Shudder’s 1000 WOMEN IN HORROR proves how LGBTQ women are shaping horror. We probably always have, but now we’re front and center in the new Shudder Documentary. Whether as actors or creators (both even), we are everywhere. Read why you should watch the new release – as if the title alone wasn’t enough?!

1000 WOMEN IN HORROR is out on Shudder, and you should absolutely check it out. First and foremost, because it pays a long overdue tribute to women. Sure, the Final Girl has always been a key element of slashers, but female writers and directors have also been involved for decades.

And yes, this includes queer women!

Horror has always been a genre for outsiders. For anyone who has ever felt too weird, too loud, too much — or simply not enough — horror understood you long before mainstream culture caught up. So it should come as no surprise that queer women have been at the heart of the genre for well over a century.

What is surprising is how rarely that story gets told. A new Shudder documentary is here to change that.

WANT TO READ A REVIEW OF THE DOCUMENTARY?

Head on over to Heaven of Horror, where I reviewed this already >

1000 Women in Horror, streaming now on Shudder as part of Women’s History Month, is a 96-minute celebration of the women who built, shaped, and continue to revolutionize horror cinema from 1895 to the present day.

Directed by Donna Davies and written by horror historian and film critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas — based on her acclaimed 2020 book of the same name — the documentary brings together actors, directors, writers, and producers who have all left an indelible mark on the genre.

Here at Womentainment, we also wanted to highlight that this documentary focuses on all women. This includes queer women, who are woven throughout this story in ways that deserve their own spotlight.

Horror Has Always Been Queer – Whether We Called It That or Not

Long before anyone used the word “queer” in a positive context, horror was doing something quietly radical: centering outsiders, giving power to those society deemed monstrous, and letting the “Other” win.

Alexandra Heller-Nicholas has written that horror at its best gives a voice to those who would otherwise struggle to be heard. Also, how its “Others” include anyone whose identity is defined by negations: Not-white, Not-male, Not-straight.

This is the philosophy baked into the DNA of 1000 Women in Horror – the book as well as this new documentary on Shudder.

While the documentary does not wave a pride flag explicitly, it does something arguably more powerful. This documentary presents a community of women horror creators. Women who have built spaces for themselves precisely because those spaces did not exist.

They wrote what was missing.

Then they directed what no one else would greenlight.

And it was all made possible because they produced films from sheer necessity and desire.

That is, at its core, a profoundly queer impulse.

Why Shudder Keeps Getting It Right for LGBTQ Women in Horror

It is worth noting that 1000 Women in Horror is hardly Shudder’s first foray into this territory. The platform previously released Queer for Fear. This is a docuseries exploring the history of the LGBTQ+ community in the horror and thriller genres, all while tracing queer influence.

From its literary origins with Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, and Oscar Wilde, through to contemporary genre filmmaking. The Queer for Fear series was a landmark, and now 1000 Women in Horror continues the conversation. However, this time, it shifts the lens specifically onto women.

In doing so, Shudder’s 1000 Women in Horror documentary also makes space for the many queer women whose contributions have been overlooked or undervalued.

As a horror critic (over at Heaven of Horror), I found it genuinely moving to watch this documentary. It truly treats the women who make horror with the same reverence usually reserved for the male auteurs who dominate the conversation.

And as someone who covers entertainment for audiences who care about representation, I find something else thrilling as well. The simple fact that so many of the women featured are queer or queer-adjacent. Whether in their storytelling, or simply unapologetically themselves in ways that resonate far beyond genre. Often both!

Womentainment recommendation: Should you watch it? Absolutely!

Despite its title, 1000 Women in Horror is not a niche documentary for hardcore horror fans only. It is a film about creativity, resilience, and the radical act of making art that reflects your own experience.

For LGBTQ women, for women who love women, for anyone who has ever felt like a monster in a world that prefers them invisible; This is your documentary!

Stream it on Shudder now. Then go and watch everything the women in it have ever made. You will not run out of great horror anytime soon.

WHERE SHE LIES is a new documentary about the pain of doubt and gossip. An assaulted teen gives birth in 1962 and receives conflicting information about the fate of her daughter. This has led to a lifelong search for the truth. Read our full Where She Lies documentary review here! 

WHERE SHE LIES is a documentary about the life of a woman in search of the truth. After having been assaulted as a teen, Peggy, gives birth to a girl in 1962. Within a few days, she is informed that her daughter has passed away at the hospital.

Later, her mother – on her deathbed – reveals that the girl did not die. Instead, she was given up for adoption. After receiving this news, the woman naturally goes searching for the truth about the fate of her daughter. This becomes a lifelong journey for Peggy Phillips that still has not reached a conclusion when this documentary begins.

Continue reading our Where She Lies documentary review below.

Searching for the truth

The search for the truth about her daughter, Darlene, continues all while Peggy Phillips is battling health issues. Peggy comes across as both very loving and honest. However, she obviously also has a sadness and a downright itch for finding out what the truth is.

As the story evolves in Where She Lies, we continue getting more facts that will sometimes drag you in conflicting directions. However, let me be clear that there will be a definite conclusion to this case before the documentary is over.

DNA and other facts will help Peggy Phillips finally know the truth about her daughter. Specifically, whether she died or was given up for adoption.

Watch Where She Lies on VOD now!

Zach Marion is the director of the Where She Lies documentary. As well as being a dedicated investigator on behalf of Peggy Phillips, he is clearly also a good and honest friend of hers. She even states at one point that she only went along with making this documentary because she liked the sound of his voice.

Clearly, she trusted him from the beginning. And he does nothing to betray this trust.

I would have liked for this documentary to be tighter in some ways. However, I can’t say I would have wanted to be without anything either. With a runtime of 100 minutes, it’s a well-crafted documentary about the struggles of being a young woman in the 1960s and having almost no rights or choices available. Peggy Phillips was a strong woman who fought for the truth and gave love and care.

If you enjoy this documentary, do check out the new HBO documentary series Murder on Middle Beach.

Where She Lies is out on VOD from November 10, 2020.

Director: Zach Marion
Writer: Suz Curtis
Cast: Peggy Phillips, Catherine Suzanne Smith, Zach Marion, Jodi Brooks Allen, Curtis Ottinger
Release Date (Streaming): November 10, 2020

Official plot:

Where She Lies tells the gripping true story of an assaulted teen, Peggy Phillips, who gives birth out of wedlock in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1962. Upon giving birth, Peggy receives conflicting narratives about her infant’s fate, with one doctor claiming that her baby had passed, and another claiming it was thriving. Thirty-six years later, Peggy’s mother reveals on her deathbed that Peggy’s baby is still alive. After a series of new attempts to uncover the truth, including exhuming her infant’s alleged grave, Peggy reaches an impasse when she runs out of money. Almost two decades later, a documentarian helps Peggy uncover the truth about what happened. They become friends, as they sift through an entanglement of local hearsay, claims from a greedy former inmate, and ultimately, DNA testing. Through its investigation of false narratives, memory, and motherhood, the film explores the gas-lighting and discrimination that Peggy faced as a sexual assault survivor in the 1960’s deep south.