'Beauty into Beast: Women, Werewolves and Wild Shapeshifters'
Part of the In Dreams Are Monsters Season
Between October – December 2022, Cine-Excess partnered with the Birmingham Electric Cinema and the BFI to curate a special season of classic and modern horror movies featuring female lycanthropes and other creatures. From Cat People (1942) on 35mm on 13th November 2022 to Wilding (2018) on 4th December 2022, the programme included screenings, special guests, panels and streamed interviews with leading horror filmmakers and movie critics.
The traditional image of the werewolf is very masculine, a larger than life alpha-male at the mercy of the beast within, physically and mentally. Although there have been a few female lycanthropes in the early years of cinema, it is since the 1970s that women as werewolves have made their mark in cinema and the public psyche.
This season explored the evolution of the wolf women, mapping how their portrayals and the audience perceptions of them are a reflection of the changing role of women within society; how they are seen by both the male and female gaze; a wild, lethal temptress to men, but a symbol of freedom, maturity and a better understanding of the self for women.
'Beauty into Beast: Women, Werewolves and Wild Shapeshifters' formed part of In Dreams Are Monsters: A Season of Horror Films, a UK-wide film season supported by the National Lottery and BFI Film Audience Network.
The traditional image of the werewolf is very masculine, a larger than life alpha-male at the mercy of the beast within, physically and mentally. Although there have been a few female lycanthropes in the early years of cinema, it is since the 1970s that women as werewolves have made their mark in cinema and the public psyche.
This season explored the evolution of the wolf women, mapping how their portrayals and the audience perceptions of them are a reflection of the changing role of women within society; how they are seen by both the male and female gaze; a wild, lethal temptress to men, but a symbol of freedom, maturity and a better understanding of the self for women.
'Beauty into Beast: Women, Werewolves and Wild Shapeshifters' formed part of In Dreams Are Monsters: A Season of Horror Films, a UK-wide film season supported by the National Lottery and BFI Film Audience Network.
'Beauty into Beast: Women, Werewolves and Wild Shapeshifters' – Season Introduction
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In this video, Birmingham Electric Cinema programmer Jean Stanton discusses the rationale for the ‘Beauty into Beast’ screening season, as well as outlining some of its highlights.
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The Beast Must Die!
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Programmed as part of the season, this is a classic whodunnit with a twist, a curio piece of 1970s horror from Britain’s Amicus Productions, with an ensemble cast. A millionaire game hunter, Tom Newcliffe (Calvin Lockhart) invites a group of people to his mansion where he announces that one of them is a werewolf and must be killed. One by one, they are subjected to tests to smoke out the beast, while around them the real werewolf prowls. Famous for its ‘werewolf break’ where the audience reviews the evidence, the film also touches on issues of race, with a Black Protagonist and some of the cast.
The Beast Must Die screened on Sunday 20th November 2022, with an exclusive pre-recorded Q&A with writer, author, broadcaster and leading horror expert, Kim Newman. |
The Howling
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The season featured this special screening of Joe Dante’s The Howling - gory, explicit, satirical and visceral and one of the films that kick-started the modernisation of the classic movie monsters. Dee Wallace stars as Karen White, a reporter who – after escaping from the clutches of a serial killer – is sent by her therapist to recover at a rural retreat in the mountains called ‘The Colony’, a communal retreat where it is good to give in to your primal nature.
The Howling screened on Wednesday 23rd November 2022, and featured an exclusive pre-recorded Q&A with director Joe Dante |
Ginger Snaps
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One of the highlights of the season was John Fawcett’s tale of two death-obsessed sisters which gives a slick, hip millennial update to the genre, honing in what it feels like to be young, female and an outsider. A twisted coming-of-age story, Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) is catapulted into puberty, both by her own body and the bite of a werewolf, and begins to experience disturbing, but strangely liberating, changes. Worried for and isolated from her sister for the first time, Brigitte (Emily Perkins) takes matters into her own hands.
Ginger Snaps screened on Friday 2nd December 2022, and featured an exclusive pre-recorded Q&A with director John Fawcett. |