WOMEN IN HORROR RECOGNITION MONTH 2013

Yay! Finlly it's back! Women in Horror Recognition Month has returned to assist the female geniuses of the horror world in gaining opportunities, exposure and education through philantropic events, printed articles and interviews and endless types of online support. At the same time Women in Horror Recognition Month wishes to break down social construct and educate the public in terms of discrimination within the business and how the public can help females in reaching equality and the opportunity to create and share their concept of life, pain and freedom.

Strong, artistic females that aren't afraid to break away and set an example, are truly and personally inspiring to me. I often feel that women (no, I'm not one of those who androgynize people) are more artistic and emotionally expressing themselves, so encouraging the public to get involved with underrepresented female artists can also turn the public into a positive platform for aspiring women that need an extra spark of courage and enlightenment.

Last year I published a few entries on female rolemodels (or simply just hot females) within the genre, both characters and artists; Women in Uniforms, The Femme Fatale of Female Villains, Feisty Females & Classic Scream Queens, Female Horror Icon Moments, Fabulous Female Writers, Female Filmmakers and Fabulous Female Artists. This year I haven't planned on posting anything personal in relation to WiHM but I would recommend you to take a look at this year's ambassadors - amongst them some of my personal favorites that I'll be following.

BLOGS
Two of my favorite horror bloggers have taken on the task of enlightening us of the female power on different levels within horror; Brittney-Jade Colangelo at Day of the Woman and Christine Hadden at Fascination With Fear. I also stumbled across Disturbed - Patient #9 which is a twisted but fascinating blog posting both personal thoughts, imagery and videos.

PODCASTS

Dark Dolls talk all things horror related, wheter it's books, movies or real life events. They are also open for submissions of independent movies, books, music, PR etc. The Whorer takes a punk-fem-queer approach to horror films and offers diverse episodes from tv-show and movie analyses to horror history.

FILM FESTIVALS
Ax Wound Film Festival (US) is this year supporting WiHM on the big screen by accepting short and feature horror film made by women. Jennifer's Bodies (UK) is hosting its 2013 film festival in Edinburgh, Scotland and accepting submissions directed, produced or written by women. Popcorn Horror's (UK) mission is to show the world that you don't need to be a famous movie producer to release an amazing film. Popcorn Horror is open for submissions and is building a community based on its content providers.

SHORT STORIES & REVIEWS

Sirens Call Publications is always on the lookout for new talents and if you have a piece that shows creativity, originality and a desire to share your story - don't hestitate to submit. Nina D'Arcangela posts some juicy book reviews at Spreading the Writer's Word and Bleeding Dead Film Reviews offers a wide range of both short and feature film previews and reviews.

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.