The Patriarchy Makes Everything Worse
Hot take, right
The VVitch (2015) d: Robert Eggers
Cat People (1942) d: Jacques Tourneur
Carnival of Souls (1962) d: Herk Harvey
The Beyond (1981) d: Lucio Fulci
Under the Shadow (2016) d: Babak Anvari
Eat (2011) d: Janicza Bravo
Historical horror, The VVitch, takes place in Puritan New England, just an all around lovely time to be a woman. Through some pretty meticulous filmmaking, you feel very immersed in the setting, including the suffocating patriarchal paranoia. This movie made me feel very uncomfortable. Fun fact: it was officially endorsed by the Satanic Temple, so you know it’s got street cred.
Cat People really caught me off guard with its depth. It’s from the early 40s and its synopsis is pure B-movie camp: a newly married fashion designer descended from a tribe of Cat People who turn into panthers when aroused starts to stalk a woman her husband becomes interested in. But hoo boy is that reductive. Read this after you watch.
Carnival of Souls is a dreamy gem with a fascinating history. The miasma of atmospheric dread hanging over the protagonist is compounded by, you guessed it, men being total trash.
The Beyond is a great little cult film that takes the surrealism of Carnival of Souls and dials up the tactile weirdness levels. It has a simple premise - Liza inherits a hotel and discovers it’s built upon a gateway to Hell - which belies how deliciously gonzo it gets. While she’s trying to deal with the supernatural shitstorm, her “love interest” just relentlessly belittles her fears, and actually accuses her of being the architect of strange happenings. He is the worst.
I absolutely love Under the Shadow. Set against the backdrop of the Iran-Iraq War, Shideh tries to take care of her daughter as violence intensifies in Tehran. Gradually, she begins to suspect they are also being stalked by Djinn. There are so many layers to the threats surrounding Shideh - the intermingling of the horrors of war and supernatural dangers as well as the newly restricted role of women after the Islamic Revolution (which directly impedes her ability to protect herself and her daughter).
And we end with the short film, Eat, where accidentally losing your keys gets a lot more dangerous when there’s only a strange man to help you.