For too long now we have watched women scream desperately and run hopelessly in horror films, but as female horror filmmakers increasingly emerge from behind the camera as writers, directors and producers, ‘final girls’ or ‘bloody babes’ are finally cheating their ever-predictable deaths with, astonishingly, no boobs in sight.
US actress Cassandra Peterson, better known for her iconic 1980s’ gothic vixen alter-ego Elvira, the Mistress of the Dark, believes that ‘all kids who have bad dreams grow up to be horror fans’ but that, in some ways, horror flicks have always been male domain. ‘Whether it is a spooky dark maze, a spooky ride or going to a scary movie, horror is really all about the girl getting scared and jumping into the guy’s arms. That is the whole point of horror right there, it is for guys to pick up girls,’ she says. As a child, Peterson collected miniature models of Frankenstein and Dracula instead of Barbie dolls and still recalls falling in love with horror films – while still on second grade.
