S6E4 Horror: Isaura Barbé-Brown on final girls, jump scares and the gender fear gap

“It’s mostly women I know, who love horror films in that way, because nothing’s really scarier than the real world things that can happen to us.”

For all the horror movie characters who end up as corpses - victims to the slaughter - there are those who escape their demise. One particular type of survivor - the ‘final girl’ - is the subject of much fascination for today’s guest.

Isaura Barbé-Brown is a horror expert, and writes for the British Film Institute, Den of Geek, and the Bloody Women journal from Final Girls. In this Halloween special of the podcast, she explores the horror genre through a female lens - celebrating the heroic (and sometimes ghoulish) female protagonists who make it out alive. Isaura set Mark the challenge of watching the following films, which are all up for review in this episode:

• A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night - by Ana Lily Amirpour
• Revenge - by Coralie Fargeat
• Ravenous - by Antonia Bird
• Trouble Everyday - by Claire Denis
• Eve's Bayou - by Kasi Lemons
• Teeth - by Mitchell Lichtenstein (AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!)

In this episode, you will learn:

1. How horror can be just as, if not more impactful when you flip the narrative, and stop relying on the same old notions of female fear and vulnerability. 
2. That you don’t have to avoid classic tropes, like jump scares, in order to do something revolutionary.
3. Why it’s so important to think deeply about your audience, and the message you’d like them to take away from your work, no matter what genre you’re writing for.

Find out more about Isaura here.

Check out the Final Girls podcast here.

Your host is inkjockey founder Mark Heywood.

Behind The Spine is an inkjockey production, and the audio accompaniment to The Writing Salon. Sign up to the newsletter here.

You can view the full transcript here.

Connect with the show:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthespinepodcast/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BehindTheSpine

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BehindTheSpine

Website: www.behindthespine.co.uk