WOMEN IN HORROR RECOGNITION MONTH: FABULOUS FEMALE ARTIST

In honor of Women In Horror Recognition Month, I hereby present this week's final post including three of my favorite female horror artists.

'The Strange Girl' by Mia Mäkilä

 MIA MÄKILÄ

'Wedding of Vampires' by Mia Mäkilä

"Picture Pippi Longstocking and Swedish movie director Ingmar Bergman having a love child. That's me." That's how Swedish artist Mia Mäkilä describes the style of her own work; horror pop surrealism, or simply dark lowbrow. 

Being self-educated in the artist field Mia Mäkilä has taken a lot of inspiration from film directors such as Ingmar Bergman, David Lynch, Alfred Hitchcock and Tim Burton. Which is richly displayed in the work of her art. She mixes fantasy with surrealism and horror with humor in an amazingly impressive way. Her outstanding voice and vision speaks through her paintings, digital art and mixed media, where fear, angst, madness rage and sorrow blend together - making demons have fun on the canvas.  

Check out more of Mia's work at her website and visit her blog here. Observe that most posts are in Swedish.

DANIELLE K.L. ANATHEMA 

Photo by Danielle K.L. Anathema

Turning nightmares into art, photographer Danielle K.L. Anathema learned to embrace the unknown and turn the images in her dreams into images for an audience. Danielle has turned the bizarre and deformed, into beautiful and mesmerizing and made it, above all, accepted. I like her playful way with modern photography; where the raw nature of blood and gore meets the untouched female beauty, where heathenism meets materialistic society.

Having a lot of friends and acquaintances who work as both photographers and models within the industry of 'alternative photography' I'm usually rather fed up with tattooed chicks in latex corsets. However, I really like Danielle's different and somewhat dirty approach. This is a photographer from whom I'm really looking forward to see future work.

Check out more of Danielle's current work 'THE HAUNTED, THE HUNTED AND THE HEATHENS OF 2012' at her website or visit her blog at anathemaphotography.com/blog/.



JOVANKA VUCKOVIC

Jovanka Vuckovic (2009)

Former editor-in-chief for Rue Morgue magazine, Jovanka Vuckovic's Zombies! An Illustrated History of the Undead digs deep into the zombie genre and the history of the undead. Exploring everything from the earliest films like White Zombie (1932) and the origins of zombies in the voodoo culture, to how the zombie genre has influenced modern pop culture and modern music artists, Jovanka Vuckovic seems to leave no stone unturned.

 Zombies! An Illustrated History of the Undead presents an astonishing amount of illustrations, foreign posters, lobby cards and other promotional material for every film discussed. Which is no wonder, since its author and illustrator is a multi-talented woman, playing a pivotal role in the horror field. She had a brief stint as a visual effects artist, won a Gemini Award for Best Visual Effects. She's appeared in several documentaries such as: Zombiemania (2008) and Pretty Bloody: The Women of Horror (2009), and has written, produced and directed the upcoming fantasy/horror short film The Captured Bird (2012).

Jovanka Vuckovic's a horror-icon in her own right, and an artist in the true word.

Zombies! An Illustrated History
of the Undead (2011) illustrated cover

"The zombie phenomenon is unique in Western popular culture. From its origins in the voodoo beliefs of Haiti, it has become a key ingredient in today's cinema, popular literature and comics. With one simple premise that the dead rise again to feast on the living and turn them into zombies, the undead have inspired a huge variety of artists to explore ideas of survival, morality, fear, humor and horror. ZOMBIES! is the first book to take a wide look at the whole phenomenon, from low budget cult movies to long-running comics and best-selling humor novels. With stunning imagery, and an authoritative and entertaining text from one of the worlds most distinguished experts on the genre, plus a foreword by master of horror George A. Romero, this tome will appall and delight the reader in equal measure."


Also, check out: Laine Hagan - Death by Photograph.

WOMEN IN HORROR RECOGNITION MONTH: FEMALE FILMMAKERS

In honor of Women In Horror Recognition Month, I hereby present my top 3 of female filmmakers. 







MARY LAMBERT

Mary Lambert (2007)

Mary Lambert is known to horror fans for directing the 1989 adaption of Stephen King's novel Pet Sematary (1989), and its sequel Pet Sematary II (1992). This Arkansas born film director is also known for Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005), the thriller The Attic (2007) and the upcoming action/horror High Midnight (2012) where a "broken-down sheriff is forced to join forces with an obsessed Victorian vampire hunter to defeat an undead force consuming a small frontier town in 1892 New Mexico".


Other trivia: Mary Lambert stars as herself in the 2009 documentary Pretty Bloody: The Women of Horror. She is also known for directing some of the music industry's most famous music videos, amongst them Chris Isaak's Dancin and Janet Jackson's Nasty and Control. She has also directed videos for Annie Lennox, Mick Jagger, Whitney Houston (RIP), Live, Mötley Crüe, Queensryche, Sting and many others. Her most famous include Madonna's videos Like a Virgin, Material Girl and Like a Prayer.

DEBRA HILL 

Debra Hill

Debra Hill (November 10th 1950 - March 7th 2005) was an American screenwriter and film producer, mostly known for co-writing and co-producing my all time favorite horror movie Halloween (1978). After working with John Carpenter as a script supervisor and assistant editor (of Assault on Precinct 13 in 1975), Debra Hill started further professional collaborations with Carpenter, which also marked the beginning of their personal relationship.

In 1978 Debra Hill and John Carpenter co-wrote and co-produced Halloween. Following its success, they worked together on Halloween II (1981) and Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982). Hill and Carpenter also worked on The Fog (1980) together.

Other trivia: Debra Hill was in 2003 honored by Women In Film with the Crystal Award.




DIABLO CODY

Diablo Cody (2007)

Born Brook Busey, Diablo Cody is an American screenwriter and author. She first became known for her candid chronicling of her year as a stripper in her 'The Pussy Ranch' blog and her 2006 memoir Candy Girl. A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper.

In 2007, Diablo Cody sold a horror script called Jennifer's Body to Fox Atomic. Released in 2009, the horror/comedy Jennifer's Body starred Megan Fox as the title character, a movie which Cody also directed and for which Cody now is widely known in the horror circuit. 

Other trivia: Diablo Cody has been nominated for several awards for her movie Juno, amongst them People's Choice Award during the Toronto International Film Festival, the Golden Globe, Independent Spirit Award, and has earned four Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture and won one for Best Original Screenplay.

WOMEN IN HORROR RECOGNITION MONTH: FABULOUS FEMALE WRITERS

In honor of Women In Horror Recognition Month, I hereby present three inventive and inspirational female writers. 






 
CHARLAINE HARRIS
Perhaps an obvious choice for a Trubie like myself, but I feel Charlaine Harris is worth a spot on today's list, for her urban fantasy series The Sookie Stackhouse Novels, also known as The Southern Vampire Mysteries.

Charlaine Harris (2010)

For those of you who don't know the story plot (I don't even wanna know if you're out there): The telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse works in a bar in the fictional Northern Louisiana town Bon Temp, where she meets and falls in love with the 160 year old vampire Bill Compton. Each book in the series follows Sookie through her adventures amongst vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters and other supernatural beings. Currently completing the 13th and closing novel, Charlaine Harris has created a detailed mythology and alternative reality that has to come to terms with the supernatural being... natural.

I'm usually not rooting for today's urban fantasy, but the Sookie Stackhouse novels have everything a girl could dream of; sexy supes, eventful drama, addictive characters, love triangles, gruesome murders and a sexual tension that would blow away any Harlequin novel.

Other trivia: The first book in the series, Dead Until Dark, won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery in 2001. The books now serve as material for HBO's hit series True Blood.

ELIZABETH HAND

Published in 2007 by Dark Horse Comics, Pandora's Bride is one of a series of paperback originals featuring the classic Universal monsters; Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Wolf Man, and this - based on The Bride of Frankenstein, written by Elizabeth Hand.

Elizabeth Hand (2002)

The book opens where The Bride of Frankenstein (the film) left off. Rejected by The Bride, The Monster blows up the laboratory. As he is busy being consumed by flames, The Bride picks up Dr. Pretorius and escapes through a breach in the wall. Intent on seeking vengeance upon the world that stripped her of her free will and turned her into a scientific experiment, The Bride flees all the way to Berlin and enters the erotic and criminal underworld of the Weimar Era.

Pandora's Bride is respectful to its classic film, as it still allows itself to reinterpret and transgress freely. It journeys through an alternative universe people with adventurous underworld characters. The story is all about character, as it takes the reader through rich atmosphere and extraordinary adventures before reaching its climax. 

Other trivia: Elizabeth Hand’s novels and short stories have been rewarded with such prestigious prizes as science fiction’s Nebula Award, the World Fantasy Award and the International Horror Guild Award.


KELLY LINK 

Kelly Link (2005)

I first read Kelly Link in the anthology The Living Dead where one of her short stories, Some Zombie Contingency Plan, was published. The short story was first published in Kelly Link's own collection Magic For Beginners (which also includes another great zombie story called The Hortlak). She's considered to be a short fiction specialist and her stories have, besides Magic For Beginners, been collected in two other volumes: Stranger Things Happen and Pretty Monsters.

Kelly Link's writing is original and entertaining to read. She has a deft use of irony, a new approach to teenage alienation, a believable portrayal of supernatural beings and quirky characters, mixed in a great blend in science fiction and fantasy. Although most of her stories were written for young adults, the are every bit as evocative for adult readers.

Other trivia: Kelly Link's short stories have been nominated for the Bram Stoker Award and she's a World Fantasy, Nebula, Locus, and British Science Fiction Association Award Winner. She has also sold the film rights to her story The Wizards of Perfil.


Last but not least: I also wanna do a shout-out for two of my absolute favorite classic female writers; Mary Shelley (Frankenstein) and Shirley Jackson (The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle).

For those of you who like short-stories, check out East of the Web and their index of (female) horror shorts - amongst them Kate Peterson's Appearance, Kay Sexton's Starving Makes It Fat and Crystal Arbogast's Hobnail.

WOMEN IN HORROR RECOGNITION MONTH: FEMALE HORROR ICON MOMENTS

In honor of Women in Horror Recognition Month, I present my personal top 3 of iconic moments of women in horror.









JANET LEIGH'S SHOWER
Born Jeanette Helen Morrison (July 6th 1927-October 3rd 2004), Janet Leigh was an American actress who begun her acting career in the late 1940s, but who became a cult icon when she played the morally ambiguous Marion Crane in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960). Not only did she make cinematic history with her toilet-flushing scene, Janet Leigh also became a cult icon being brutally stabbed in the famous shower murder scene.

Janet Leigh as Marion Crane in Psycho (1960)

Janet Leigh has said that, when casting her, Hitchcock gave her the following charter: "I hire you because you are an actress! I will only direct you if A: you attempt to make more than you share of the pie, B: you don't take enough, and C:  if you're having trouble motivating the necessary timed movement." It has also been told that Hitchcock tested the shock value of 'Mother's' corpse by placing it in Leigh's dressing room and listening to how loud she screamed when she discovered it there.

Obviously delivering as a Scream Queen, Janet Leigh received a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

ELSA LANCHESTER'S AWAKENING

Elsa Lanchester (1902-1986) was an English-American character actress with a long career in theatre, film and television.

Elsa Lanchester as The Bride and Boris Karloff
as The Monster in Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Her perhaps most iconic role was as the title character in Bride of Frankenstein (1935), a part that brought her the recognition she wanted and a for which she is now best remembered. The macabre, satirical undertone of the movie is perhaps what has made it one of the greatest horror movies of all times. What started out as a macabre and surrealistic experiment, wildly flirting with the sci-fi characteristics, culminated in ultimate horror, and one could say failure on Dr. Frankenstein's part, as the much anticipated 'Bride' wakes up only to be abhorred by The Monster. Wedding church bells ring on the soundtrack as The Bride unveiled and unstable on her feet she sways back and forth. The parody of typical romantic courtship is heart-breaking as The Monster eagerly but shyly wishes to woo his new bride. But The Bride recoils at the sight of the ugly creature and emits a piercing shriek, making Elsa Lanchester, perhaps a different but nontheless, one of the earliest Scream Queens and The Bride an iconic horror character.


LINDA BLAIR'S SPIDER WALK

Linda Blair as Regan MacNeil in The Exorcist (1973)

Regan MacNeil, a 12 year-old girl with no problems in life, starts displaying strange and aggressive behavior until her exterior starts to look as twisted as her inside. Unknown to her mother, Regan has become possessed by a mysterious entity, later known as an ancient demon. So goes the story plot of one of the 20th century's most appraised and cultified horror movies; The Exorcist (1973).

For me, this is hands down the scariest movie dealing with demonic possession and exorcism. Being an exploration of religious faith, the film is not solemnly based on its plot, but also on its strong performance. As Regan's symptoms increase in gruesomeness the classic scenes of masturbating with a crucifix, speaking in tongue (and backwards), vomiting green mukus and twisting her head 360 degrees, culminated in the most iconic moment of the 122 minutes of horror; the spider-walk down the stairs. Linda Blair gives an exhaustingly hexed performance that leaves a disturbing mark in the viewers psyche.

Linda Blair was, for her role as Regan MacNeil, nominated for an Academy Award and two Golden Globes, winning one.

WOMEN IN HORROR RECOGNITION MONTH: FEISTY FEMALES & CLASSIC SCREAM QUEENS

In honor of Women in Horror Recognition Month, I present my top 3 of feisty females & classic scream queens.







P.J. SOLES
Born Pamela Jayne Hardon, P.J. Soles is an American actress mostly known in the horror circuit for her classic roles as Norma Watson in Carrie (1976) Lynda van der Klok in John Carpenter's Halloween (1978).

Being portrayed in the 1976 movie Carrie, as Chris Hargensen's right-hand girl, Norma Watson is almost as cunning and conceiving as the former. With her hair pigtail braided and constantly dressed in her baseball cap, Norma is literally a snide bitch with a bad attitude.

Nancy Allen as Chris Hargensen and P.J. Soles
as Norma Watson in Carrie (1976)

Being one of the 'mean girls' Norma is seen early in the movie hitting Carrie White in the head with her baseball cap, and taunting her when Carrie starts panicking over her late first period. Norma's also a major player and co-conspirator in the Ewan High Prom Night plot to humiliate Carrie. During the infamous last scenes of Carrie, Norma is seen collecting the ballots for prom king and queen and replacing them with rigged ones, just to alter the result and have Carrie White voted as queen. As the pig's blood gets dumped all over Carrie during the crowning, Norma is among the first to laugh at the terrible sight, mostly because the group's plan had worked so perfectly. As Carrie uses her powers for revenge on the high school kids, a fire hose turns on itself and Norma catches the full blast of the hose's spray and gets knocked out against a table.

P.J. Soles as Lynda van der Klok in Halloween (1978)

A couple of years later P.J. Soles came to play the supporting role of Lynda van der Klok, the final victim of Michael Myers, in John Carpenter's Halloween from 1978. Supposedly John Carpenter wanted her for the film after seeing Carrie and wrote the part of Lynda especially for her because of the way she said the word "totally".

Lynda's the typical bad friend who doesn't give a shit about the fact that Laurie doesn't have a date to the upcoming dance and writing her off as suspicious when the latter becomes anxious about being followed. Lynda is more concerned about getting high and laid as she orders her boyfriend Bob around like a servant.

Other trivia: In 2005 P.J. Soles starred as victim Susan in Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects.

HEATHER LANGENKAMP

Heather Langenkamp is the famous face of Nancy Thompson, the primary protagonist and final girl in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) and Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994).

While studying at Stanford University, Heather Langenkamp was cast by Wes Craven as the teen heroine Nancy Thompson in the first movie of the A Nightmare on Elm Street series. Wes Craven was looking for a non-famous face and a non-Hollywood character to play the part, and beating out more than 200 actresses, Heather met this quality. Becoming one of the original Scream Queens, Heather received the Best Actress Award at the 1985 Avoriaz Film Festival.

Heather Langenkamp as Nancy Thompson in
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

In the original A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Nancy is the teenage girl who has begun experiencing nightmares about a disfigured, burnt man in a red and green sweater, Freddy Krueger. The man in her dreams has knives for fingers and she soon discoveres that he has the capability of entering people's dreams and killing them in their sleep. Becoming Freddy Krueger's arch-nemesis, Nancy develops the capability of pulling things out of her dream and forms a plan to pull Krueger into the real world, where he falls victim to a series of booby traps Nancy has set up. Nancy finally defeats Krueger by taking back the energy she has given him and stripping him of his power.

Heather Langenkamp as one of the narrators in
Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (2010)

Nancy has often been seen as a rarity in the horror genre for being an intelligent and insightful young woman. As a 'final girl' Nancy differs not only in the way that she avoids sex, drugs and juvenile behavior, but also her intent on how to defeat her monster. Only Nancy can recognize the important link between the real world and the dream world, and only Nancy knows that she needs to take active action to take down Freddy. Different to most victimized females, Nancy avoids the sexuality of horror and her anti-victim posture set a whole new example of a Scream Queen.

Other trivia: Heather Langenkamp served as executive producer and narrator to the documentary Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (2010) and co-director and actress in the biographical documentary I Am Nancy (2010).

Together with her husband, David Leroy Anderson, Heather Langenkamp owns and operates AFX Studio, a special effects make-up studio that has done special make-up for several major movies and horror movies, amongst them Dawn of the Dead.


JAMIE LEE CURTIS

Jamie Lee Curtis as Elizabeth Solley in The Fog (1980)

Although Jamie Lee Curtis has compiled a body of work that spawns over many genres and within many categories, she's still best known best for her roles within the horror genre, starring in John Carpenter's The Fog (1980), the low-budget Canadian slasher Prom Night (1980) and Terror Train (1980).

Perhaps best known for her debut role in John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), Jamie Lee Curtis garnered the title Scream Queen as the movie was considered the highest grossing independent film of its time, earning accolades as a classic horror film.

Just as Heather Langenkamp was the arch-nemesis to Freddy Krueger and the female protagonist of the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, Jamie Lee Curtis plays the same role to Michael Myers and the Halloween series, in the first (Halloween), second (Halloween II) and seventh (Halloween H20: 20 Years Later) movie.

Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode in Halloween (1978)

Laurie Strode bears a unique combination of innocence and smarts (mixed with some paranoia) which saves her life during the 20 years of being stalked and victimized by her brother Michael Myers. Laurie starts out in Halloween (1978) as a bookworm who babysits after school and who doesn't do drugs or sex. The same way Laurie avoids the trap of sexuality in horror, she avoids the trap of dumbness and curiosity and leaving nothing to chance, it's her paranoia that keeps her alive after Halloween II (1981).


Other trivia:  Jamie Lee Curtis has an uncredited voice role as curfew announcer/telephone operator in Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982). Jamie Lee Curtis is the daughter of actor Tony Curtis and actress Janet Leigh, and was cast as Laurie Strode because John Carpenter "knew casting Jamie Lee would be a great publicity for the film because her mother was in Psycho".

WOMEN IN HORROR RECOGNITION MONTH: THE FEMME FATALE OF FEMALE VILLAINS

In honor of Women In Horror Recognition Month, I present my top 3 femme fatale of female villains.








BABY FIREFLY 
Portrayed by Sheri Moon Zombie (wife of writer and director Rob Zombie) Baby Firefly is a statuesque beauty with a childlike mind and youthful appearances, with a strong sadistic streak. Born as Vera-Ellen Wilson to parents Mother Firefly and Captain Spaulding, Baby Firefly soon became the perfect lure for the family victims. Even as a child Baby showed signs of mania and psychosis; at the age of seven she stabbed a school mate in the eye with a homemade knife, later on becoming an expert on knives and firearms.

Baby Firefly in House of 1000 Corpses (2003) and The Devil's Rejects (2005)

By the time of the first film (House of 1000 Corpses 2003) Baby was wanted for first degree murder, armed robbery, grand theft auto and prostitution. In the sequel (The Devil's Rejects 2005) Baby developed into a much darker character. Though having higher aspirations of Hollywood Stardom, Baby is stuck with her low-life family, taken out all her sexual aggression on her male victims and the jealousy of other women on her female victims.

Other trivia: Sheri Moon Zombie was also featured in Rob Zombie's remakes Halloween and Halloween II, based on John Carpenter's cult classics, as Deborah Myers, mother of the notorious killer Michael Myers. Apart from starring in her husband's movies, she's appeared in 15 of his music videos, including one of my favorites: Living Dead Girl.

SOPHIE-ANNE LECLERQ

Being the Queen Bee of HBO's hit-series True Blood, in a world where vampires have 'come of out the coffin' Sophie-Anne Leclerq is the five hundred year old vampire who reigns as the queen of Louisiana. Portrayed by Evan Rachel Wood, this vampire queen is the ultimate example of a femme fatale; she carries herself regally and respectfully.

Sophie-Anne Leclerq in True Blood (2009)

However, underneath that porcelain face hides the insecurity of childish mannerisms, self-indulgence and a slight attention disorder. Being obsessed with Yahtzee and lottery scratch tickets, her tendency to hyper-focused can suddenly become subject to changes in topics of discussion or even random ramblings without any specific focus. Sophie-Anne's quirky personality is enhanced in True Blood, compared to her more reserved and more mature appearance in Charlaine Harris' book series The Sookie Stackhouse Novels. 


MANDY LANE
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane is the disturbed tale of high school beauty Mandy Lane (Amber Heard), a porcelain goddess who manages to tempt every boy within her reach by simply batting her eyelashes or ever so slightly licking her lips. She's got an etherial allure so prominent it literally draws all men to their doom. She's the girl every boy wants to have and every girl wants to be. The only problem is that the fair Mandy Lane herself has the complete inability to recognize her own charms.

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006)

The film opens at a pool party where Mandy's been invited, and decided to drag along her alienated friend Emmet (Michael Welch), much to the dismay of toddler-faced jock boy Dylan who has his sight set on Mandy. Acting on the only power that Emmet's knows he has, he talks Dylan into following him onto the roof of the house where he convinces him to jump into the pool to impress the clueless Mandy. Dylan takes a drunken dip and bashes his head onto the concrete, much to Emmet's pleasure.

Nine monts later Mandy's invited to join a group from school to a remote ranch for the weekend, which she reluctantly accepts. Despite her beauty, she's still an outsider much due to her struggling to relate to other people. Unsettled by Emmet's earlier manipulation that led to jockguy's death, Mandy decides to not invite Emmet this time.

The weekend plays out just as expected; booze, drugs and 'B-J's are exchanged and the sexual tension is buzzing. The girls are more than hormone exploding, but the boys only have eyes for Mandy Lane. What starts out to be demeaning looks from the other girls and hormonal advances from the boys, soon turn menacing. And so the drunken, selfish, horny teenagers start to get get picked off, one by one, in increasingly, almost torture kind of, ways. What's fascinating about the character development is that I found no interest in the stereotype teenagers as they were alive, but somehow felt empathy with them as soon as they got a gun pipe gagged in their mouths and their lifeless bodies wrapped in barbed wire. As the uninvited Emmet suddenly appears on the farm, craze-eyed and psychotic, it's safe to safe that the killer's identity is revealed fairly early on.

OBS! THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH CONTAINS SPOILERS! 

But.... there's a twist. A tragic but sexy one, as the femme fatale Mandy Lane seemingly tries to rescue the last surviving teenager from the death-crazed Emmet, only to be the one to stab the girl to death. The earthbound angel that had been courted by every man in the small Texas town who wanted to claim her virginity, showed to be a sociopath and a tempting murderess who doesn't skimp on the gore when it comes to revenge.

Other trivia: The sumptuous Amber Heard also stars as 406 in Zombieland (2009) and as Kristen in John Carpenter's The Ward (2010).

WOMEN IN HORROR RECOGNITION MONTH: WOMEN IN UNIFORMS

Honoring February 2012 as 'Women In Horror Recognition Month', I'm kicking off this month's last week with my first post; a top 3 of women in uniforms.

 
On an almost daily basis I wear a dark blue polyester skirt and jacket with a white cotton shirt underneath, accessorized with black ballerina shoes and a multicolored scarf. The uniform is what you would refer to as 'nice'. I know a thousand ways to make it sassier, sexier and above all fit better, but the airline industry has strict policies on both figure, fabric and colors. So what type of uniform would I wear, if I could choose? Here's three sassy uniforms I wouldn't mind choosing from.

 

"I LOVE A WOMAN IN UNIFORM!" 

 OBS! THIS POST MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS!  

THE CHEERLEADER
I haven't seen much of Megan Fox's earlier work, I must admit. And I never really cared for her role as Mikaela Banes, the love interest of Sam Witwicky, in the first two Transformer-movies (Transformers from 2007 and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen from 2009).

Jennifer in Jennifer's Body (2009)

I did however love the two main characters; Anita 'Needy' Lesnicky and Jennifer Check, in the femslasher Jennifer's Body (2009). This dark comedy horror drama (why stick to one genre?) stars the two BFF's; Needy (Amanda Seyfried) being the impish bookworm Needy and Jennifer (Megan Fox) being the hot cheerleader at school. Their friendship is interpreted by several of their schoolmates as 'lesbian', not the least by Needy's boyfriend Chip (Johnny Simmons).

Moving from the high school pep rally, with Jennifer leading the team in a flag routine, out to a night at the local bar, Needy and Jennifer's life changes over night as Jennifer becomes possessed into a devilish succubus who targets and feeds off of high school boys.

Written by the Oscar winning Diablo Cody, Jennifer's Body isn't scary enough to work as a horror movie. It does however spark some satirical moments and touches on the surface of teen-angst and the ever so debated issue of men's fear of female sexuality. But these elements are left unexplored and as the movie never analyzes the female intuition, the BFF-psychic bond, the angst and the sexuality it point its finger at, we're left with good looking, but only skin deep 102 minutes.

Alternative candidates: Baby Firefly in House of 1000 Corpses (2003), Alison Wentworth in Cheerleader Camp (1988) and Amber in Spirit Camp (2009).

THE FRENCH MAID 

The 1975 film adaption of the British rock musical stageplay The Rocky Horror Show, is a parody of B-movies, science fiction and horror films from the late 1940's through the early 1970's. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the first film from a major Hollywood studio to be in the midnight movie market, and still 36 years after its premiere it has the longest-running theatrical release in film history. 

Magenta in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show soon became one of my top favorite movies after watching it for the first time when I was about 15-16 years old. As mentioned before, I'm a strong advocate for the role of music in movies, believing it plays a significant part when it comes to creating character and atmosphere. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is filled with up-beat, dance-friendly sing-along music and amazingly quirky characters to go with it. My favorite being Magenta - a domestic. 

Played by Patricia Quinn (Mary Horror and the upcoming The Lords of Salem) the Usherette/Magenta is the best Transylvanian maid you could happen to meet on the whole planet of Transsexual! She's fierce, sassy and one hell of a singer/dancer. Being the maid of the castle she wears a black dress, with a white little apron over it and a little white hat.

Alternative candidates: Moira in American Horror Story (2011).


THE SCHOOL GIRL
And not in a perverse Catholic way. More the prep boarding school way.

On Halloween in 1963, Michael Myers murdered his sister Judith. In 1978, he broke out of the mental institution where he was held to kill his other sister, Laurie Strode. He killed all of her friends, but she managed to escape. A few years later, Laurie fakes her own death to prevent Michael from ever finding her again.

Molly in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)

It's October 1998 in Northern California, where Laurie Strode is living under the assumed name 'Keri Tate', working as the Headmistress at Hillcrest Academy High School. Still haunted by the events 20 years later, 'Keri' is adversely affected professionally, but also personally as a mother to John (Josh Hartnett) and girlfriend to Will (Adam Arkin). Fearing that her dear brother, Michael Myers, is still alive and will return 'Keri' has a hard time letting her son out of her sight, for fear of loosing him. When she finally agrees to let him join the rest of the students for a n from joining the rest of the students for a getaway weekend to Yosemite National Park, for the fear that not having him near during Halloween. When she finally  Instead, John, his girlfriend Molly (Michelle Williams) and a couple of other students stay behind to have an intimate Halloween Party in the school basement.

Michelle Williams is an actress that has been growing on me during the years. From her adolescent appearances as the high school student Jen Lindley in the classic Dawson's Creek (1998) and the college student Ruby in Prozac Nation (2001), to her strong role as Alma in the amazing Brokeback Mountain (2005) and the portrait of female insanity Dolores in Shutter Island 2010), she's bound to make an impressive role in the newly released My Week With Marilyn. In Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, she plays the sweet, but ugly duckling character Molly Cartwell, with her boarding school uniform and her black boots.

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) is the 20th-anniversary sequel to the groundbreaking horror film Halloween (1978) presents some bloody good scares and the impeccable acting skills of Jamie Lee Curtis. One you speculate whether it was a good idea to produce a seventh installment in the Halloween franchise, but ignoring Halloween III: Season of the Witch (since it has no connections to the other films and is not considered to be a part of the Michael Myers-storyline), and skipping Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, this is actually a direct alternate sequel to Halloween II.

Alternative candidates: Bonnie in The Craft (1996) and Tomoko Ôishi in Ringu (1998).

HAPPY VALENTINE'S FROM THE WALKING DEAD

It came, I saw... it conquered.

Continuing the midseason premiere of AMC's The Walking Dead with S02E08 Nebraska was full on perfection! It'll be full-throttle action these coming episodes!

And for those celebrating Valentine's Day tomorrow, Skybound is offering cute The Walking Dead-designed gift cards for emailing, sharing on social networks, or downloading the printable file.