Horror-comedy creator Rachel Speth in her own words:
To start, please introduce yourself:
Hello my name is Rachel Speth
What is horror to you, what makes a work of art one in the horror genre?
Horror in some ways to me is art that stimulates our survival instincts and explores our darker sides. It can also be a way to shine a flashlight on our darkest fears and thus making them less horrific.
What made you want to work in horror?
I enjoy thrills, mystery, and the paranormal
Where do you get your inspiration?
Hitchcock for his ability to build suspense. Guillermo Del Toro for making horror aesthetically pleasing, and The Shining for incorporating all of those elements and truly being scary
What would you like your legacy to be in the genre (or elsewhere)?
I want my legacy to be a strong woman who stands up for equality and feminism while also being entertaining.
What is Women in Horror Month to you and why is it still important this many years later?
Every industry, genre, country, religion, and culture in modern society still has a lot of catching up to do on how women are represented and treated. My friend Kayla and I are cinephiles with great senses of humor and we are often frustrated with how women are represented in film. There are a lot of expectations and double standards. One issue that is widespread in cinema is female nudity. It also seems to be expected of female performers to be topless and nude while men hardly ever are. In horror specifically women are often killed in vulnerable moments that involve nudity and sex. This horrified us more than any horror movie and we wanted to shine a light on that while also making women laugh. This is why it’s important to give women a chance to use our voices to speak up about how we are represented and to take control
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?
Elvira has always been a favorite since I was a kid and I admire any woman in horror who can flip the script of what is normally expected. I love what the writer Karen Walton did in Ginger Snaps for example
What are you currently working on that you can tell us about?
I just wrapped up a short horror comedy called Corpse Shamed about a girl who doesn’t want to get murdered naked and convinces her killer to let her get dressed up before he murders her. You can follow me on my Instagram @ceraoni
