Women Make Horror comes to the Watershed

Six years on from the inaugural Women In Horror night at the Cube, Bristol-based writer/director Melanie Light moves up to the Watershed for her latest evening celebrating the best in short horror films made by women from around the world.

Taking place in middle of ‘Spooky Season’ on Wednesday 18 October, Women Make Horror comprises 10 feminist shorts, plus a short ident by Melanie herself, entitled Turn your Bloody Phone Off. Here’s the full line-up:

Bad Acid (Dir: Sam Fox)

Sheila is a self-obsessed aerobics fanatic who accidentally ingests some toxic hair gel while doing her usual morning workout to Aerobisexy vol. 14, transporting her into the world of Aerobics Cult Leader John Flexi.

In The Flesh (Dir: Daphne Gardner)

Tracey is just trying to jerk off with her bathtub faucet like normal when some old memories dredge up, the pipes explode with dirty water, and she starts leaking black goo.

Everybody Goes to the Hospital (Dir: Tiffany Kimmel)

A stop-motion animated exploration of “a true physical, psychological and familial trauma”.

Scooter (Dir: Chelsea Lupkin)

Abandoned by her boyfriend in the middle of the night, Adrienne is suddenly tasked with a rescue mission when she discovers a woman trapped in the back of a van in this supernatural horror.

Yummy Mummy (Dir: Gabriela Staniszewska)

Bristol-based director Gabriela Staniszewska’s striking pregnancy body horror. Ignored in the motherhood process, Lilith’s sense of her own identity begins to have physical manifestations as she begins to fall apart. Literally.

Sucker (Dir: Alix Austin)

Two sisters are pitted against each other by a gigantic, abhorrent leech creature that uses its influence to puppeteer them from the inside out.

The Cull (Dir: Gigi Saul Guerrero)

A family has to make a life-or-death decision during a turbulent time.

Smile (Dir: Joanna Tsanis)

When a young woman struggles to smile, her depression becomes something truly monstrous.

La Ciguapa Siempre (Dir: Monica Moore Suriyage)

Milagro knew she was adopted, but just found out there is no record of her birth parents. So her boyfriend Davis takes her on a camping trip to help her relax. As the trip progresses, Davis reveals he is not as wholesome as he seems, and the truth to Milagro’s identity is hiding deep in the woods.

Dana (Dir: Lucia Forner Segarra)

After surviving an assault, Diana decides something must change. She will now take justice into her own hands and change her name to ‘Dana’, which translates as “the one who judges”.

“I’m really pleased to come back with this after a hiatus and really pleased to be able to bring it to the Watershed,” Melanie tells us. “I felt like it was time to aim a little higher. Genre films, especially horror, always have been a tool for change and education through their stories and characters. I really wanted to bring this to a more widespread audience than that of the underground scene. Now we get more bums on seats and once again celebrate the love we all have of horror and support women filmmakers and fans alike. I invite those coming to hang out in the cafe/bar before so we can talk horror movies and the macabre and create a support hub and community for all those who love horror.”

Tickets are available here, with all proceeds going to Womankind Bristol.

Main image from Turn Your Bloody Phone Off. All images: Women Make Horror.