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I Spit On Your Celluloid

The History of Women Directing Horror Movies

A first-of-its-kind celebration and horror film “book that needed to be written”. You will never look at horror movies the same way again! By Heidi Honeycutt.

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Slumber Party Massacre. Pet Sematary. Near Dark. American Psycho… These horror movies have heavily contributed to pop culture and are loved by horror fans everywhere. But so many others have been forgotten by history. From the first silent reels to modern independent films, in this book you’ll discover the creepy, horrible, grotesque, beautiful, wrong, good, and fantastic — and the one thing they share in common.

This is the true history of women directing horror movies.

Having conducted hundreds of interviews and watched thousands of horror films, Heidi Honeycutt defines the political and cultural forces that shape the way modern horror movies are made by women. The women’s rights and civil rights movements, new distribution technology, digital cameras, the destruction of the classic studio system, and the abandonment of the Hays code have significantly impacted women directors and their movies. So, too, social media, modern ideas of gender and racial equality, LGBTQ acceptance, and a new generation of provocative, daring films that take shocking risks in the genre.

Includes short films, anthologies, documentaries, animated horror, horror pornography, pink films, and experimental horror.

I Spit on Your Celluloid is a first-of-its-kind celebration, study, and “a book that needed to be written” (says cult filmmaker Stephanie Rothman). You will never look at horror movies the same way again!

Foreword by Mary Lambert.

Preface

Acknowledgements

Foreword by Mary Lambert (Pet Sematary, 1989)

Introduction

1: Mother of All Evil: 1896–1945

2: A Land of Both Shadow and Substance: United Kingdom and United States in the 1950s and 1960s

3: A Woman’s Place is in Exploitation Films: Drive-Ins, Art Films, and Feminism

4: Obras maestras del terror: Non-English Language Horror

5: Some Nudity Required: Strippers, Sequels, and VHS

6: Sometimes Dead is Better: Theatrical Horror of the 1980s & 1990s

7: Pieces of Jennifer’s Body: Theatrical and mainstream horror of the 21st century

8: 21st Century Viscera: Digital technology, short films, and innovation

9: Promising Young Women: The Changing Nature of Horror

Sources & Notes

Index

  • Diversity in film and media is a hot topic. In 2021, women directed only 17% of the world’s top-grossing films, and people are mad about it;
  • A horror movie directed by a woman won the 2021 Cannes Palme D’Or for the first time in history;
  • Horror is one of the most popular genres, and a “horror renaissance” is taking place in film;
  • Thousands of horror film conventions and festivals take place around the world, attended by growing numbers of fans who want a book like this.

Women in Horror; Women Horror Directors; Women Directors; Horror Movie History; Feminist Horror

Title: I Spit On Your Celluloid
Subtitle: The History of Women Directing Horror Movies
Author: Heidi Honeycutt
ISBN: 978-1-915316-29-5
Street Date: UK August 8, 2024 / US September 27, 2024
Category: Film/Sex & Gender
Retail Price: £25.99 / $32.95
Binding: Paperback
Size: 229mm x 152mm
Pages: 464 pages
Illos: 211 photos — colour & b&w photos throughout

As the trade paperback, except this special NO-ISBN hardback is exclusive to this website. Because it carries No ISBN number, this edition of the book is off the grid in as much as it doesn’t appear on any database, in any library, cannot be ordered through mainstream bookshops or online retailers. 

 

Justina BonillaDaily Dead
[Author Heidi Honeycutt shares what inspired her to make her book, and what she hopes readers will take away from it in this interview with Daily Dead.]
Mallory O'Meara,Author, Lady From The Black Lagoon
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“Honeycutt has amassed a priceless treasure hoard of feminist horror history. It's truly an incredible achievement, and essential reading for all horror fans, cinephiles, and women's history buffs. For anyone who says women have no history in horror cinema, now you can throw the book at them, literally.”
Joe DanteDirector, Gremlins (1984), The Howling (1981)
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“At long last, a criminally-neglected aspect of film history is illuminated. Honeycutt knows her stuff, and the wealth of information is fascinating. This is a major work.”
Stephanie RothmanDirector, The Velvet Vampire (1971), Terminal Island (1973)
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“Some women horror film directors are famous, some known only to their peers, and some forgotten. But they and their diverse histories — whenever possible in their own words — are all here.”
Mary HarronDirector, American Psycho (2000)
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“Heidi Honeycutt has uncovered an astonishing amount of lost history, from the neglected women of silent movies to the sixties avant-garde to exploitation films around the world to the explosion of female horror in the twenty-first century. It’s a treasure trove of information, written with affection and respect.”
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Heidi Honeycutt

HEIDI HONEYCUTT is a film festival programmer, film journalist and film historian whose expertise is horror movies. She is co-founder of Etheria Film Festival, the most prestigious festival showcase of new horror, sci-fi, fantasy, action, and thriller films directed by women. She has contributed to a variety of genre books and magazines, including Fangoria, Famous Monsters of Filmland, Moviemaker Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Rue Morgue, and Delirium.

I Spit On Your Celluloid

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