By KIER-LA JANISSE (FAB Press; 2012)
This “Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis” is one of the closest things that exists to a bestseller in the category of horror film texts. Written by Kier-la Janisse, a film festival programmer, filmmaker and reviewer, it’s a thorough and obsessive exploration of horror movies involving mentally disturbed women. The author’s interest in this subject is due to her own life, which, as is made clear repeatedly in these pages, has been quite rocky. Its particulars, interspaced with summaries of several crazy woman-themed films (among them the 1974 Spanish programmer that provides the title), make for a unique and always readable account.
…a thorough and obsessive exploration of horror movies involving mentally disturbed women.
Portions of Kier-la Janisse’s early life were revealed in the 2004 documentary CELLULOID HORROR, which also details her curatorship of the Vancouver-based CineMuerte Film Festival and the dissolution of her short-lived marriage, but in this book she lays it all out in admirably candid detail. Her childhood was spent in Winnipeg, CA, a city known for “long, harsh winters and its citizens’ tragic propensity for alcoholism and violent crime.” Janisse experienced all those things in an upbringing marked by abuse, incarceration, addiction (although not, she takes pains to make clear, to heroin) and short-lived relationships. Her story is interwoven with films chosen, in some cases, for their personal resonance, and in others for the fact that certain plot details dovetail with her experiences (Janisse admits the 1974 TV movie BORN INNOCENT doesn’t fit the perimeters of this study, but includes it because its depiction of a state school for juvies recalls a group home in which she was once interred).
In CELLULOID HORROR Janisse admitted that her tastes run counter to those of most horror fans, being arthouse oriented. That predilection is evident here in her emphasis on artsploitation fare like MADEMOISELLE (1966), THREE WOMEN (1977), POSSESSION (1981) and THE PIANO TEACHER (2001), psychologically complex portrayals of disturbed females. Those films profiled here that aren’t as complex, such as THE ENTITY (1982), DON’T DELIVER US FROM EVIL (1971) and NEKROMANTIK (1987), are nonetheless subjected to a great deal of (often undeserved) tortured psychological probing.
In CELLULOID HORROR Janisse admitted that her tastes run counter to those of most horror fans, being arthouse oriented.
One undeniable plus is that Janisse’s opinions don’t follow those of the crowd. She may be the only woman alive who loves Kim Ki Duk’s notorious BAD GUY (2001), which she defends quite passionately, and she also admits that in the rape-themed EXTREMITIES (1986) the James Russo essayed rapist made a much greater impression on her than did Farrah Fawcett as the violated heroine. Of I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978), meanwhile, she opines (correctly) that it “has inspired more commentary than it deserves.”
She may be the only woman alive who loves Kim Ki Duk’s notorious BAD GUY (2001), which she defends quite passionately
Also included is an appendix consisting of mini-reviews of the many neurotic women themed horror films Janisse doesn’t get to in the book’s main portion. Not every such film is covered (BAISE-MOI is only mentioned in passing), but it’s an impressive selection nonetheless, with obscurities like THE LEGEND OF LYLAH CLAIRE (1968) and THE SECRET LIFE OF SARAH SHELDON (2006) included alongside mainstays like FATAL ATTRACTION (1987) and MISERY (1990)—a film she dismisses as “psychotic women-lite, for people who can’t handle a movie like POSSESSION.” I, for my part, couldn’t agree more.