Canadian Podcaster and long term horror fan Tara Garner took the time to answer our questions:
To start, please introduce yourself:
Hi, my name is Tara, and I like to share my love of horror every October by doing my version of a spooky advent calendar on my instagram @tara_rahboomdeay.
What is horror to you, what makes a work of art one in the horror genre?
It may sound strange, but horror is comforting to me. I really got into horror as when I was a teenager with a chronic illness. As as hard, terrible, and frightening my life situation was I found comfort in knowing at least I wasn’t being chased by Jason. As time passed and I really began exploring horror and all its different sub-genres I found that along with being comforting it could be cathartic, thought provoking, and a gateway into another person’s experience. In the end it’s the humanity I find in horror that makes it art to me.
What made you want to work in horror?
I love discussing horror and sharing recommendations of horror movies, books, games, and tv shows. Sometimes it’s with someone that is going in cold, and you get to vicariously experience the movie for the first time again, showing a friend Dressed to Kill for the first time comes to mind. Or knowing that you’ve found a gem that you’ve never heard of before and now you get to be the one to introduce it to people.
Where do you get your inspiration?
I get inspiration often from new takes on a known trope. I just really love it when you think you know the beats of a story, but it gets turned on its head.
What would you like your legacy to be in the genre (or elsewhere)?
I would love if people were just like, “hey, she let me know about some cool stuff.”
What is Women in Horror Month to you and why is it still important this many years later?
Even though women are often the stars in horror media, they are not the ones being able to tell those stories. Having someone write and direct from the lens of lived experience just rings a truer note for me.
Who are some of the Women in Horror who you look up to and who do you want to bring attention to in your field or others?
Oh, this is such a hard question. Brittany Allen would be one. In all the horror movies she’s in she plays someone completely different, and she has also composed on many horror scores. Alice Lowe would be another. I first came across her through her comedy work on Garth Margenghi’s Darkplace, but I was blown away when I saw her in Prevenge which she also wrote and directed. I would love to see another horror film from her.
What are you currently working on that you can tell us about?
You can find all my past October horror advents on my Instagram page @tara_rahboomdeay, and I’m going to be guesting on 2 episodes of The Scream Queens Podcast discussing What Keeps You Alive and They Wait in the Dark.
Thank you for taking the time to do this, we greatly appreciate it.