Women in Horror: Parasite

In the not so distant future, tapeworms have been genetically modified to keep us healthy: administer drugs, stave off allergies, and cure illnesses. It's called an Intestinal Bodyguard made by SymboGen and it's revolutionized modern medicine. Sal Mitchell is SymboGen's poster child for the helpful parasite after surviving a horrific car crash and being saved from brain death by her Intestinal Bodyguard. She has no memories from before the crash and is a vastly different person from who she used to be. All isn't as idyllic as it seems when the sleepwalking sickness, which causes people to act erratically and violently, starts spreading like wildfire. Sal isn't truly involved until someone sends her coded messages that she could choose to ignore and get some answers about the sickness and her own condition. Should she shatter her worldview and find out the truth or live in blissful ignorance?

I loved Mira Grant's Newsflesh series, so I had to read Parasite. She expertly blends science fact with science fiction with a healthy dose of horror and does an extensive amount of research. For this novel, she even lived with a goat tapeworm in her stomach for months in the name of research to study its effects, which weren't all bad. For instance, allergic reactions and arthritis are lessened by these parasites. Her efforts to base as much of the science in reality makes the novel even more frightening and interesting to read. After reading lots of annoying and lazily written books that have illogical world building, Mira Grant's approach is a breath of fresh air.

Sal used to be Sally Mitchell, known for being rebellious, selfish, and outgoing. That was before the accident when she drove head on into a bus. Now, she only has memories spanning the 6 years since she woke up. She had to relearn everything: how to speak, how to walk, absolutely everything. Sal is much more introverted, literal, and kindhearted than her previous self. Everyone in her life holds on to the hope that she will magically remember her life before the accident and become Sally again. By most people in her life, she's treated as a child at best and a lab experiment at worst. Her parents still have guardianship over her and don't hesitate to exercise it. SymboGen uses her as a poster child for their Intestinal Bodyguard and has her constantly jumping through hoops. Sal has to do a balancing act of doing what she wants but keeping the company happy enough to keep paying for her medical treatment, which is obviously extensive. All of these people actively work to take away her agency and use her for their own ends.

The only people who treat Sal as a human being are those who met her after the accident. Her boyfriend Nathan loves her for who she is, not some bygone memory of who people think she should be. The people at the shelter she works at treat her normally, but she doesn't have many friends or even acquaintances outside of them. When Sal regains her agency and looks for answers, she finds out just how much just about everyone in her life tries to control her and treats her as an object rather than a person. SymboGen takes away her privacy by bugging everything they can get their hands on, forcing her to go to a psychologist she hates, and keeps tabs on her everywhere she goes. Her mother reveals that she doesn't think of Sal as her daughter and, with her father, keeps her in the house with no phone or internet access like a prisoner. The underground group opposing SymboGen may also want to use Sal, but they tell her the truth and give her a choice. Parasite is at its a core a character study, showing Sal's transformation from an ignorant bystander in her life to getting her agency back by making her own decisions and coming to terms with who she really is.

Parasite is a very detailed science fiction and horror novel. The very thought that science created to help humanity can turn and take control of us is frightening, especially when you can't truly tell if someone is themselves or under control of the parasite. Although the idea is similar to the zombies in her Newsflesh series, it's quite different because zombies are incredibly obvious. These beings can only be truly detected through medical scans and are as varied as people. Some have complained that not enough happens in Parasite, but I found it to be well written with good pacing and authentic characters. Not every book has to go down like an action movie. I can't wait for the next and final book in the series and I highly recommend Parasite.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

Women in Horror: We Are What We Are (2013)

* Spoilers *

The Parkers live in a small, rural town and have always kept to themselves. Their neighbors find them a bit odd, but good, wholesome people with Christian values. Frank, the patriarch of the family, rules with an iron fist, forcing the family to keep with their ancestral traditions at all cost. The mother has died recently, leaving the two oldest girls Rose and Iris to assume her responsibilities in the family and these traditions. The time for the gruesome ritual is upon them and unfortunately coincides with the worst storm they've seen in years. Due to the torrential downpour, clues of their previous rituals are being uncovered by local police and it seems only a matter of time until the family and their unorthodox practices will be discovered.

The Parker family appears to be wholesome, good, and pious, but their family dynamic and cannibalistic religious practices are warped and bizarre. The film boils down to the old trying to unsuccessfully stifle and combat the young. Frank Parker is the driving force of their family. Although physically imposing, he is actually weakened by a prion disease contracted from his highly regarded ritual of eating human flesh and is prone to tremors and mental deterioration. He forces his own beliefs and sensibilities onto his children, which are an amalgamation of his ancestor's traditions and Christianity. In the 1700s, their ancestors were stuck in a cave and subsisted on human flesh to survive. Frank is somehow convinced that their family will die out if they don't continue this bizarre tradition exactly how it was done in the past, so they kill and eat one young women a year. Frank represents an old order literally consuming and basically enslaving the unwilling new order, mostly comprised of young women.

Rose and Iris are Frank's teenage daughters who are obviously less than enthused about continuing Frank's traditions, but reluctantly follow his leadership. They appear much younger than they are because of the old fashioned, very modest clothes they are forced to wear. Iris also has her hair styled in severe braids to represent Frank's control over them. When they have to kill, gut, and prepare a young woman for their meal, they express disgust, reluctance, and vow to figure out a way out of it for next year. Iris is the older of the two and seems to resign herself unhappily to assume her mother's role in the home and in the ritual. She comports herself as largely silent and stoic, almost zombie-like. When a young deputy expresses interest in her, she quickly shuts him down. Iris wants more out of life and already rejects the insane teachings and authority of her father, but sees no way out of it.

Then the young conflict with the old until one is overthrown. Iris' rebellion starts by having sex with the young deputy who she previously rejected. This act is a natural expression of sexuality and appropriate for her age. Her father finds them mid-coitus and slaughters the man while he's on top of her in an effort to bury her burgeoning womanhood and keep her complacent and childlike. Rose's rebellion is represented by her hair. After she rejects the tradition and plans to leave, she stops braiding her hair, leaving it wavy and free. This changes her appearance drastically and gives her more womanly, modern look. Rose and Iris' final rebellion is in their own version of the ritual. Their father tries to kill them and commit suicide when it's obvious that others know their secret. To protect themselves and their little brother, Iris and Rose attack their father using only their teeth and nails and devour his flesh. In stark contrast to their tradition ritual, they attack and eat with savage fervor, acting on instincts rather than thought. Eating their father is getting rid of the diseased old ways and restoring the natural order, giving themselves the opportunity to move forward and have their own lives. Afterwards, they are free and wear modern clothing while they look to build a new life somewhere else. Iris takes the book with their traditions because it's undeniably part of them, but no to continue honoring them.

We Are What We Are is a well done horror film with a lot going on under the surface. It goes a different direction than one would expect of a cannibal film. The performances are excellent, especially of Ambyr Childers and Julie Garner as Iris and Rose. I like the pacing of the film and how it methodically tells the story without rushing. The ominous atmosphere of the stormy small town in built and maintained. This film is surprisingly a remake from a 2010 film of the same name set in Mexico. The two films seem to have the same general story line, but not much else in common. This is the example of the rare remake that establishes itself separate from the original and proves to be a good story with excellent execution.

My rating: 9/10 fishmuffins

Women in Horror: In Her Skin

In Her Skin tells the chilling true story of Caroline Reed Robertson and how she murdered fifteen year old Rachel Barber. The story shows three points of view: Rachel's, her family's, and finally, Caroline's. Rachel's life is pretty much perfect. Her family is affluent, loving, and happy. She's a talented dancer and has a loving, devoted boyfriend. Others find her beautiful and she's generally well liked. Of course, Rachel has things she hides from her parents such as sex, drinking, and general teenage mischief. Unfortunately, the film doesn't take the time to delve into Rachel's character as it does to Caroline's, so she remains a generic teen.

Rachel's family pushes to find any clue after she goes missing. The police think they are in denial about their daughter running away and dismiss their constant theories and urging to do more. They knew something was wrong when Rachel wasn't at the train station and the case was solved due to their unwillingness to dismiss their daughter. I found the characterization of the parents to be a little weird. In one scene, the father completely breaks down, convinced Rachel is dead. The mother is also overwhelmed, but leaves the room, leaving their young daughter to comfort her husband. The scene just struck me as incredibly odd and possibly indicative of a deeper discordance in the family to be revealed later (which it wasn't). The other odd scene was when the family was told Rachel was dead. They didn't have any outward emotional reaction at all despite having their worst fears confirmed. I realize that everyone processes and grieves in their own way, but it was a jarring scene when they had been emotional at the very thought that it might have happened.

That brings us to Caroline Reed Robertson. For most of her life, she's been miserable, full of self loathing, and dismissed or disliked by everyone she knows. Her father was largely absent from her life and when she tried to reach out him, he rejected her. Her mother grew tired of her continued abuse and gave up on her, dismissing her as a bad seed. At school, her classmates relentlessly tease and torment her. She internalizes their taunts and fuels her self loathing. Who knows how it started, but Caroline ended up with no one to turn to. Every support system out there failed her. You can't help but feel for her as she is rejected time and time again by those around her and in turn hates herself. Caroline sees Rachel's idyllic life from afar and wants it so badly. In a decision that defies reason and sanity, she decides to kidnap, murder, and assume the identity of Rachel Barber. The murder scene is quite brutal and raw and deservedly stood out from the rest of the film.

Ruth Bradley performs amazingly as Caroline. Her mood swings, depression, self loathing, rage, and (short lived) smug surety are deftly portrayed and completely believable. It's her performance and Simone North's writing and direction that allows the audience to sympathize with her plight while still being disgusted and horrified by her crime and her lack of remorse afterwards. It's also the reason why the film piqued my interest and left me thinking about it for days. It would have been so easy to show Caroline to be a one dimensional monster, but to show she is a person unable to make a connection with others or herself takes effort and guts. Instead, there are a great many passionate responses and discussions about Simone North's approach to the story. I highly recommend this thought provoking film.

My rating: 9/10 fishmuffins

Women in Horror: You're Next

Erin is invited to a family reunion and wedding anniversary celebration at her boyfriend Crispian's parents' remote vacation house. All of Crispian's siblings will be there with their significant others and she'll be meeting his parents for the first time. Everything seems to be going relatively well besides some typical awkward bickering between brothers until they are savagely attacked by masked assailants. The family doesn't know what to do and acts typically panicked and irrational, so Erin unexpectedly takes the lead in showing them how to defend the house and themselves. How will Erin measure up to three armed men?

I didn't have high expectations for You're Next because it looked too much like The Strangers and every other home invasion film ever, but I was pleasantly surprised. This clever movie takes those tired tropes and subverts expectation to have surprising twists, a fun plot, and fleshed out, nuanced characters. Let's start with the male characters. Brothers Crispian and Felix are the ones who hired to killers to get the inheritance from their parents. They hate the violence and view the murders as an ordeal to be endured despite having orchestrated the entire thing themselves. The killers aren't relentless killing machines. Quite the opposite. They are three friends who have good tactics and were obviously trained in combat, but they make mistakes and miscalculations. When one of them dies, the others are outraged and allow that emotion to get in the way of the task at hand. Too many films portray these types of characters as indestructible and emotionless Micheal Myerses when they are simply people.

Now for the female characters. Erin is the final girl, but she doesn't run around doing stupid things as is typical. She defends herself well, helps the family fortify the house, and isn't afraid to go for the kill in order to survive. Being raised as a survivalist in Australia has its benefits. Zee is Felix's girlfriend who appears aloof and bored with the anniversary party, clearly only there for her boyfriend. After the big reveal, she shows her true colors and her excitement at killing her boyfriend's family. She is there for her own reasons and ceases to try to comfort Felix. Her suggestion to have sex next to Felix's dead mother is flatly rejected, but, coupled with her general attitude, acts to subvert expectations about female behavior, which is usually disgusted and scared by violence and disinterest in sex. Felix's mother Aubrey is more of a stereotypical woman who runs around panicked and does stupid things as a result. However, she sensed something was wrong right when they arrived. Everyone dismissed her as a hysterical woman freaking out for no reason despite the fact that the front door was unlocked and strange sounds were heard in the house. If they had listened to her, a lot more people would be alive. Then when her daughter dies, she takes the time to break down emotionally and mourn her. Too many people in horror films watch loved ones die in front of them and simply go on without a second thought when Aubrey's reaction would be more realistic.

In the final scene of the film, Crispian tells Erin that the plan was to kill his family, but leave her as an unbiased witness to guarantee that he and Felix would get the insurance money. He then tells her if she reacted as a woman should, the plan would have been successful. His own concept of women is quite narrow and doesn't take into account the variety of women that exist like Zee and Erin. He not only blames her for the failure of his plan, but basically says she doesn't act like a woman. Crispian reveals himself to be a despicable human being willing to murder his family for money and a misogynist who can't fathom that women exist outside his narrow view of what is feminine.

You're Next is a fun film that takes a cliche story line that we've seen a thousand times and makes it interesting by subverting those expectation and giving us more realistic characters. It also doesn't take itself completely seriously and has some genuine moments of humor. My favorite death scene was comically over the top and involved a blender. The acting is spot on all around, especially by Sharni Vinson as Erin. You're Next is easily the best horror film of 2013, so watch it if you haven't yet.

My rating: 10/10 fishmuffins

Women in Horror Month 2014

It's the fifth annual Women in Horror Month! Women are often ignored or marginalized in horror in general. They are frequently objectified and made into two dimensional characters only to be gruesomely murdered a few scenes later for the amusement of the audience. They play the helpless victims and make really dumb decisions, like running upstairs instead of out the front door when running from a masked murderer. The blatant double standard for female actresses and directors is appalling. On the other hand, there are also a growing number of horror films to refute these types of films where female characters have dynamic personalities and examine aspects of our society through the lens of horror. This month, I will be reviewing films and books on both sides of this spectrum, focusing on how women are treated within the work and what it says about society. There are also a growing number of female driven, directed, and produced films, mostly in the indie scene. I'll also post whatever else strikes my fancy in regards to women and horror. As a female horror fan, I really enjoy this month to spotlight achievements of women and look at their changing role in the horror industry.

Check out their website here. You can support in any number of ways: spreading the word, making a donation, buying their calender, checking out the various events scheduled this month, or just watching awesome horror movies.

Pandemic

Dr. Margaret Montoya is a fountain of self loathing. After saving the world three years ago from alien beings bent on destroying the human race, the general public sees her as responsible for killing millions and her name is dragged through the mud as the person responsible for the worst atrocity in the US. She has retreated from the world, internalized all that negativity, and destroyed her marriage by wallowing in selfpity and spending hours reading horrible things about her every day. The president calls her into action once again because she's the only person who can combat the new methods these aliens employ to turn humans against each other. It all originated for an unassuming metal cylinder found at the bottom of Lake Michigan that turned a Navy submarine into an enemy vessel. That cylinder is in the ruins of the submarine and it must be found and contained before it has the opportunity to spread.

I've been eagerly waiting for this book for 5 years and Pandemic was definitely worth the wait. This alien invasion shares characteristics with a zombie apocalypse coupled with religious zealotry, which makes it much more chilling. The aliens first invade human bodies and change into a few different types of Converted to serve the aliens. The new types not seen previous books are the most interesting and frightening. The behemoth type needs another person to form. The change elongates the persons limbs and makes bone shards protrude from their skin along with enhanced strength and speed. The other type is a leader. The infection is undetectable and allows all the groups of Converted to organize and work towards a single goal instead of simply causing random mayhem and violence as before. These creatures not only wear human faces, but unite to take over and express a type of religious zealotry I personally find frightening. The Converted are way more scary than zombies ever dream to be.

Each chapter is in the third person and through the perspective of a character in the story. The order is chaotic and features some characters more than others. Scott Sigler has a skilled way of getting into the minds of each character, even if they are only seen in their one chapter. I found the transition from normal person to Converted to be particularly interesting. One of the Converted describes in detail how his dad taught him to properly swing a baseball bat and then kills someone with one. The juxtaposition of a fond childhood memory and the sudden, jarring violence surprised me and really set the tone for the depravity of the Converted. Another character went through this and went from working hard towards beating the aliens to seeing horrifying changes in herself she knows are symptoms of the Converted to completely succumbing and viewing humans as vermin to be exterminated.

Honestly, I'm sad the series is over. Everything from Scary Perry to the thrilling conclusion is a wild ride to read. This tome of 500+ pages only took me 2 days to read and that was only because I had to stop for pesky things like eating and sleeping. I highly recommend the entire Infected series and I urge you to start the first book Infected soon.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

The Purge

In 2022, the government reserves one night a year where almost all crime is completely legal. That's 12 hours of complete freedom to rape, murder, steal, etc. The rest of the days of the year, the society is damn near utopic with extremely low crime and unemployment rates. James Sandin devoted to his family and has made a sizable fortune selling security systems specifically to keep families safe from the Purge. He and his family always hole up for the night and wait for it to be over, but this year is different. His son takes pity on a homeless man and allows him into their house. Some random hooligans were hunting him and now demand him back or they will kill the family instead. James has to decide which is more important, the life of a stranger or the lives of his family.

I love the concept for The Purge. There are New Founding Fathers who have enacted this policy in order to allow for a practically crime and unemployment free America. I really wanted to know more about these powerful men, how they came to me known as such, and what state of events led to the legalizing of one night of legalized crime. The aim of it seems to be to let people let off steam and to rid the streets of undesirables (the poor, homeless, and nonwhite) at the same time. The quality of life of the people improves without the government having to actually do anything productive like providing more jobs or funding public programs to help the needy. They just get rid of the class of people that actually needs help. Unfortunately, none of these concepts are really explored in depth and, beyond a few small things, the film is largely a typical home invasion film that offers nothing new to the genre.

There are a couple things in the film that comment on society and brought some intrigue to the film. James Sandin is a capitalist through and through, the top seller of security at his work  Unfortunately, the security quality is quite low and doesn't actually withstand a lot of abuse despite its high price tag. The libertarian policies of his company bite him in the ass and leads to his own home being vulnerable to attack. He knew the security was crap and that didn't stop him from selling to hundreds of people and installing it in his own home. Who knows how many other people died as a result of the shoddy workmanship and corporate greed. The homeless man is the only person who is poor and not privileged in the film. He is treated as an animal and a possession by those more affluent. It might have been more interesting to have the story center around more than one person who would actually be affected by the Purge rather than a rich white family that acts supremely stupid at every turn.

The rest of the the film is your standard home invasion film. The attackers have creepy masks (a la The Strangers) and terrorize the family. They were actually pretty decent at being deranged. The family run around like chickens with their heads cut off and make the dumbest decisions on the face of the planet throughout the film. It would have been nice for them to make a decision about the homeless guy and stick with it instead of flip flopping every two seconds. I didn't really feel any sympathy for the family because they directly benefited from scamming people and the Purge plus they were boring. They were frankly getting what was coming to them.

The ending had some humor to it, but the film was overall a disappointment. The backstory was so interesting yet completely ignored after it generally set up the rules of the world. I would like to see a sequel or prequel that delves into the history behind it and focuses on the people who are actually victimized during the Purge.

My rating: 6/10 fishmuffins