Category: Women
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One Heck of a Final Girl in “Game Over”
Game Over (2019, Netflix) is one of those rare horrors treats that’s as creative and interesting as it is fun to watch. Psychology blends with the supernatural and a dash of slasher-flick to create a full-bodied thriller with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing up to the very end. The film’s…
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“XX” and the Horror of Motherhood
Don’t be fooled by the movie’s title: there’s nothing lascivious about the horror anthology XX (2017, Netflix). Women wrote and directed each segment of XX, including the creepy stop-motion animation opening credits and interstitials by Sofia Carrillo. Men may dominate the horror genre, but women’s pain — both individual and collective — provides a bottomless…
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Saint Maud & The Madness of Fanaticism
TW: Sexual Assault, Mental Illness, Body Horror // Minor Spoilers Below Rose Glass’ directorial debut, Saint Maud, explores the term “god complex” to an extreme. The film follows Maud, a young nurse who has recently been “saved” by God (through Catholicism) and believes she has a bigger purpose for it. She tries to implement her…
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Millennial Woes Done Right
A messy millennial in an on-and-off relationship with liminal job prospects has been a saturated archetype since Lena Dunham stretched it to its limit for 5 years in her series Girls. It has been haphazardly recreated in many character study-esque television series and tries to worm its way in as b-plots in coming-of-age films. Occasionally…
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Violation & The Misused Shock-Horror of Sexual Assault
TW: Sexual Assault, Body Horror, Animal Violence // Spoilers below There is no more delicate a topic to portray than sexual assault and, because of its heaviness, it seldom gets the attention and discussion it deserves. However, when it is represented in some capacity, it is usually in an explicit and exploitative way that is…
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Zack Snyder’s ‘Justice League’ Is the Movie We Deserve
Like millions around the world, I’ve been waiting four years for the renowned #SnyderCut. I’ll never forget sitting in the theater on opening night, witnessing a CGI mouth on Henry Cavill’s face about five seconds into Justice League. That’s a thing of nightmares if I must say. Anyways, right then and there, I knew I…
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The Heroes of “Hustlers”
“Hustlers” returns power to groups that are traditionally deprived of it: women, the working class, and sex workers.
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“Le Bonheur” and the Feminism of Varda
Le Bonheur (Happiness) is the third feature film from the late and great Agnès Varda. Released in 1965, the film follows François, a man who seemingly has it all—he’s happily married to his wife, Thérèse, and has two children who he loves deeply. François’ life takes a turn, however, when he meets Émilie, a post…
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“Sea Fever” Examines the Emotional Cost of Quarantine
Movies don’t exist out of context, and 2019’s Sea Fever (Prime Video) is no exception. Without our current situation, you could easily categorize this film as simple nautical horror in the same vein as Jaws or the more recent Underwater. It stands up as a fishing boat version of Alien. There’s a touch of The…
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The Bleak Reality of “Lost Girls”
If you come to Lost Girls (2020, Netflix) seeking a serial killer movie with lots of gory details and pretty dead girls, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. If you like police procedurals and their (usually female) corpse-of-the-week formulas, you might not be satisfied with this film. If, however, you’re interested in a deep, dark…