FROM FINAL GIRLS TO FILMMAKERS: HOW ROGER CORMAN HELPED GIVE WOMEN A VOICE IN HORROR!

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Catching up with some Corman produced 80s horror, I came to realize just how ahead of his time legendary producer Roger Corman was in giving women a voice in horror as filmmakers and not just final girls!…

Roger Corman is legendary for his exploitation flicks and while some may debate the involvement of women in those films as objects of T&A elements and/or final girls in his horror flicks, they may not be aware that Corman was also boundary breaking in giving women opportunities as filmmakers behind the camera, which, especially in the horror genre and at the time…the 80s…was practically unheard of.

Today women have been showing their voice in the horror genre behind the cameras more than ever. With the starkly original works of the Soska Sisters and their American Mary or See No Evil 2, taking the horror world by storm…along with filmmakers like Jennifer (The Babadook) Kent and Leigh (Honeymoon) Janiak…that voice is louder than ever. The boundaries are starting to come down finally in a very male dominated genre and it’s a blessing to horror movie fans to be getting the works and perspectives of a whole new generation of female filmmakers, previously unheard from…but as these talents tear down the walls, is it possible there were already cracks there from an earlier time?

Three decades before this refreshing opening of doors, those doors were unlocked partially by a man that some may unfairly claim made his money exploiting women in movies, Roger Corman. During the 80s, women were just starting to make waves as filmmakers, let alone in the horror genre and Roger Corman not only produced numerous horror flicks with women writing and/or directing, but gave start to the careers of some renown producers too, like Gale Anne Hurd and his own wife, Julie Corman as well!

Corman, under his New World Pictures banner, produced Humanoids from The Deep with Barabara Peeters at the helm in 1981 and a year later gave the directing reigns to Amy Holden Jones on the slasher Slumber Party Massacre, which was also written by Rita Mae Brown. While the 1983 Suburbia, was not a horror flick, Corman gave new filmmaker Penelope (Wayne’s World) Spheeris a chance, producing her unflinching vision of a group of outcast punk rockers. It is now considered a cult classic and she a very successful filmmaker. After selling New World and starting Concorde Pictures, this trend continued. Sorority House Massacre was written and directed by Carol Frank and between 1987 and 1990 there were second and third installments of the Slumber Party Massacre series, helmed by Deborah Brock and Sally Mattison respectively. Corman even gave one of his regular actresses a chance behind the camera. Kat Shea (Barbarian Queen) co-wrote and directed Stripped To Kill for Corman in 1987 after starring in a few of his productions and doing some second unit work and writing for the legendary producer. She made a few more films for Concorde and Corman afterwards, including the immensely underrated vampire romance Dance Of The Damned in 1987. Shea…then Shea-Rubin…went on to a prolific career as a writer/director after striking out on her own. I personally find her to be a highly underrated filmmaker, whose most well-know film is probably the sexy thriller Poison Ivy with Drew Barrymore.

Corman was not the only one shaking the boundaries that are now finally coming down. John Carpenter stood by the late Debra Hill as his producer and she produced a number of his most classic films with him, including the horror masterpiece Halloween and that was only the beginning for this now legendary producer. Kathryn Bigelow burst on the scene with the vampire classic Near Dark in 1987 as did Mary Lambert in 1989 with the Stephen King adaptation, Pet Semetery. Rachel Talalay killed Freddy Krueger in Freddy’s Dead in 1991 and if not for the vision of Mary Harron, we wouldn’t have the modern classic American Psycho, which also showed us what a relatively unknown Christian Bale could do in front of the camera. Corman was not solely responsible, but certainly led the way during the 80s giving women a voice in horror behind the camera as well as in front of it…long before today’s generation of female horror filmmakers are making their presence known.

So, we are finally getting to see women make a strong mark as filmmakers in the horror genre. Their emergence was a long time coming, but there were pioneers that paved the way. While Roger Corman was not the only producer to give female filmmakers a chance on the creative end of the horror genre…and there were a handful of female directed horrors before the 80s, too…he did do it at a time where it was practically unheard of and he did it often. Do today’s filmmakers like Jen and Sylvia Soska have Roger Corman to thank for putting cracks in the barriers that they are now tearing down with their unique and talented visions as women in horror?…I’ll let you decide that for yourselves!

-MonsterZero NJ

TOMB OF NOSTALGIA: THE NEST (1988)

THE NEST (1988)

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Killer cockroach flick comes from Roger Corman’s Concorde Pictures and was produced by his wife Julie. The story finds the small island community of North Port suddenly under siege by a swarm of flesh eating cockroaches. As local Sheriff Tarbell (Frank Luz) investigates along with the cute mayor’s daughter, Elizabeth (Lisa Langlois), they find the sinister INTEC corporation has conducted genetic experiments on the local roach population. Now their Frankenstein creation is out of control and not only are they hungry for flesh, but are impervious to pesticides and have an annoying habit of becoming genetically combined with whatever they eat. Will the citizens of North Port somehow defeat this six legged army or become mutant roach fodder one and all?

This fun B-Movie is directed with a sense of humor by Terence H. Winkless from a script by Robert King based on Eli Cantor’s book. Winkless takes his subject seriously, but knows this is a silly flick, so there is a healthy dose of humor to go with the plentiful gore and numerous deaths. What makes it work is that the film blends the humor and more serious aspects well, so we are willing to go along with it for entertainments sake. The FX are kind of cheesy, especially when it enters John Carpenter’s The Thing territory as our villainous insects begin to “become what they eat”, but that’s part of it’s charm. We also get the traditional sinister corporation conspiracy personified by the town’s greedy, sell-out mayor (film veteran Robert Lansing) and the traditional mad scientist (Corman regular Terri Treas) who refuses to see what they have wrought. It all adds up to a fun little flick that doesn’t try to be more than it is and makes no excuses for what it is, either.

The cast are all adequate, but there will be no awards given out here. Robert Lansing does the best work as greedy Mayor Johnson, but Lansing is a film veteran and a veteran of these type of flicks, so he gives it his all despite the silly premise. Luz is bland but serviceable as lead Sheriff Tarbell and Langlois is a feisty heroine in support of him. Terri Treas, who had a busy film and TV career in the 80s and 90s, has some fun with her mad scientist role and gives her part a little needed over-the-top. Overall, exactly the level of talent you’d expect in a flick like this, save for the long-time veteran Lansing…and it works with the tone of the material.

This isn’t a great movie. It’s a fun little B-horror flick, though, and the cheese, gore and humor mix well enough to make it so. It knows it’s material enough to not take it too seriously, but serious enough not to make a complete joke out of it. Julie Corman and Co. deliver something worthy of her husband’s pictures, and certainly worth a watch with some brews and friends with like-wise taste in these kind of flicks. A fun, unassuming B-Movie.

Now available on blu-ray from the awesome folks at Scream Factory!

-MonsterZero NJ

3 genetically enhanced roaches.