WiHM 2023: The Women Who Made Me Love Horror
WiHM 2023: The Women Who Made Me Love Horror
by: Victoria Audley
There’s a quote from Bela Lugosi I always think of regarding women and horror: “It is women who love horror. Gloat over it. Feed on it. Are nourished by it. Shudder and cling and cry out, and come back for more.” Horror is, of course, for everyone, but I think something about this quote really captures the experience of being a woman who both loves and creates horror. To me personally, my love of horror is wrapped up in my identity as a woman — not solely due to the agonies, though that’s certainly a part, but the joys as well. The visceral victories, the quiet terrors, the observations I wish I hadn’t made, the truths it’s my burden to know: horror reflects these, celebrates them, tears them into bite-sized pieces, and rebuilds them into houses haunted by my own ghosts.
Other women have taught me to love horror, more than anyone else. Whether on the page or writing it, in front of a camera or in personal conversation, it’s the stories women tell, the stories shared to explain an experience or find understanding on common ground that have shaped my love and use of horror. For this article, I wanted to go back to my roots — to the most formative influences in my life that brought me into the genre. To that end, I couldn’t start with anyone else but…
