in the flesh

Sundance 2021: Women in Horror Month Discussion
February 2021
I sat on a panel with actress Adrienne Barbeau (The Fog, Creepshow) and filmmaker/actress Gigi Saul Guerrero (Culture Shock) to talk about women and representation in horror (and Adrienne also called out my hoser Canadian accent, truly a life goal!) Hosted by Women in Horror Month founder Hannah Forman. Watch here.

In conversation: Barbara Crampton, Linnea Quigley, Dee Wallce
Frightmare in the Falls Festival
Niagara Falls, Ontario, October 2019
I spoke with legendary horror actresses Linnea Quigley (Return of the Living Dead, Night of the Demons) Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator, You’re Next) and Dee Wallace (The Howling, Cujo, some movie called E.T.) about their long and storied careers working in and out of genre cinema. You can watch the conversation here.

In conversation: Julian Ritchings
Frightmare in the Falls Festival
Niagara Falls, Ontario, October 2019
I spoke with character actor and genre legend Julian Ritchings (The Witch, Hard Core Logo, Cube, Death on Supernatural) You can watch the conversation here.

Melt Movies: Rue Morgue TV segment
Toronto, ON
Summer 2019
For Rue Morgue’s YouTube channel, I talked about one of horror’s most digusting and reviled genres, the melt movie. Topics include the Incredible Melting Man, Body Melt, Society and more. Watch until the end for slimy results.

Best Horror Sequel: Rue Morgue TV segment
Toronto, ON
Summer 2019
Alex West (Faculty of Horror podcast co-host and author extraordinaire) and I debated a red-hot topic: what is the best horror sequel? She argued Evil Dead II, while I went for Exorcist III (the obvious choice.)

“Gender + body horror” + “The intersectionality of slashers”
Final Girls Film Festival
Berlin, Germany, February 2019
I traveled to the legendary feminist film festival in Berlin to deliver talks on gender and body horror and a roundup of our slashers/intersectionality roundtable from the DePaul Conference.

“Gender and body horror: A new paradigm of terror”
Ax Wound Film Festival
Brattleboro, VT, November 2018
I returned to Ax Wound to moderate a filmmaker’s panel! I also gave a presentation on body horror films and the ways women and trans bodies have been used in these films as sites of terror and metaphors for the monstrosities of psychological/sexual trauma.

In Conversation: Zach Galligan
Frightmare in the Falls
Niagara Falls, Ontario, October 2018
Interviewed Zach Galligan (Gremlins, Gremlins II) at the Frightmare in the Falls convention.

“Burn it to the ground: The problem of intersectionality in the ‘80s slasher film”
DePaul Pop Culture Conference 2018: A Celebration of Slashers
Chicago, IL, USA, May 2018
For the slasher-themed 2018 installment of DePaul’s annual Pop Culture conference, I chaired a roundtable featuring Ashlee Blackwell (Graveyard Shift Sisters, Horror Noire) Mariam Bastani and Monika Estrella Negra (Audre’s Revenge Films) for a discussion of three slasher movies from the ‘80s (Nightmare on Elm St 2, Sleepaway Camp 3 and Slumber Party Massacre) and how they depicted the intersections of characters facing multiple oppressions. What worked, and what didn’t? And what can modern horror filmmakers learn from these attempts?

“Horror in the Age of Weinstein and Trump”
Ax Wound Film Festival
Brattleboro, VT, November 2017
I presented an interactive talk on resistance and politics in horror filmmaking in light of the one-year anniversary of Trump’s election and the then-emerging allegations about Harvey Weinstein and other major male players in the Hollywood system. Films discussed included Candyman, People Under the Stairs, God Told Me To and Starry Eyes as well as a follow-up discussion. This presentation was part of Ax Wound, a film festival focusing on short independent horror films by female filmmakers.

Black Museum Debate: Final Girl Face-off
Presented by The Black Museum
The Royal Cinema, Toronto, ON, November 2017
I participated in an on-stage debate panel in front of a crowd, presented by the horror lecture series The Black Museum. The topic: Who is the best Final Girl of all time in horror cinema? My debate partner Simon Borer and I chose Thomasin from Robert Eggers’ 2016 film The Witch. A controversial and heated choice to be sure – we came in 2nd after a tie-breaker to Nancy from Nightmare on Elm Street.

One of Us: The Transcendent Rise of Religious Cults in Horror
Presented by The Black Museum
The Royal Cinema, Toronto, ON, May 14, 2014
I presented a two-hour multimedia lecture on religious cults in modern horror films for Toronto's pre-eminent horror lecture series, The Black Museum. I looked at depictions in films both infamous (THE WICKER MAN, 1973) and lesser-known (TICKET TO HEAVEN, 1981), to see how they held up against accounts from actual cults of the 21st century.