I’m already looking forward to cooler weather. I always do around this time of the season. My favorite season has always been fall. There’s something exciting about going back to school (I am thinking about my elementary days. Children are just by far more imaginative, open-minded, and shockingly wiser than most adults I came across). The greatest excitement of course was going to our local fairground (As I’m writing this blog post on Aug. 16th, I learned today is National Roller-coaster Day. How seasonal and festive of me to be in tune with society. Normally, I don’t celebrate holidays). I was always looking forward to the haunted house ride, eating caramel apples and cotton candy. I believe I enjoyed the haunted house more than the roller-coaster rides. The haunted house left a bigger impression on my childhood memory.

This really got me thinking about why I like haunted houses. One of my all-time favorite films is House on Haunted Hill (1999). It’s really not all that great in terms of plot. However, the costumes, props, and humor were well worth the time. Plus, I learned how to play Marilyn’s Manson Sweet Dreams on the guitar. I thought the song really summarized the plot pretty well. Recently, I read Shirley Jackson’s novel. She is the author of The Haunting of Hill House (1959). This book inspired many spin-offs such as Haunting (1999). After reading it, I realized I have a fascination with haunted houses and ghost stories. I often wonder why ghosts are often trapped and dwell in one area. In reality, I think there are many living people resembling a walking corpse. Anyway, you have a haunted spaceship. The Event Horizon (1997) is another fun film to watch. It has a scary concept of a haunted spaceship! And of course, recently I watched The Wind. It was pretty decent. The haunting element is the prairie, not the house in the middle of nowhere. The film will probably appeal more to a female audience. There is definitely not much gore and unnecessary eye candy shots. It has a feminine touch where pretty women are more of a tease than sexualized.

Most horror films made in the past are directed by men. It was nice to watch something different for a change. A distressed woman holds a shotgun to protect herself from the “demon prairie.” Was the demon her imaginary or was it real? Some scenes reminded me of a hair product ad, prairie horror style. In the bathing scene, instead of full breasts exposure–the protagonist’s long hair covers her chest. She stares at the camera. Besides her is a shotgun. Yes, the shotgun is very powerful and so is she.

I can always tell when a woman directed a film. The Wind was directed by Emma Tammi. There’s a level of classiness in the way women view their bodies. As a female audience, I find it irritating to see a naked woman. It feels like she’s being tossed around like a rag doll. But have things changed for the better just because there are more female directors out there? It seems like women still care a whole lot about making a political statement. They focus on this instead of creating a genuine horror story. But I could be wrong. Before watching The Wind, I also watched another horror film with a strong political statement. I watched Umma directed by Iris K. Shim. You can also find it on Netflix. Watching The Wind and Umma made me wonder. Is making a statement the director’s intention? If so, then sadly, women still have a long way to earn the respect they deserve in the film industry.

So, why did I have all these questions about female directors in horror films? Am I prepping readers for more horror content? It might be because I feel like being a nice witch. It’s also because the spooky season is only two months away. Am I trying to stir the feminist pot?

I hope this post will give my readers what to expect in the upcoming future. I tried to discipline myself by creating content. However, I rarely find the motivation to blog consistently as I used to. I am no longer stranded in the middle of a city. I don’t need to write SOS messages to the world anymore. Instead, I feel more like I am in the middle of nowhere, the Midwest. That does affect my ability to write. The cowboy environment slows me down and puts me into a sleepy spell. I haven’t been feeling like my usual self. I feel quite dead when I’m not utilizing the creative parts of my brain. Hopefully, cooler weather will fix this writing slump!