{"id":43153,"date":"2024-03-24T00:01:47","date_gmt":"2024-03-24T04:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=43153"},"modified":"2024-03-14T02:34:43","modified_gmt":"2024-03-14T06:34:43","slug":"kelseyzukowski-wihm2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2024\/03\/24\/kelseyzukowski-wihm2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Multi-Talented Kelsey Zukowski Interview [Women in Horror Month 2024]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Multi-Talented Kelsey Zukowski:<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To start, please introduce yourself:<\/span><\/b>
\nHello guys and ghouls! I\u2019m honored to be counted among the many talented, driven, and passionate women in horror who continue to pour their heart and souls into their art. I\u2019m a horror writer, performer, and podcaster that\u2019s deeply connected to the genre.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been a published film reviewer and entertainment journalist, focusing on the horror genre for nearly 20 years. I\u2019ve written many horror shorts as well as a paranormal\/ psychological feature, Within These Walls, and had the pleasure to act in an array of horror films and over the years. I\u2019m also an internationally published gothic model, specializing in thematic, emotive material that evokes substance beneath the surface. I\u2019m someone who is simply very connected to stories and the horror genre. I love to tap into that love and creator mindset in different ways, from the thrilling and satisfying challenge of finding just the right words to express and share my experience with a film that moved me to bringing alive an Avant Garde, metaphorical horror conceptual photo series through images and words.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since my teen years, I found myself equally shaken and mesmerized by what a powerful horror film can do, something that is always in a constant state of evolving, making the possibilities truly endless.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is horror to you, what makes a work of art one in the horror genre?<\/span><\/b>
\nOne of my favorite things about horror is how diverse, layered, and all-encompassing it is, being far more expansive than most think. I love how it reveals these layers and possibilities through experience, resonance, and most importantly, creativity. I like how it can challenge anyone\u2019s idea of what it is and can be. Many films that audiences want to call \u201cthrillers\u201d are truly a facet of horror. The hesitancy to call titles horror often times is more a testament to how horror has been looked down upon and only seen in a specific box over the years, making it that much more vital to celebrate these complex, impactful stories that challenge the limitations and perceptions of the genre.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To offer a broad framework, I would define horror as any story that explores fear and darkness in ourselves, in others, or the world we reside in. While this often involves inflicted violence or bodily harm, it doesn\u2019t have to be simply that. Some of the most haunting horror stories are the horrors and fears we experience within ourselves such as fearing a lack of control of ourselves- ranging from serial killers, possession, and body horror- or even things like a fear of loneliness, loss, self-worth, and battles or depression and questions of sanity as in many powerful psychological and paranormal horror films.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I would define art as anything that represents inner emotions, struggles, understandings, or identity, that utilizes a medium to tell a story and explore something of importance to the artist. I think the difference between shock value or purely entertainment horror (which can also be valid and fun) and artistic horror is with art the focus is exploration and statement. There is a point beyond shock, awe, gasp, and laughs; a deeper part of the human experience that is being conveyed with the dread, fear, and unbearable horror many characters face that serves as an apt parallel to our own lives or horrors in the world we reside. This has the ability to offer an artistic expression or simply be an avenue for exploration for the artist, often one that will strike a chord and resonate with others.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What made you want to work in horror?<\/span><\/b>
\nHorror became a huge part of my life, my identity, and the stories I wanted to tell shortly after I really found myself consumed by the genre at 13. John Carpenter\u2019s <\/span>Halloween<\/span><\/i> truly changed the course of my life. It was my gateway drug into horror. While it did creep into my subconscious, it was the first horror film that opened my eyes and mind to view horror in a different light. It was the first film that created a marvel and fascination among the fear. It made me want to venture down the macabre rabbit hole of terror and delight and I found myself watching every horror film I get my hands on only exposing me to films that awoken that macabre fascination in me more and expanding my connection with the genre.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The two people I was most inspired by at a young age were Wes Craven and Roger Ebert. My first relationship with working within the genre was as a film reviewer. I was lucky enough to stumble upon a rather amazing group of film lovers and reviewers, most of us posting reviews on our social media blogs and creating a film geek support group and community with one another. Through this group I ended up writing for a number of film websites, including HorrorYearbook.com and FilmArcade.net, where I was a co-columnist on a review discussion series entitled, \u201cShe Screams, He Screams\u201d, highlighting differing gender perspectives on a given horror film.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Around this time, I got the impulse to try my hand at screenwriting and found I really loved creating stories within the horror genre. I ended up majoring in Screenwriting in film school in Chicago, where I found another life-changing community, the Chicago independent horror film scene. I started reviewing indie films and becoming friends with many of the filmmakers. Eventually the question was asked, \u201cDo you act?\u201d Before long, I began getting cast in a lot of indie horror films, which also opened doors to produce some of my horror scripts within this community before relocating to Los Angeles. This included short films, \u201cWhat They Say\u201d (a collaboration with another women in horror, actor\/ producer, Heather Dorff) and \u201cWords Like Knives\u201d, a disturbing psychological horror film based on real life horrors of bullying and abuse.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While I am a storyteller lover at my core and can appreciate many genres, horror just became an integral part of who I was and how I expressed myself artistically ever since Michael Myers bled that love of the genre into me as a teenager.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Long before that, I was always the horror girl, a bit of an outsider because of it, but that only made me cling on to my dark yet accepting companion more.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Horror is well-suited for really anyone who chooses to view it for all its layers, capabilities, and blood-soaked metaphors, but I think it is a genre, especially bred for the misfits, the unheard, and the misunderstood. Growing up, that was something that resonated in me deeply. As a genre, horror is certainly counterculture and isn\u2019t afraid to tackle ugly, uncomfortable truths about society or the darkness in others or even ourselves. I loved how it took truths of the human experience and creatively infused them in the genre, pushing things to an extreme, but through that extreme finding such beauty through\u00a0 parallels, clarity, and even unfathomable strength. Through exploring situations of terror and strangeness you could find deep resonation and even a freeing catharsis.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In short, I wanted to work within the genre because I was inspired by so many powerful horror films that ignited me and never let go, but also was it a choice? As storytellers, we tell the stories within us and horror has always simply been how my stories take shape.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Where do you get your inspiration?<\/span><\/b>
\nAs mentioned, I was heavily inspired by Wes Craven\u2019s work and his \u201cfighting through the mind\u201d brand of horror right when I was finding my voice as a horror screenwriter and honestly even before. His work really unlocked my fascination and connectivity towards the genre, realizing the depth, layers, exploration, and \u201creleasing of fear\u201d possible through them. <\/span>A Nightmare on Elm Street <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Serpent and the Rainbow<\/span><\/i> in particular inspired my style and relationship with horror. The entrapping, surreal and psychological hauntings are beyond anything we could ever expect to encounter in real life and at the same time are very much grounded in real evil in our world and the raw beauty in facing and beating it at its own game, often through intellect, sheer will power, and never letting fear or anyone else own you.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Other existing horror works that inspire me range from Jack Ketchum\u2019s brutal and gritty art imitating life works to French Extremity to body horror and powerful, moving horror personifications of all shapes, especially touching the surreal and psychological. I love horror that is a creative reaction to horrors in the world as a tool to expose and really show the true ins and out of the impact and atrocities that can occur if left unchecked such as <\/span>I Spit on Your Grave, Frontier(s), Eden Lake<\/span><\/i>, and the very underrated <\/span>Baby Blues<\/span><\/i> (2008) to name a few.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While my work is representative of my own perceptions, identity, imagination, and experiences, all of this inspiration will remain rooted in me as the type of horror that I find evocative.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes my inspiration is a response to my own struggles and vulnerabilities, my own fight, fire, and passion. Sometimes it is a desire to explore and expose real evil or darkness that exists in our world in a fictional medium that puts the control and expression in my hands. Sometimes it is feeling touched, empowered, or having someone else\u2019s art spark something in me that triggers my mind and creativity to create something adjacent, but authentic to me. I lot of what I create is metaphorical, so I do put a lot of myself into my work through intensified and sometimes fantastical subjects.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What would you like your legacy to be in the genre (or elsewhere)?<\/span><\/b>
\nFirst and foremost, if I create horror or other art, that speaks to me and I can be proud of, I am happy. If something I can create invokes something powerful, haunting, resonating, cathartic, or freeing to others like many horror films, novels, and television has with me, that would be an immense honor. Occasionally, I have someone tell me something I created inspired them to create art in turn and that is always one of the biggest compliments to me and something I just find rather beautiful; a testament to the vivacious, moving, life form that is inspiration, connection, and art itself. Additionally, if I can bring more eyes to a worthy, underrated horror gems or start worthy conversations on the expansive potential and layers of horror as a journalist\/ podcaster, add to the horror community, and leave a unique mark on the horror world that sounds like an exceptional legacy.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What is Women in Horror Month to you and why is it still important this man<\/span><\/b>y years later?<\/span><\/b>
\nWomen have always been a key part of horror. Horror is currently the only genre, where women have equal screen time to men, which is worth celebrating. Still, it is equally important for those to be realistic, fleshed out portrayals, true to our experiences.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is refreshing to look back throughout written and cinematic history and see those strong, smart, realistic examples of women in horror. There are many more damsels in distress that would simply run and scream, faint in shock, or be largely helpless and labeled \u201chysterical\u201d, no surprise most of these were not portrayals where women had the creative control. There is a power in being in control of our own stories as women and how we express the perceived vulnerabilities and ferocious, unrelenting survival instincts within ourselves and fighting for those we love. As with anyone, we all have many facets of our identity that come together. Womanhood is certainly a core part of that identity that shapes our experiences and relationship with horror.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While fear is universal in humankind woman have a unique experience regarding it. It is engrained in us from a young age to have this healthy fear, to always be on guard, that walking home alone at night is a dangerous risk. While men can certainly be fearful and vulnerable of an attack as well, it isn\u2019t ingrained in them as almost a given, that because of their gender and perceived strength they will be targeted. Whether that is the perspective that comes alive in a horror creation helmed by a woman or not, there is unique experience and understanding with fear and what it can inspire in us. Especially with women being a high focus and often the subject matter of horror, whether it be exploring that targeting or flipping gender roles and having the woman being the one doing the hunting, women should have the opportunity to play a part in creating these chilling and layered portrayals.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While there has been an increase in opportunities for women creators, horror films directed by women are still at about 5%. I, myself, am a horror writer, not one who has an ambition to direct, so not every woman in horror has to have this ambition. I think there are many who have the talent, passion, dedication, and vision to direct and offer the horror world something unique and compelling that simply aren\u2019t given the opportunities or visibility to do so. While we should be highlighting and giving women the chance to not only be represented but given the outlet and power to be the one to tell their own stories year-round, Women in Horror Month is a great reminder and opportunity to recognize what women bring to the genre and elevate them wherever we can.\u00a0 In this it shows the demand and appreciation for women storytellers in the genre.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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?<\/span><\/b>
\nAll of them! A few that I admire and celebrate: Julia Ducournau (Writer\/Director: Titane, Raw), Jennifer Kent (Writer\/ Director:The Babadook, The Nightingale), Katherine Isabelle (Actor: Ginger Snaps, American Mary), Pollyanna McIntosh (Actor\/ Writer\/Director:The Woman, Darlin\u2019), Kate Siegel (Hush, Midnight Mass), Elisabeth Moss (The Invisible Man, Us, Shirley), Tiffany D. Jackson (Novelist: The Weight of Blood, White Smoke), Reyna Young (Director\/ Novelist\/ Horror Host: Forgotten Tales, Slasher Girl, Miss Misery\u2019s Movie Massacre), V. Castro (Novelist: The Haunting of Alejandra), Silvia Moreno- Garcia (Mexican Gothic, Silver Nitrate).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What are you currently working on that you can tell us about?<\/span><\/b>
\nMy ongoing project is my horror podcast, <\/span>Dissecting Horror<\/span><\/i>, which I co-host with friend and horror writer\/filmmaker, Steven Aguilera. Steven and I first connected on our love of horror and classic monsters when he cast me as The Bride of Frankenstein in the black-and-white silent horror satire, <\/span>The Frankenstein Monster Project<\/span><\/i>, which he wrote and directed. Both being avid fans and creators within the genre, we created <\/span>Dissecting Horror<\/span><\/i> together to serve as an outlet for our passion, knowledge, and experiences both as fans and horror storytellers, involving listeners and the horror community in our macabre musings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The podcast is largely in a review style, sort of the horror Siskel & Ebert (some similar antagonism and snark included), each episode focusing on a given film, TV series, or book, but also serving as a dissection table where we can go beyond what we liked or disliked about a film or other piece of storytelling, and dig deep into the bloody heart and guts of trends of horror, sub-genres, potential and shortcomings, and the bigger picture of what the horror may evoke including the impact and personifications around it. While our insights, experiences, and personal tastes are likeminded in some ways, we have differing perspectives most of the time that offers compelling discussion many should find relatable.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We offer a full audio podcast (usually ranging from 45 minutes to an hour) as well as \u201cDeep Cuts\u201d, a shortened version (closer to 15 minutes) that gets right to the core of a dissection with clips from the films or material mentioned, giving a visual sampler of the full episode, but also serving as its own entity for those that have less time to tune in or simply want to get right to our overall takeaway on a film.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dissecting Horror- \u201cExamining the anatomy of fear in film, television, and literature\u201d\u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span>Youtube channel: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@dissectinghorror<\/span>
\n<\/span>Also available wherever you get your podcasts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You can follow my work and connect with me below:
\n<\/span>Instagram: @kelseyzuk<\/span>
\n<\/span>Facebook: facebook.com\/Kelsey.zukowski<\/span>
\n<\/span>Website: kelseyzukowski.com<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo credits:
\nLead photo: Photographed by: Robert Maffei
\n<\/span>Red hair photo: Photographed by: Sean Griffith, Make Up by: Jaxx Marr
\nAHS Photo: <\/span>Photographed by: Kevin Mack, <\/span>Make Up by: Desiree Delaluna
\nBride of Frankenstein:\u00a0<\/span>Still from\u00a0The Frankenstein Monster Project<\/i> by Steven Aguilera,\u00a0Make-Up by: Jennifer M. Quinteros,\u00a0Also Pictured: Jeff DuJardin as Patton Robertson
\nLast photo:\u00a0Photographed by: Kevin Mack,\u00a0Post- Artwork by: Keith Hammer,\u00a0Make Up by: Desiree Delaluna<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Multi-Talented Kelsey Zukowski:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1284,8,2673],"tags":[477,1550],"class_list":["post-43153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-festivalsevents","category-interviews","category-wihm","tag-horror","tag-women-in-horror"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43153"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43196,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43153\/revisions\/43196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}