Film & TV Lunch Club: October 2023 - Spooky Girls
Raw, Prevenge, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
It sure doesn’t feel like Spooky Season. The world just had its hottest September on record and the UK has been experiencing a strangely warm October as well. Climate scientists are clearly at a loss for how else they can make people (leaders) pay attention to the effects of the El Niño event, because they are using language like '“absolutely gobsmackingly bananas” to describe it. Anyway, here we are, under three weeks from Halloween, and people still haven’t transitioned to wearing boots, beanies and hoodies yet. When the chill finally comes, let it be known that I am ready for it.
The theme for this month’s Film & TV Lunch Club is Spooky Girls, so it’s a chance to celebrate the goths, the freaks, the ghouls and the important contribution of women within the horror genre.
While I appreciate the craft and creativity that goes into making good horror, the genre is not my specialism by a long mile. I once messaged a friend to admit that I was a wimp and that they would have to watch a film first so they could tell me when I needed to hide, and they responded with something that I always think about: “horror is the genre that most makes you feel alive!”
So whenever I’m hiding behind a pillow, hoping for the final jumpscare to be over so that I can stop shallow breathing and un-tense my shoulders, I try to think about that and appreciate my alive-ness. In fact, I just started re-watching A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (one of this month’s picks) and I already appreciate the fact that I don’t live in a place as ominous-sounding as ‘Bad City’.
With that in mind, I am breaking out of my comfort zone and will watch some new horror this month! I know how interrelated horror and feminism can be so I also offer some consolatory further reading: Women Make Horror: Filmmaking, Feminism, Genre edited by Alison Peirse, and fully recommend following Kim’s Cinema Escape on Instagram, who is much more knowledgeable than me about the genre.
Here’s the October selection and long list… just in time for the weekend. Enjoy:
🎞 October Selection 🎞
Official Trailer: Prevenge | Dir. Alice Lowe
Raw (2016; Dir. Julia Ducournau)
A young woman, studying to be a vet, develops a craving for human flesh.Rent or buy on Apple TV, Youtube or Google Play .
Prevenge (2016; Dir. Alice Lowe)
Widow Ruth is seven months pregnant when, believing herself to be guided by her unborn baby, she embarks on a homicidal rampage, dispatching anyone who stands in her way.Stream on BFI Player or Amazon Prime.
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014; Dir. Ana Lily Amirpour) - In the Iranian ghost-town Bad City, a place that reeks of death and loneliness, the townspeople are unaware they are being stalked by a lonesome vampire.
Stream on StudioCanal Presents.
🎬 The Long List: Optional Extras 🎬
Other notable films suggested for the theme:
Fresh - After quitting dating apps, a woman meets the supposedly perfect man and accepts his invitation to a romantic weekend getaway, only to find that her new paramour has been hiding some unusual appetites.
Black Swan - Nina is a talented but unstable ballerina on the verge of stardom. Pushed to the breaking point by her artistic director and a seductive rival, Nina's grip on reality slips, plunging her into a waking nightmare.
Jennifer’s Body - A newly-possessed high-school cheerleader turns into a succubus who specializes in killing her male classmates. Can her best friend put an end to the horror?
Suspiria - A darkness swirls at the center of a world-renowned dance company, one that will engulf the artistic director, an ambitious young dancer, and a grieving psychotherapist. Some will succumb to the nightmare. Others will finally wake up.
Carrie - Carrie White, a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom.
The Love Witch - A modern-day witch uses spells and magic to get men to fall in love with her, with deadly consequences.
The Babadook - A single mother and her child fall into a deep well of paranoia when an eerie children's book titled "Mister Babadook" manifests in their home.
La Llorona - An aging paranoid war criminal, protected by his faithful wife, faces death while being haunted by the ghosts of his past.
Ginger Snaps - Two death-obsessed sisters, outcasts in their suburban neighborhood, must deal with the tragic consequences when one of them is bitten by a deadly werewolf.
Hocus Pocus - A teenage boy named Max and his little sister move to Salem, where he struggles to fit in before awakening a trio of diabolical witches that were executed in the 17th century.
Twilight - When Bella Swan moves to a small town in the Pacific Northwest, she falls in love with Edward Cullen, a mysterious classmate who reveals himself to be a 108-year-old vampire.
Titane - Following a series of unexplained crimes, a father is reunited with the son who has been missing for 10 years.
Near Dark - A small-town farmer's son reluctantly joins a traveling group of vampires after he is bitten by a beautiful drifter.
Pet Sematary - After tragedy strikes, a grieving father discovers an ancient burial ground behind his home with the power to raise the dead.
Halloween - Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
Black Christmas - During their Christmas break, a group of sorority girls are stalked by a stranger.
🔜 Next Month 🔜
The theme for NOVEMBER will be AS COLD AS ICE. Not because I’m obsessed with the weather, but because it will be 10 years since the release of Disney’s Frozen! We’ll be rewatching Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck’s animated adventure, and dropping in some films which are equally as chilly. Please add your recommendations for this in the comments or on Insta!