I recently went to see The Conjuring: The Last Rites. I was impressed with how they mixed a nugget of truth with cinematic flair to make The Conjuring one of the most successful horror franchises. What also struck me was how few women there were in the theater. To tell the truth, I think I was the only one.
While female audiences for horror movies are generally small, even fewer women go into the business of writing horror films. True, it’s not for everyone. But when Bellem Entertainment, a new production company, asked me to write a horror feature for them called Innocuous, I agreed. Yet, sitting there in the dark movie hall watching The Conjuring, as the lone female holdout in the entire theater, I was reminded me of a question people ask me: why do I, as a woman, want to work in a genre that is typically male-dominated?
Tonia Kempler, who heads up Bellem Ent., gets asked that question too. For her the answer is simple. She grew up in the rural south, where occult traditions are an ingrained part of the folklore and literary heritage. Her male film partner, Bulent Gurcan, former cast member of Naked and Afraid, never gets asked that question.
For me, the answer is considerably more complicated. It started when I was a toddler. One day I climbed out of my high chair and took a fall. I landed so hard that I stopped breathing. Fortunately, one of the neighbors knew CPR and got my lungs working again, and brought me back to life.
The odd part is that I still remember the experience. I remember that feeling of being in a place where there was no color, and I had to wait, unable to move forward, or backwards, or go anywhere at all. I was stuck there for what seemed like a very long time before I found myself breathing again and back in the world of color.
That experience kick-started my curiosity about the paranormal.
‘The Conjuring Last Rites’ • Warner Bros.
As a teen, my friends asked me to join their seances. We didn’t really know what we were doing, but right away, spooky things started to happen. We heard weird noises and saw footprints that appeared in fresh snow. It was exciting at first, but some of this weirdness followed us home for a while. That was too much, so I quit.
But life had another twist for me. As an adult, after years spent writing dry geological reports for my job, I met a British medium who told me right away, before she even knew my name, that I should partner with her and follow her practice to document her paranormal work. I had no idea why she chose me. She couldn’t explain it either. But within seconds of meeting me, she was absolutely convinced.
I wasn’t sure I wanted that paranormal door opened again. But she assured me the experiences would be safe. I agreed to dip my toe in. I went to one of her mediumship events with my camera and notebook and recorded what happened.
Right from the start, strange things happened. She was able to tell people detailed specifics about their loved ones on the other side. One time she said to a complete stranger: “Your father tells me he died in his lazy-boy chair, with a beer in one hand and the remote in the other.” And it was promptly and tearfully confirmed.
I was amazed and intrigued. I continued following her work, recording and writing about what happened — first for her clients and followers, and later for a wider audience in a series of books.
As we were working on our second book, Troubled Spirits with Medium Lorraine Rees, we finally discovered the link that had drawn us together. It turns out that both of us had survived near-death experiences and had been clinically brought back to life. On top of that, we both remembered what it was like to have “been there.”
While my books on her work are 100% factual accounts, I soon discovered that writing fictional horror, adding my imagination to the mix, was totally fun. A friend calls my fictional stories “lady horror,” as I like to write stories for and about women that speak to the special undying bonds that women have – whether it is motherhood, a relative that calls from beyond, or a deeply treasured friendship that never dies. I also like to anchor my stories on a moral tale with a thoughtful and usually happy ending. That’s what keeps it fun for me.
As I take on writing for Bellem Ent, my personal goal is to deliver solid stories with an extra kick – a nice little nugget of fun that the audience wouldn’t expect. With that in mind, I’m spinning the Innocuous project to start with the characters celebrating a big occasion. The action takes off when one of the leads is out enjoying a special anniversary with her man. It’s not the anniversary of when they first met, or their first date. It’s the anniversary of when her relationship ramped up into high gear and they got ‘busy.’
So, why do I, as a woman, want to write horror? All I can say is that life is spicy. You never know what surprises might be waiting for you right around the corner. But whatever ride life takes you on, I feel we need to appreciate and enjoy that ride.
And wherever or however you find it, to never underestimate the importance of fun.
