WiHM: Our Favorite Female Roles In Horror, Day 3

Today we highlight two vastly different women in horror. One is a naive, repressed housewife with a devil of a problem, the other a bold, goth chick heavy into witchcraft.  And oh hey, Marie is back!

Marie's pick:

 MIA FARROW - Rosemary's Baby

Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby is considered a classic not only to genre fans, but to all film lovers. Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Ira Levin, the film was made only a year after the book was published, in 1968—a fad we are all too familiar with in this decade.

Rosemary’s Baby has not come to claim its legacy on its own, but with diligent help from the people involved in its creation: Ira Levin, for his beautiful storytelling, Roman Polanski, for his masterful filmmaking, and the actors for their compelling performance. One actor I would love to highlight is of course, Mia Farrow.

Miss Farrow was 22 at the time she played Rosemary Woodhouse, a young, charming housewife who is moving into a new apartment with her actor husband Guy (John Cassavetes). The couple quickly becomes reluctantly close with their neighbors Roman and Minnie Castevet (Sidney Blackmer and Ruth Gordon). In fact, they become involved in seemingly every aspect of their lives, including Rosemary’s pregnancy. Rosemary’s real suspicion understandably starts when she has a dream that she is bound to a table, surrounded by her husband and neighbors, and raped by the devil. She awakens to gruesome scratches all over her body and a sketchy husband who admits to having his way with her in her sleep. The result is a pregnancy filled with strange home remedies, a secretive doctor, and many other clues that lead Rosemary to believe she is not in control of her life.

Mia Farrow received several nominations for her role, made iconic by her strawberry blonde pixie haircut. Farrow gave this performance her all (she even bares her ladybits in the disturbing rape scene) even though she was going through a crumbling marriage during filming. She was at the time married to Frank Sinatra, who demanded that she quit filming of Rosemary’s Baby to instead act in his film, The Dectective. She, of course, refused, and Sinatra filed for divorce.

The performance Farrow gives in Rosemary’s Baby is an unforgettable one; the character she brings to life is real and genuine, that of an ordinary woman put through hell. The Rosemary we know at the start of the movie is a bit naïve and submissive, happy to live under her husband and not to question much about daily life. It is not until she finds her life closing in around her that she snaps out of her housewife haze and began to really (as she should) freak out.

What Rosemary is being put through is more than unsettling, it is downright evil, and with paranoia rising and a mind unraveling, right before she reaches the brink of insanity, Rosemary finds the will to grab the biggest kitchen knife she can and get to the bottom of this mystery…

Rosemary Woodhouse’s character is a bit similar to another we see in Polanski’s “Apartment Trilogy”; that of Carole in 1965 Repulsion. It is another terrifying example of a woman losing grip on her mind, but I feel that Rosemary is a much more personable character, one we really deeply feel and fear for.


 

Christine's pick:

Fairuza Balk  - The Craft

Quite honestly, I've been waiting forever to highlight Fairuza.  She's just so damn excellent in The Craft, even though the film is meant to be a vehicle for Robin Tunney and also gives us a pre-Scream Neve Campbell.

Her Nancy is just a crazy, power-hungry teenager from the wrong side of the tracks who dabbles a little too dangerously into the world of witchcraft, but she's so good at it that we almost want her to succeed in her wacky deviousness.

I've seen Balk in other films (most notably for me, a supporting role in American History X), but her memorable turn as Nancy is as impressive as it is demented.  Nancy and her two BFF's are looking for a "fourth" to complete their circle - a group of witches that worship 'Manon" - when they happen upon Sarah (Tunney) and invite her to join.  Sarah however, is a natural witch and her and Nancy eventually clash due in part to Nancy's jealousy of Sarah's power from within. The girls participate in a ritual called "invoking the spirit", which is generally saved for only very experienced witches. It causes Nancy to have a bit of a breakdown, after which she acts completely insane and becomes even more unglued.

This causes a huge rift and an eventual showdown between the girls, with Nancy going bat-shit crazy on Sarah, warning her outright that when a witch leaves her coven they kill her. She causes Sarah to have terrifying dreams and illusions, filled with snakes and bugs. Her envy of Sarah's boyfriend (a boy Nancy had eyes for) causes her to make him fall out a window to his death.  When Sarah tries to bind Nancy's powers, Nancy counters with an illusion that makes Sarah think her parents were killed in a plane crash.

As far as I'm concerned,  even though eventually Sarah gets the upper hand and retaliates, Nancy has already left an overwhelming impression on me and is the highlight of the movie.  She plays crazy so damn well and in this film, with her goth look and unbalanced personality she is sort of sad - yet mad as a hatter at the end.

Balk plays the stereotypical witchy persona perfectly, going over the top when needed, but reining it in at just the right moment - like when we realize Nancy is utter white trash, living in a broken down trailer with an alcoholic, foolhardy mother and a step-father that just wants to look under her skirt.  It's obvious she's depressed and wants to change her life, with witchcraft being the catalyst between her real life and the life she aspires to have, in which she is in total control.

But seriously, it's just thoroughly entertaining to watch her at work, selling us crazy in all its glory.  It's a sight to behold:

WiHM: Our Favorite Female Roles In Horror, Day 2

Another round of favorite performances features an actress in one of my all-time favorite television shows and the other from my favorite sub-genre of horror: ghost stories.  Again, these are both from me. Don't worry - Marie will be back quite soon!

Gillian Anderson - The X-Files

I adored The X-Files with all my heart and was terribly upset to see it end. And though those last few years didn't hold a candle to the first several, there was a glue that held it together: Gillian Anderson as Agent Dana Scully.

For anyone thinking The X-Files is not horror, to you I say watch the episodes entitled "Squeeze", "Die Hand Die Verletzt", "Irresistible", and/or "Home", among many others.

The show did have a serious mythology to it in regards to alien life and whether or not Mulder's sister was truly abducted, etc., but it also had a really stellar 'monster-of-the-week' side, too.

Scully's character is the skeptic, the physician in her just won't let her believe in the wild supernatural or paranormal activity unless there is proof.  Over the years she had to rethink that theory when evidence kept piling up to the contrary. All the while, her relationship with her partner, Fox Mulder, grew into first a deep friendship and then (of course) love.

Anderson was a perfect fit for Scully. Her reserved demeanor and disbelief bounced off David Duchovny's Mulder's sarcastic, dry wit, making them the ideal combination.

 And just when you thought she wasn't going to ever show any serious emotion - not even fear, the writers would pen a fabulous show like Irresistible (an episode about a death fetishist who has his sights set on Scully) or Beyond the Sea (in which her father passes away) and you then see how much range Anderson has as an actress.  

Some of the episodes really asked us as the audience to suspend disbelief, due to the fact that more than half the series is spend chasing down people who are holing away aliens and such, but damn if it isn't easier to believe with Dana Scully on the case. She is always looking for the scientific explanation and it plays well against Mulder's "I'm a believer" stance.

The winner of SAG, Golden Globe and Emmy awards for her portrayal of Scully, Anderson has since been in mostly British films and other foreign productions, and will be back on television (BBC2) this spring on The Fall, a series in which she stars as (what else?) a police officer investigating murders in Northern Ireland.  Hopefully it will be available here in the states eventually, as I can't wait to see her back on the small screen!

Rebecca Hall - The Awakening

Hall is no stranger to genre films, having been seen in both The Prestige (2006) and the underrated Dorian Gray (2009).  She has also been in several critically acclaimed films as well (Vicky Cristina Barcelona, 2008; Frost/Nixon, 2008; The Town, 2010). But she really made an impression on me in the 2011 British ghost story, The Awakening.

Hall plays Florence Cathcart, an author who spends her days debunking claims of supernatural phenomenon. She is still mourning the death of her lover in WWI, and this plays heavily upon her profession, as it's pretty obvious she is hoping to actually find proof of ghosts. This would help her heavy heart rest easier after parting on poor terms before her lover went off to war, if she could communicate with him somehow.

When she is asked to investigate claims of a ghost at a remotely located boys boarding school, she at first refuses, and is gently accused by the administrator Robert Mallory (Dominic West) of being afraid to find out the truth, lest she has to face the fact that it may not be a hoax. She ends up going to the school, where she learns that a boy was found dead there not too long ago with the death being blamed on the ghost of a boy who died many years before.

Though there are some haphazard wanderings within The Awakening, it is made so much more effective by Hall's top-notch performance. She emotes a varied range of mental states within the film, from utter despondence to indifference to a passion and determination to discover the truth of what is going on at the school.  It's easy to see that she and Mallory are meant to have a relationship, but the roundabout way that they get to that point, and the secrets that both of them hold close and resist letting go results in a multi-layered performance that lifts the film up a little higher than it would be otherwise.

I was really impressed with Hall's acting prowess here, as I was with it in Dorian Gray and other films I have seen here in.  She has a believability to her - a natural girl-next-door flavor to her work that makes it easy to relate to the characters she plays. I look forward to whatever she has in store for us next, and I would have to recommend The Awakening with all sincerity for any fan of a good old-fashioned, atmospheric ghost story.

WiHM: Our Favorite Female Roles In Horror, Day 1

Today we start our Women in Horror posts focusing on some of our favorite female performances. Once again, Marie and I are both going to choose seven of our favorite performances in horror, two for each day with a total of fourteen.  I have spotlighted female performances before, with several relevant posts over the last four years or so.  In fact in February 2010, I shone the spotlight on over 28 female villains in horror, so don't forget to check that out if you haven't already.

But I tried to pick different women to drop the spotlight on, which isn't really that hard because there are a ton of fabulous women out there doing exemplary work. 

We're starting out with two of my picks, as Marie is a little under the weather. She'll be back later in the week, but for now I think you'll agree these two are currently giving consistently great horror television performances.

JESSICA LANGE (American Horror Story, AHS: Asylum)

I had to start out with Jessica because I am just so in awe of her talent.  An Academy Award winning actress (Tootsie, Blue Sky), Lange started out in horror (and in acting in general) in 1976's King Kong.  And even though she's played women of all types in her career, I love her best when she's doing crazy (Frances, Blue Sky, Hush). And in American Horror Story, she does crazy so goddamned well.

In season one (a.k.a. American Horror Story: Murder House), Lange portrayed Constance Langdon, a suppressed housewife and neighbor to the Harmon family in the so-called Murder House. She comes over unannounced to the house on various occasions, spouting off words of wisdom in particular to Vivien Harmon (Connie Britton).

Constance has a daughter Addie (Jamie Brewer) who has Down syndrome and rather bad manners, and a son Tate (Evan Peters) - a disturbed teenager who we later find out (SPOILER ALERT) is responsible for shooting up his high school, and is actually dead.  He later rapes Vivien while wearing the infamous 'rubber suit'.

Constance is always consulting her psychic for advice, and is told Vivien is pregnant with twins, one of them being Tate's son and the future Anti-Christ.  Yikes.  How's that for a bumper sticker: "My grandson is the Anti-Christ!"

Constance makes life difficult for the Harmons over the course of the season, forever warning them that bad things happen to those inhabiting the house, and at the end actually ends up with one of Vivien's babies after she (and and one of the twins she was carrying) dies during childbirth. The series ends with Constance scolding her grandson for murdering his nanny.

Set in 1964 (as well as in present day), season two (American Horror Story: Asylum) has Lange playing Sister Jude, a nun in charge of Briarcliff Mental Institution.  This is where Lange shines even brighter than in the first season.  Sister Jude's cruelty is evident in the first several episodes, when she -among other ghastly deeds - commits a completely normal (non-psychotic) woman to the asylum just for being a lesbian.

 As the season progresses though, we see several layers to Sister Jude's character, all masterfully depicted by Lange. We see Sister Jude as Judy Martin, a woman destroyed by guilt for a past that included a young girl being killed by her reckless drunk driving.  She becomes a nun for this reason but after discovering that the girl really didn't die in the accident, seems to think that it was God's plan all along for her.  She then decides to set in motion a plan to eradicate the evil in the asylum, in particular a Nazi doctor, a corrupt and lecherous nun doing the devil's work, and the Monsignor trying to preserve the asylum's many secrets.  Unfortunately, Sister Jude is herself committed to the institution, and her collapse into mental oblivion is an utter joy to watch. 

I really can't say enough about Lange's performances in the first two seasons of American Horror Story, and just knowing she will be starring in season three is enough to keep me up at night wondering about the brilliant possibilities.

For now though, I will have to be content to relive her fantastic success (she is the winner of multiple awards for her work on AHS, including a Golden Globe, SAG, and Emmy) by watching such clips as this one, with Sister Jude/Judy Martin in all her crazy, psychotic goodness:

Deborah Ann Woll - True Blood

Somehow on True Blood, all the female focus seems to be on the ever-present Sookie Stackhouse.
And while I'll agree Sook is a fun character (and Anna Paquin does a fine job portraying her), I think there's another fantastic female that deserves more than a passing nod.

Deborah Ann Woll has been playing Jessica Hamby since 2008, when Jessica was added to the cast after Bill's punishment for killing another vampire resulting in him having to turn a human to a vampire to replenish their "stock", so to speak. 

Only 17 when turned, Jessica had many lessons to learn after becoming a vampire, not the least of which was that she couldn't just bite anyone she wanted.  At first devastated by her new undead status, Jessica slowly turned a corner when Bill, as her maker, really took a special interest in her and treated her like a daughter - which is still their relationship to this day.  She quickly began to love her life as a vampire, seeing as how her previous life had her repressed and cowering to her God-fearing parents. Now there was no more church, no more rules, no more abusive father.  She was free to do whatever she wanted. Within reason, of course.  Enough of Bill's lingering humanity brushed off on Jess so that she was not too evil or too unapproachable.

Woll's take on the Jessica character is a layered one, running the gamut of emotions.  Pleading for her life before Bill effectively killed her, her youth and innocence shown through, making it nearly impossible for Bill to continue with the change. But when she adjusts to her new life, she certainly has a lot of fun, throwing caution to the wind and letting out the sexy Jessica that was hidden up until then.

When she and Hoyt Fortenberry became a couple, we saw Jess try really hard to make it work. Attempting to live a "normal" life (her normal being making a hidey hole in their new home to sleep in, and having to cook food for Hoyt when she can't eat) took a lot out of their relationship, as they were always trying to overcome the obstacles of an inter-species love affair.  When it ended, it ended badly.

This past season saw Jessica at her most appealing and entertaining best.  Because Bill was made King of Louisiana after dispatching Queen Sophie-Anne, Jessica considers herself a sort of vampire royalty because she is his progeny and more like a daughter to him. 

She has parties at the mansion, falls head over heels with Sookie's brother Jason, bonds with new vampire Tara then has a knock-down battle with her, learns vampire etiquette from Pam, and tries to make Bill understand that his infatuation with Lilith is bogus. 

Jessica's character isn't even in the source material (the book series by Charlaine Harris), but in my opinion she is a refreshing addition to the True Blood world. She's sassy yet emotional, is completely captivating and let's face it, downright sexy!  I very much look forward to her work in the upcoming season of True Blood in June!

WiHM: Final Girl Week, Day 7

For our last day of Final Girls, we've chosen two most excellent examples.  The first is an all-time classic and probably one of the most famous final girls in film.  The second is another formidable final girl who won't back down, even when facing hell on earth.
So here you have it: our "final" Final Girls.

Marie's pick:

LAURIE STRODE (Halloween series)

This one is an obvious necessity, as Jamie Lee Curtis is the Scream Queen. She’s been the Final Girl in a slew of films, but I am going to highlight her perfomance in John Carpenter’s 1978 classic slasher, Halloween, as that is what started it all.

Jamie plays Laurie, a kind, responsible, bibliophile who has little interest in boys, unlike her two friends. On Halloween night she lands the babysitting gig from Hell as she is originally supposed to look after one little tyke, but ends up looking after two and covering everyone’s ass while they go get laid. 

What these poor teenagers don’t know is that there is a psychopath on the loose, the infamous Michael Myers, who has just escaped from being institutionalized since he was a child from murdering his sister on, oh yes, Halloween.

Jamie Lee Curtis stole all of our horror hearts as Laurie Strode; she is so likeable, charming, and real. While you might not have cared so much what happened to her amorous friends (you might have even laughed, you sick bastard) you were definitely rooting for Laurie.

 And like a true Final Girl she not only survives the first installment in the franchise, she’s back for the second one, cameos (voice only) in Halloween III, stars in H20, and reappears in Halloween: Resurrection.

*A few other slashers you can see her doin’ her thing in are Prom Night, Terror Train, and John Carpenter’s The Fog.

Christine's pick:

KIRSTY COTTON (Hellraiser series)

Clive Barker's Hellraiser is such an excellent film, so emphatically different than any other horror movie of its (or any) time, and its main protagonist - Kirsty Cotton - is as strong-willed and determined as a final girl can be.  She stands down demons from the far side of hell, as well as the ones in her own family.

When Kirsty goes to visit her dad and step-mother after they move into an old family home, she senses something is amiss.  She'd be right, as she soon discovers her step-mother Julia is bringing strange men to the house when her father is out.

Thinking Julia is cheating on her dad, she sets out to catch her in the act.  What she witnesses instead is Julia murdering the unsuspecting house guest and giving the body to Kirsty's estranged uncle, who has been spending time in an alternate plane ruled by the Cenobites, a group of demons (or angels, as they say) who dabble in hedonistic pleasure combined with excruciating pain. Somehow Frank escaped their clutches, and isn't anxious to go back.

But when Kristy gets her hand on the infamous puzzle box and summons the demons, they want her instead. She bargains with their leader, Pinhead, who in turn allows her to live after she negotiates to exchange her freedom for the return of Frank to the Cenobites.

What is most impressive about Kirsty is that she is dealing with uncharted territory here.  This is not your average killer chasing kids movie, and she adapts well - able to figure out the mysteries of the puzzle box and determine how to best defeat the hideous demons. She doesn't whimper and skulk away. She plays with the puzzle box until she learns how to do it, and until she learns how to send the Cenobites back to their own world.

Really original, thought provoking (and often disturbing), Hellraiser has, in Kirsty, one of the most bad-ass, won't-turn-back final girls in horror!        

WiHM: Final Girl Week, Day 6

 Today we have two kick-ass women in horror on our list, the first of which is one of my favorite movie heroines of any genre, and the other a great pick from one of the best films of the last decade.  Toughness, tenacity, and pure will to survive are these girls' claim to fame. Two of our best final girls yet!

Christine's pick:

ELLEN RIPLEY (Alien series)

Though slasher films are generally where we look to for final girls, in the world of horror they are all around, in every sub-genre - we just have to know where to look.  Certainly Ripley would count as one of the fiercest final girls we have ever encountered in any genre! 

Alien (1979) is a bonafide masterpiece, a science-fiction sight to behold.  And a great part of what makes it so insanely good is Sigourney Weaver's turn as warrant officer Ellen Ripley. 

When an alien infiltrates the Nostromo during an investigation of a transmission from an unknown planet, the entire crew is almost systematically killed by the Queen.  The search for the alien on board makes for tense, almost unbearable suspense, and as each crew member is gruesomely executed, it's up to Ripley to take things into her own hands in an attempt to dispatch of the unsightly creature.

The strength of Ripley's character is what makes her so amazing.  As the tag-line suggests, 'in space, no one can hear you scream', so she realizes it is her battle to win or lose. No one is coming to help her, they are too far from Earth for any kind of rescue to take place. With a fortitude much greater than any final girl I can remotely think of, Ripley uses her brain to seemingly outsmart the creature.  With everyone else on board deceased, she takes Jonesy (the cat) into the shuttle, intent on destroying the Nostromo with the Queen on board.  When the alien blocks her way, she nearly doesn't make it to the shuttle on time but manages to escape on it right as the Nostromo explodes.

Thinking that is the end of the alien, Ripley begins to relax, only to be shocked and terrified to see the alien has joined her on board the shuttle. Showing sheer will to survive, she dons a space suit and opens the hatch, trying to blow the alien out the door through means of decompression. Our final girl struggles to detach it and succeeds when the engines blow it off into space. See ya later, queenie.

She then proceeds to kick ass through several more Alien films.

Ripley is a true role model of final girl guts and mettle, with enough backbone to propel her to the top of any list. She's probably the one I admire the most, not just due to her endless courage and intellect, but because she has the most heart. I dare you to disagree.


Marie's pick:

SARAH (The Descent)

I’m sure you’ve seen this girl on a number of lists, but she deserves to be! She went through some serious hell and came out bloody, but alive.

The girl in question is Sarah (Shauna Macdonald), the lovely Scottish protagonist in Neil Marshall’s 2005 spelunking flick The Descent. Sarah has just lost her husband in a horrific car accident and meets up with her group of multicultural recreational lady friends for a bit of caving.

The ever-frustrating Juno (Natalie Mendoza) suggests they check out a cave in the U.S Appalachian mountains. Its more-claustrophobic-than-usual conditions have the girls questioning Juno as to her motives for going there and Juno has to finally admit the cave is uncharted and no one has even been down there. The girls are rabid with anger but have to set aside those worries as they soon find out that the cave is infested with blind, humanoid, cannibalistic crave creepies.

Sarah is already losing her mind from grief and now facing the fact that she might potentially be trapped in this cave, as her friends are being picked off one by one. However, her madness is in her favor as it gives her cunning wit, nerve and unrelenting bravery. She also has to face the fact that her girlfriend Juno is a total bitch and was not only banging her husband but also killed her best friend and lied about it. And what do you do with ladies like that? Feed ‘em to the creepies, of course.

And like any good Final Girl, Sarah comes back to us for the sequel, as to which we must ask, “Why?”

WiHM: Final Girl Week, Day 5

Today we highlight one girl who is always on any respectable list of final girls, and another that is a pure guilty pleasure (but still deserving of a spot)!

Marie's pick:

NANCY THOMPSON (A Nightmare on Elm Street)

If you don’t know now, you will learn that A Nightmare on Elm Street is my favorite slasher.

I hardly need to familiarize you with this 1984 classic as I’m sure you know the story; a child killer/molester (the one and only Freddy Krueger) is murdered by a group of local parents and then comes back to haunt their children’s dreams.

Our heroine is Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp), who follows the general criteria for most Final Girls. She is mousy, bookish, and virginal, but what makes Nancy different for me is she is much more personable and has a genuine strong sense of bravery and willpower.

I find that she is a character the audience can actually identify with and possibly give a shit about. One of the things that makes her more “real” than some slasher movie chicks is that she experiences a full spectrum of human emotions other than ‘horny’ and ‘frightened’. Frustration, anxiety, disgust, despair, and a bit of happiness, as well!

Nancy also has the tough job of offing arguably the hardest baddie to kill. To get rid of this guy you need to be not only courageous but clever as well because Freddy is hoppin’ all over the astral plane. Even after all of Nancy’s friends have been brutally slayed (really sorry to see Johnny Depp go) she finds the strength to prevail and send Freddy back to hell! For now…


Christine's pick:

MARTI GAINES (Hell Night, 1981)

A veritable cheese-fest, Hell Night has always been a guilty pleasure of mine.  And with Linda Blair starring, who could blame me?

Marti Gaines (Blair) has joined one of the most popular sororities on her college campus and is "required" to attend a gratuitous frat party.

Furthermore, she and three other pledges are singled out to have a special initiation: spend an entire night at the infamous Garth Manor - a house in which the owner killer his entire family and then hung himself.  But the story goes that one child was left unscathed by his father's murderous ways and left to fend for himself - to roam the sizable mansion alone for the last twelve years. 

The frat leader turns Marti and the others loose in Garth Manor and locks the main gate, effectively trapping them on the property until morning. While two of the quartet hook up and quickly head off to find a bedroom, Marti gets to know fellow pledge Jeff, with whom she discusses un-girly things like being able to change the brakes on a car. This tomboyish admission sets her apart from most other final girls, but let's face it: her sizable breasts steal the show anyway.

As time passes, dead bodies start showing up, and it's finally apparent that Andrew Garth truly may still be alive. This causes Marti to get fairly antsy at first. She does a lot of screaming and heaving (and by that I mean her breasts) - but she really comes through in the end, bravely facing Andrew to try and get a gun within reach. In the last moments of the film she: outruns the crazy Garth son, climbs down a roof (in a long dress and heels), manages to secure the keys to the car by finding them on one of the dead bodies, finds the car after a race through the Garth property, hot-wires said car, smashes it into the main gate, and impales the creepy Garth on the spiked tips of the gate. Score!

While Blair's acting isn't as commendable or certainly not as believable as in The Exorcist, it's still fun to see her in yet another horror film, even if her breasts do seem to get top billing. And even though you know going in that she is destined to be the final girl (because she's Linda Blair for pete's sake!), Hell Night is a helluva fun time nonetheless!

WiHM: Final Girl Week, Day 4

 Today's picks include one very obvious (and perfect) pick, and one you might not have thought about - but should!

Christine's pick: 

GINNY FIELD (Friday the 13th, Part 2)

Much as I love Alice from F13 Part 1, my favorite Friday final girl will always be Ginny (Amy Steel).  She's just such a perfect example of aptitude combined with sheer will and dare I say: spunk.

We first meet Ginny when she joins boyfriend Paul at the infamous Crystal Lake to set up a counselor training program nearby the now defunct and most definitely closed "Camp Blood" where Pamela Voorhees murdered several counselors five years prior.

Ginny immediately strikes me as someone it would be easy to be friends with, with her fun attitude and easy-going personality.  It is only when some of the counselors are hanging out at a bar discussing whether or not Jason is still alive that we realize Ginny is actually pretty damn smart. A psychology student, she tries to rationalize the facts, entertaining the possibility that Jason may have survived all these years - a boy trapped in a man's body - and what if he saw his mother being decapitated and is holding a vengeful grudge against any who dare try to get near the doomed camp again.

Funny thing is, that is exactly what is happening. As Ginny & Co. chug down a few more cold ones, their fellow camp counselors are being massacred one by one back at their facility.  When Ginny and Paul witness the buckets of blood in one of the rooms, she doesn't pull an Alice and look bewildered ("what is going on?") - she knows immediately it is not a joke and they press on to try to get help.

In the final sequence of the film we see Ginny's brains win out over most final girls' small amounts of grey matter. She discovers the secret woodsy hideaway where Jason has been piling up all the bodies and has built a small alter in the room with Mommy's head front and center and soon realizes he is closing in on her. So she quickly formulates a plan in her head that includes pulling on Pamela Voorhees' old crusty blue sweater and pretending to be his dead mother. Not since Psycho have we seen this bizarre turn of events.

And it almost works. Even when Jason discovers her ruse, she doesn't back down. They fight until Paul comes running in. A struggle ensues and Ginny finds herself with Jason's machete and is able to stop the potato-sack maniac.  Now even though we know Jason isn't dead - is he ever? - we still have to bow down to Ginny's bravery. This is what makes her the (very) best Friday final girl.


 Marie's pick: 


SAMANTHA HUGHES (House of the Devil)

At any chance I will gush over how much I love this movie.
Horror filmmaker wunderkind Ti West wrote and directed this 2009 flick about a young woman named Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) who is trying to make a little cash to get her through school.
She comes across a flyer inquiring about a babysitter, so Samantha decides to dial the given number up.

Poor, sweet Samantha quickly realizes that this is not a normal gig—a big tip-off is when she discovers she isn’t looking after a toddler but an elderly woman. Uhhh… It is also not a normal night, but the night of a lunar eclipse and a certain someone has a ritual in mind…

I don’t whether this is really a slasher movie or not; not very many people are killed. But our Samantha is a seemingly normal, intelligent, attractive girl who goes through some horrifying shit and comes out on the other side—maybe.

Though she gives a rather minimalist performance, it is all we need and I think rather than being a beaming, radiant light of purity and innocence, she is a more genuine one that we might actually find in everyday life.

Many of my friends are babysitting their way through college, and hell, they are braver than I am. Who knows how many various fluids they deal with or how many bloodcurdling screams their ears endure.

One of my babysitter friends watched the movie with me, and I couldn’t believe she ever took another job again.

WiHM: Final Girl Week, Day 3

Day three brings us two more kick-ass Final Girls!

Christine's pick:

JANNICKE (Cold Prey{Fritt Vilt}, Cold Prey II)

Of all the final girls from films in the last ten years or so, Jannicke (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) is by far my favorite.  In fact, she may be my favorite of any time period.  

Cold Prey (2006) is an excellent Norwegian horror film that is a cut above your average slasher film.  Jannicke and four friends are off for a weekend of snowboarding in the beautiful Scandinavian Mountains. Just as they have reached their remote location and admire the views while flying down the mountain, one of the group crashes and ends up with a compound fracture. 

This is where Jannicke first shows her strength of character. She immediately takes charge and attempts to keep everyone calm while she fixes her friend up as best she can until they can get him off the mountain.  The group ends up finding a deserted ski lodge and setting up there for the night.  Of course it's obvious since this is a slasher film that they are not in fact, alone.

Jannicke is as tenacious as she is compassionate. While tending to her injured friend as the others explore the lodge (bad idea, of course), she attempts to take his mind off his injuries and their unfortunate situation. But when things start going south and friends start to disappear, she never loses her cool - keeping her wits about her and putting the pieces together to discover what is going on behind the scenes in the bowels of their refuge.

When the killer finally surfaces she holds nothing back to try to help get her friends out alive, with true kick-ass determination backed up by intelligence and spirited bravery. We could ask for nothing more from a final girl. And much to the chagrin of many, she does everything without losing her clothing. Imagine that!

Marie's pick:

TAYLOR GENTRY (Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, 2006)

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is an ambitious movie, considering it is tackling some very highly criticized genres and subgenres. Horror in general is the most difficult genre to do right, and horror comedies and found-footage flicks are not only hard to pull off but are harshly judged by the die-hards. 

With the help of a stellar cast, writer/director Scott Glosserman weaved all these elements with grace, style, and talent.

As you may or may not know, the film is a mockumentary shot by a group of college students for a class. They are going to do the strange and unthinkable—interview serial killer Leslie Vernon. They follow as he plans the perfect slaughter of a group of teenagers, archetypes included. 

One of the members of the camera crew, Taylor (Angela Goethals), is a fiery, strong-willed, charismatic woman who finds herself starting to like and trust Leslie, until the bloodbath ensues. It is only when everyone around her is reduced to a pile of bodies that she realizes, as a virgin, she is Leslie’s Final Girl.

I included this one for the same reason I did Cabin in the Woods, it is a tribute to the slasher movie, and also a great movie on its own. Taylor takes on her role as Final Girl with bravery and true kick-assery!

WiHM: Final Girl Week, Day 2

Day 2 of WiHM posts continues with more of our favorite Final Girls. 

Christine's pick:

SIDNEY PRESCOTT (Scream series)

Any list of final girls is going to include Sid. She is a formidable foe for any killer because she's smart, witty, and kept herself alive through four Scream movies.  Scream (1996) was a revelation in the mid-90's, pulling the horror genre out of a funk it had been in for oh, ten years or so.  It set out to prove all teenagers don't need to be the hapless twits they are made out to be, and who better for a lead protagonist than Sidney Prescott.

When a classmate at her school is murdered, it sets off a chain of events that pits Sid against the ruthless Ghostface, a killer with a grudge against her for reasons unknown until the last moments of the film. As Sidney watches, her closest friends are murdered by the vengeful maniac, and when her father disappears and becomes a suspect, Sid has to figure out just who is behind the madness. The one-year anniversary of her mother's murder seemingly figures in, and we see a frailty to Sidney when she is remembering her mom fondly - even though others viewed her as a tramp who "had it coming". This adds a layered depth to Sidney's character that endears her to audiences more than your average 'scream-queen'.

Yes, she made a bumbling error when she slept with her boyfriend - doing two things:  1) rendering her horror-movie-virgin status null and void and 2) um, she had sex with the killer.  But she used these things to her advantage and ended up turning the tables on boyfriend Billy and his wretched excuse for a friend, Stu.

Throughout the four movies in the Scream series it seemed Sidney was always ready for the trouble that seemed to find her, and used her brain instead of falling apart like so many ridiculous teenaged girls in films these days. 

She remains one of my favorite final girls to this day, for her tenacity and gumption, yet she still holds on to that little bit of vulnerability that makes her seem so much more realistic and likeable.

Marie's pick:

DANA POLK (The Cabin in the Woods)

The Cabin in the Woods (2011) was a huge hit among horror fans. The mega insta-classic was a well-done tribute to the slasher film and buckets of bloody fun.

It starts like any other of its kind: a group of teens travel to a secluded cabin to party. But we know something they don’t—that every aspect of their trip is constantly surveyed and meticulously planned.

Why? To carry out an age-old ritual, one that genre fans are all too familiar with. To be completed, five key characters must be sacrificied: The Scholar, the Athlete, the Fool, the Whore...

And lastly—the Virgin—we know by another name. The Final Girl. This lucky lady is Dana (Kristin Connolly, The Happening), a sweet, innocent girl who is just looking to have a fun, easy-going time. Unfortunatley she is going to have to use those survival skills she never knew she had and kick some undead ass.

I had to use Dana because her character is a nod to the Final Girl motif and I think she is a prime example of what one should be. Her clothes aren’t torn to skanky shreds by the end, we don’t see gratuitous tits or ass—in fact, she is hardly sexualized at all.
She remains the symbol of innocence and purity that prevails.

Dana is likeable, relatable and realistic, unlike her unfortunate friend, Jules (Anna Hutchinson). Remember that scene where she makes out with the wolf head? Hard. To. Watch.

Women in Horror Month (WiHM): Final Girl Week, Day 1

Welcome to Fascination with Fear's first post to celebrate Women in Horror Month.  If you didn't already know what WiHM is all about (and if you don't, I fear you might be living under a rock), here's a link to the site so you can read all about its mission and just what we are all trying to do here. 

Marie and I are not here to get all political on your asses, but we do just want to mention that Women in Horror Month is important to us because hey - we're women.  And though we're not trying to fight to get a script green-lighted, directing our first feature, or trying to secure a make-up job for the next Sam Raimi film, we certainly celebrate those who are and we throw in our voices to say hey, we appreciate women's contributions to the genre that we love best. 

It's people like Hannah Neurotica (founder of WiHM) who do their damndest to make this genre a better place for women. And yes, we would love it if women were celebrated year round for their contributions, but face it, that just isn't always so.  Women still have to fight to have their voices heard (just like in so many other things in the world), and they still make less money than men, believe it or not.  In the horror genre, women are generally underrepresented and under-appreciated, that's all we're saying.

SO we want to celebrate women.  I've done this before on the blog over the last several years, but this year I have Marie to help me.  Marie is a big advocate of WiHM and as a writer she is just finding her voice in horror, having been published at least four times in the last several months.  She has what most women of horror have: determination. 

With that said, Marie and I have decided to split our posts into weeks, with this week being "Final Girl Week", in which we will celebrate our favorite determined and sometimes sassy final girls.  Many you will recognize, some you won't think of until you see them on the post, some (we're sure) you will disagree with, and some of you will complain about who you think you should have seen.  Please remember this is not a definitive list (I hate the word definitive...who are we to say?) - but we think you'll agree with most!

Each day we will highlight two final girls - one of my picks, and one of Marie's. Hence, you will get fourteen in all.  Day one starts out with my pick of Beth from Hostel 2 and Marie's pick of The Girls of Death Proof!

BETH (Hostel 2)

While it might seem an odd or forgotten choice at first, there's no doubt Beth deserves to be on a list like this.  Hostel 2 may actually be better than the first one, but that could be because there are women in the main roles instead of those three obnoxious guys from the first one. Instead we get two obnoxious girls and one you feel like rooting for.  And that girl is Beth (Lauren German).

Rich girl Beth seemed to be smart enough to know better, but when faced with the no-brainer invitation to go to a party at an exclusive spa, they should have realized something was fishy right from the get-go.

Sequels aren’t always the best for getting to know characters, and this one isn’t an exception. But what makes Beth such a standout final girl is the final acts of violence that she seeks revenge with.  After falling asleep at the spa, she wakes up to find her friends gone and all of her belongings missing. She eyes some suspicious men and flees from them, only to be picked up by “friends” and taken to a mansion where she discovers the men behind Elite Hunting. 

All of this doesn’t deter her from trying to escape. Even when she is tied to a chair and tortured, she doesn’t lose her nerve.  She seduces her captor, shoves a needle in his ear, and bargains with the Elite Hunting staff to join their ranks. Being extraordinarily wealthy,  she easily buys her way into the club and kills her captor (by cutting off his penis and throwing it to the dogs, leaving him to bleed to death). After this, she assures her place in Elite Hunting by getting the requisite tattoo.

Not done there, she tricks another adversary and lures her to her death, decapitating her head and allowing children to play kick the can with it.

Speaking of kicking the can. She’s hard core by the end of the film, with a vengeance not seen by many of the “final girls” on this list.

THE GIRLS OF DEATH PROOF (2007)

Quentin Tarantino is famous for his strong female leads—and his foot fetish, and a dozen other things! Let’s go back to the first one... Death Proof (2007) is one of two “grindhouse” films, the other of course being Planet Terror by Robert Rodriguez. These two films are throwback tributes to the old exploitation films popular in the 70’s, which were played in “grindhouse” theatres.

Death Proof stars the always wonderful Kurt Russell (The Thing, duh!) as Stuntman Mike, who is retired from his title but has kept a souvenir; his car. It’s death-proof—for him, that is. For the slew of lovely ladies that meet the skull-adorned hood, not so much.

Except for one solid crew of badass kicks comprised of Abernathy (Rosario Dawson, Sin City), Lee (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, The Thing), Kim (Tracie Thoms) and Zoe Bell as herself. They will chew a man up and spit them now, even if you are a psychopath who gets off on killin’ ladies.

This film may be a simple tale of vengeance, but damn is it satisfying! One of my favorite movies, I have seen it dozens of time and it never gets old, I am, of course, an enormous Tarantino fan and the director’s cut is the finest example of his brilliant script-writing. The film is obviously accompanied by a trademark killer soundtrack, so hang up the chick habit, boys, or these girls will getcha!

Winter Horror: Staying Within Reach Of The Storm

On this, our last day of celebrating winter horror (and almost conveniently during a major Nor'easter), I thought I'd highlight some of the films that are not specifically horror films but have hints of horror/terror/fear, etc. 

Just rounding up a group off the top of my head actually turned out to be fairly extensive.  Mind you, this is not a definitive list of every film that has snow or winter in it, but there are a lot here.  They are all scary in some way, whether it is man against nature, crimes against others, or just the struggle to survive the elements.

And since we're at the end of the winter horror road, I wanted to again thank James Gracey for being a part of these two weeks with Marie and I.  His writing talent is endless, and quite frankly makes us look like plebes! THANKS!

And thank you, readers,  for tuning in - and stay warm!

A SIMPLE PLAN (1998)
Three men find a crashed airplane with a dead pilot and what equals 4 million bucks inside. It's the classic question of morals - do they tell someone or keep it for themselves?  The harsh winter plays host to several murders, causing events to spiral out of control and raise the question of whether the "simple plan" was really worth it at all.

ALIVE (1993)
The gripping true story of a team of Uruguayan rugby players whose plane crashes in the Andes and they are forced to turn to cannibalism (of their deceased family and friends) to stay alive. The weather is completely in your face throughout this entire film - it is the reason that they are there, the dangers that they have to face (freezing to death, avalanches, etc,), and the deep snow they hike through to finally search for help.  The cannibalism aspect of the film is truly secondary - this is a film about determination, grit, and survival.

THE GREY (2012)
Liam Neeson stars as a man whose job entails killing wolves that try to attack an Alaskan drilling team. While that sounds bad enough, it gets much much worse when he and his team are leaving and their plane crashes - forcing them to endure ridiculously frigid temps, tons of snow, and very hungry wolves. The elements are only part of the story here, but the men fighting their way through the snowstorm in an attempt to get free of the wolves territory and search for a way out of the woods makes for highly entertaining film watching.

THE EDGE (1997)
Another "lost in the wilds" film, The Edge puts three men (Anthony Hopkins, Alec Baldwin, and Harold Perrineau) in the Alaskan wilderness with nothing but their good intentions to get them out.  And when you add a 1500 pound Kodiak grizzly bear to the equation it doesn't bode well.  They can run a lot faster than you'd think. Forced to camp out in the snow doesn't help matters, as braving the elements is more than just a little difficult with a bear on your trail and you're flat-out freezing to death!.  Super adventure thriller, highly recommended.

SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS (1999)
Based on an award-winning book by David Guterson, this film is the tale of a murder trial that takes place during a miserable snowstorm. In 1950's Washington (state), a Japanese-American is accused of killing a white man. Times are already precarious due to poor Japanese/American relations after WWII.  A reporter (Ethan Hawke) further heightens the issue by falling in love with the accused murderer's wife.

THE SWEET HEREAFTER (1997)
A tragic bus accident in a small Canadian town in the dead of winter sends its residents into a complete funk, reeling with hard feelings and hoping for justice by way of a class-action lawsuit. Now a paraplegic, 15 year-old Nicole (Sarah Polley) is her parents' only hope for a settlement, but she's not sure she wants the added attention, much to the dismay of attorney Mitchell Stephens (Ian Holm). Relationships falter and feelings are toyed with in this affecting drama based on a novel by Russell Banks.

VERTICAL LIMIT (2000)
Directed by Martin Campbell (Casino Royale), this adventure film full of highs and lows (quite literally) is about a group of mostly arrogant climbers tackling the world's second largest peak (and most difficult climb). Obviously attempting a go at K2 isn't easy at any time of the year, with the near-summit locations being among the worst conditions anywhere in the world. Filmed in breathtaking locations including Pakistan (where K2 is) make for a death-defying trip to the heights of the world.

K2 (1991)
Sometimes if these types of adventure films would just stick to the action and leave out all the melodrama I think they would fare better at the box office.  Regardless of whether or not it was a hit or not (not), K2 is another great look at the world's tallest peaks and the horrific weather conditions that surround them and the people crazy enough to scale them. Another group of self-centered climbers risk life and limb to get to the top of the earth.

TOUCHING THE VOID (2003)
A fascinating yet very tense documentary tale of survival about two men who are climbing Siula Grande (20,540ft) in the Peruvian Andes. By now you have realized how much I love these kinds of films by this, the third mountain-climbing film on the list. But this one is different in that there are only two men involved in the strugle for life and death on the mountain. Scary stuff.

INTO THIN AIR: DEATH ON EVEREST (1997)
The last of my 'death on the mountain' films, Into Thin Air is the made-for-tv movie based on the book by Jon Krakauer. It reenacts the story of the author and a duo of climbing teams that face the worst imaginable weather at quite literally the top of the world. While somewhat melodramatic at times, there's no doubt that winter and all its fury are alive and well on Mt. Everest 24/7, and until people respect it for what it is, there will be stories like this to tell.

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980)
It's been a whole lotta years since I've seen this movie, but not too long that I don't remember the famous battle on the ice planet Hoth. I've read that this was the most difficult production in Star Wars history - with budgets running amok and temperatures in Norway (where some filming took place) plummeting to the basement. The cast endured one of the worse Norwegian winters in history. But it was worth it, right??

THE ICE STORM
A crippling ice storm in 1973 Connecticut is just the catalyst for the even more catastrophic problems facing two families as they struggle with the difficulties of the time. The film deals with their young teenaged children experimenting with drugs while the adults get blind drunk and sleep with each other. The storm wails outside and the two families are forced to come face to face with their problems.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
An extremely unique role in film, the title character (played by Rooney Mara in the US adaptation of the hugely successful novel by the late Stieg Larsson) Lisbeth Salander has a special skill-set, enabling her to decipher a notebook given to her by Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig). They work together on an investigation into the disappearance of a wealthy man's great-niece. With the cold winter of Sweden ever-present, this brilliant thriller was well-received and is the first in a trilogy.

THE X-FILES: FIGHT THE FUTURE (1998)
Tucked in between seasons 5 and 6 of the popular sci-fi/horror television show, this movie further elaborates on the conspiracy theories of the possible alien colonization of earth. Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) reprise their roles as FBI agents determined to seek the truth about what the government is apparently hiding. Following the mythology angle of the show, the agents end up in the frozen Antarctic where the infamous cigarette smoking man has hoarding an alien space ship.

EIGHT BELOW (2006)
An adventure movie starring the wildly attractive Paul Walker, Eight Below tells the semi-true story of a group of sled-dogs that are left behind to fend for themselves in the frigid Antarctic. Walker plays Jerry Shepard, an Antarctic guide whose group gets caught in a horrific storm and are forced to leave their sled dogs behind. Five months later Shepard returns to hunt for the dogs, who have been on their own. Really a great film, especially for older children.

SNOW ANGELS (2007)
An unbelievably depressing yet realistic film starring Kate Beckinsale as a down-on-her-luck waitress with an alcoholic estranged husband (Sam Rockwell), a missing daughter, and a guilty conscious for sleeping with her best friend's husband. The search for daughter Tara throws a small town into turmoil even as winter seems to close in even tighter around them, proving that life doesn't always have a happy ending.

FARGO (1996)
This Oscar-winning film by the Coen brothers pits Marge Gunderson - a very pregnant police chief - (Frances McDormand, Best Actress) against two criminals who have kidnapped the wife of one Jerry Lundegaard (William H Macy). Jerry has hired said criminals because he is down on his luck financially and intends to seek ransom from his father-in-law. The hilarity that ensues, combined with the true-crime aspect of the movie, make it one of the best films of the 90's. You betcha!