the role of the helpless, beautiful victim who is always was well groomed, not a hair out of place, not even when being chased through some woodland area. Do you think this early portrayal of women has lead to the stereotypical roles play today?
S: I think there is a very different audience reaction when a woman is the victim in a horror in opposition to a male. Women are given more sympathy as they are commonly thought of as weaker than men. The audience would feel like being more protective of a woman in a dangerous situation. Society insists that we be protective of women and children. People still feel that way and it is a device to make a scare more impactful when the victim is a female. Having said that, the horror genre is littered with poor quality movies that don't have much artistic merit but rather seem to follow some unspoken horror stereotype with a bunch of dumb, helpless women that fall prey to some evil menace. At the same time, it is the genre where the final girl was born. Women often being the ones to kick some ass and still be standing with the bad guy dead at her feet.
J: I think art reflects life. I hate to admit it, but it wasn't all that long ago that women weren't expected to do much other than be homemakers and raise children. I'm not saying that that's a negative thing to do. It's great to see parents actually stay home and raise their kids. However, women weren't really career women. They weren't CEOs of major corporations. They weren't
soldiers. They weren't allowed to be put in positions of power. I don't think women were purposely given damsel in distress roles as a form of gender degradation. I think it was accepted that that was their role in society. Big, strong men would come to save them or big, strong men would terrorize them. Even back then the monsters were all masculine.
I look at those old films and chuckle now. I can appreciate them for what they are. I don't watch Westerns and hold against the film makers the fact that men don't go around acceptably shooting one another these days. It was a different time. Who knows? Maybe our present time will appear ridiculous to future generations.
CB: The '70's and 80's horror films did reveal societies need to protect women, but also reflected the need for women's equal power. Out with the old sexual objectification of a swooning woman and in came Jamie lee Curtis (Carpenter's Halloween). The 'final girl' was born, she uses her feminine skills and intelligence to survive the villain. Do you agree?
S: It is the genre where the final girl was born. Women often being the ones to kick some ass and still be standing with the bad guy dead at her feet.
J: I think as the Women's Movement and Feminist Movement took place women began to be seen in a different light. We began to find our voices. It became okay to be strong. It became okay to take care of yourself and not wait for some man to come and save you.
CB: But, with the woman's movement came fear of the sexual liberated women and this sexualised terror was reflected throughout the horror genre. The newly empowered 'final girl' doesn't concern herself with such sexual activities and therefore strong enough to defeat her demon. Curtis in Halloween had set the bench mark, changed the rules. This formula of good girl defeats the villain is seen in every slasher film since. The 'final girl' took her place next to the 'hyper-sexual women,' who’s always half undressed and killed. Film makers used this psychological device to take away the audience's ability to sympathise with her; heightening the moral message to teenagers: promiscuous sex is bad. The final girl is straight-laced, high necked, low skirt and sensible shoes.
How did you feel about the 'sexualised terror' reflected in the horror films?
J: I am familiar with the final girl of the 70s, the female who possesses the qualities of Freud's women-as-castrated-males theory. That way she is non-threatening in times where women sought equality and freedom and in all ways were very intimidating and threatening to men. Even these days, women are still judged negatively for being sexually confident and strong. A woman who speaks out about her sexuality and acts on it is a slut. A man doing the same thing is a stud. A woman who is strong willed and acts on it is a bitch. A man is just called a leader. It was bullshit then and it's bullshit now. Yes, it is right to have a range of characters in films, some strong and some weaker, but it is unfair that a woman has to be presented as non-threatening in every way in order to be accepted as a proper hero. There are some people, men and women, who are more wholesome and still are heroic, like Peter Parker, and that works. It's still realistic and there isn't an agenda there. I can respect that.
S: People are afraid of things that they don't understand. When the women were finally getting a chance to speak up and be treated as equal worth human beings, it scared people. The boat was being rocked. All of a sudden the women of the world weren't just there to bring up a family, take care of the household, and make meals. She had a voice. She was going to be recognized as a person.
Too many people of that time that was a terrifying thought. Many female characters depicted in films were still these meek, weak things that remained unthreatening. It was a safer thought to many people. But you can't fight change. You can't say one person is better or more strong or more acceptable because of sex, race, religion, or sexual orientation. It's a sad truth, but humanity is always picking scapegoats. Women have been sold to the public in a certain light for so long that it is going to take years before we completely dissolve those ignorant labels.
CB: The strong statement in the 1970's has become a staple formula for the modern horror films and nowadays has become a cliché and more and more horror films show women victimised, tortured or seen as the helpless victim. It seems that horror films have taken a backwards slide. Rob Zombie's Halloween was littered with half-naked bloodied female victims and the new slasher films are famous for hyper-sexual damsels in distress, who are usually murdered in the first 5 minutes. Was that the trigger that got you to make your own film? And was it your intention to get your message across about women are not being the ‘helpless victims’.
S: I'm not a big fan of 'helpless victim' women characters. Yes, there has to be different types of people in every story. Some weak. Some strong. But a poorly written token weak, useless female role is utterly pointless and insulting to women. I don't like the term 'chick flick' as it usually goes hand in hand with some piece of shit film. We wanted to create a film that was the anti-chick flick that chicks and dudes would actually dig watching. I remember after one screening, this sweet conservative-looking lady went over to me and said she just loved Badass. Then added, I can't tell you how many times I wish I could do things like that. That kind of reaction makes me smile.
J: I am not a big fan of women being portrayed as weak, helpless victims. I think a lot of the time it just encourages the stereotype. When we wrote Dead Hooker in a Trunk, particularly the character Badass, we didn't set out to make a strong feminist. We simply wrote a hero that happened to be a woman. A man could easily have filled the role and we wouldn't have had to do much in the way of rewrites aside from justifying how she is related to Geek.
CB: It seems looking at the new up and coming horror films female roles haven't changed much, she is either the helpless victim, the savior, or 'helps along' with the killing spree. Do you think we are going to see any big changes in the way women are portrayed in block buster Hollywood horror films?
S: I think there is a definite change coming with how women are being viewed in the media. We had the first Oscar given to a female director, Katherine Bigelow, for The Hurt Locker. We saw a woman run for the position of Presidential Candidate. We saw a women run for Vice President. I think there will always be stupid stereotypes, but steadily we will see more strong women everywhere. Including in the roles written in Hollywood Horror.
J: Times are changing. They always are. I think we're going to see women in much stronger roles, but we will also see some painfully degrading roles. It's not something that will just go away. As long as there is a vested interested in seeing girls with their breasts out soaked in blood, it will continue. As long as writers write those parts and actors take them, it will continue. Society alone cannot be blamed for it. I think we will see far more women taking powerful roles behind the camera. I think we'll see the rise of some new, incredible female directors and cinematographers.
CB: And finally, from watching Dead Hooker in a Trunk, I’m sure you’re not going to settle on one film and the horror fans will be taken by the scruff of their necks to the next delights in horror massacre and mayhem. So, what are your future plans?
S: we are very happy to announce a sneak peek at our second film; the teaser trailer appeared on our site on December 11th, our company’s second anniversary. It’s more sophisticated and horror than Hooker, titled American Mary. The film follows a very strong female character in a very dark and beautifully strange story-line. I think horror fans are really going to get a kick out of it. It’s going to have some absolutely insane make-up and effects.
J: I feel American Mary will show our audiences more of our style and put our stamp of the horror genre forever. I’m so excited for it. Our title character is someone that’s been missing and needed in the film industry for a long time.
