The horror film genre’s most iconic Scream Queens are featured in this documentary about women’s roles and triumphs, both on-camera and off.

The horror film genre’s most iconic Scream Queens are featured in this documentary about women’s roles and triumphs, both on-camera and off.

Is horror a man’s world? You might assume so – but you won’t be thinking that way for long once you investigate the vast contribution women have made to horror movies for well over a century. In 2020, award-winning Australian critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas released the definitive book on the subject: 1000 Women in Horror, 1895–2018, an encyclopaedic work celebrating the many women – filmmakers, actors, producers and technicians – who have shaped the genre since the moment cinema’s light first flickered.

From the silent era until today, the nightmares that have haunted our screen have been sculpted and embodied by women, but many of those artists have gone unrecognised – a historical oversight this documentary duly takes a chainsaw to. 　　Is horror a man’s world? You might assume so – but you won’t be thinking that way for long once you investigate the vast contribution women have made to horror movies for well over a century. In 2020, award-winning Australian critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas released the definitive book on the subject: 1000 Women in Horror, 1895–2018, an encyclopaedic work celebrating the many women – filmmakers, actors, producers and technicians – who have shaped the genre since the moment cinema’s light first flickered. 　　In her complementary documentary, US director Donna Davies interviews a stack of powerhouse women in the horror scene, and assembles a bevy of clips from classic and little-known films that women have left their mark on. From filmmaker and programmer Kier-la Janisse (Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror, MIFF 2021) and veteran performer Lin Shaye (A Nightmare on Elm Street; the Insidious franchise) to legendary Melbourne film scholars Cerise Howard and Heller-Nicholas herself, interviewees share their personal relationship with horror, addressing each theme the documentary explores sequentially: pregnancy, dolls, ageing, final girls and menstruation, to name just a few. Offering insights into the gender politics often explored through the genre, it’s a discussion that will continue even after you leave the cinema – while the smorgasbord of films referenced will have you scrambling for a pen and paper to take notes. 　　”Sit down, little boys; the grown-ups are talking.” – Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

A music video directed by Ferguson rapping as Dirty D

An influencer couple run afoul of a terrifying threat while camping in the Australian wilderness.

Based on the long running play by Jang Jin, the story is set in Korea during the Korean War in 1950. Soldiers from both the North and South, as well as an American pilot, find themselves in a secluded and naively idealistic village, its residents unaware of the outside world, including the war.

When a devastating attack shatters Mark Hogancamp and wipes away all memories, no one expected recovery. Putting together pieces from his old and new life, Mark meticulously creates a wondrous town named Marwen where he can heal and be heroic. As he builds an astonishing art installation — a testament to the most powerful women he knows — through his fantasy world, he draws strength to triumph in the real one.

A gang of Estonian bank robbers in Los Angeles.

A drama film directed by Ashish Kumar Dubey and Vir Mahajan.