Girls with Guts (2022)
Directed by Becca Kozak
Featuring Nadine L’Esperance, Julie Bruns, Dre Boulet, Bruna Arbex, Ariel Hansen, Karen Lam, Lisa Ovies, Heather Perluzzo, Sharai Rewels, Tristan Risk, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Raynor Shima, Kailey Spear, Sam Spear, & David Aboussafy.

Documentary

★★★★1/2 (out of ★★★★★)

DISCLAIMER:
The following review contains SPOILERS!

At the post-screening panel following Girls With Guts, director Becca Kozak said she made the doc “for zero dollars” (which everyone applauded heartily), and it initially started as a one-minute short doc project that ballooned into a feature, which is no surprise because in just over an hour—around 68 minutes—Kozak packs in a ton of insightful interviews with a group of women making films in the Vancouver horror scene. For any horror lover this is a must-see documentary. More importantly, any woman of any age aspiring to be a horror director needs to see Girls With Guts because of how all the different perspectives from various women in horror come together to paint a wider picture of the entire film industry and what it’s like to navigate as a woman.

One of the most necessary perspectives brought out in Kozak’s documentary is something that most of the women interviewed expressed in some way, shape, or form: women are often more attuned to horror because of the dangers, both exterior and interior, they experience throughout their lives. On one hand, women experience dangers posed by men out in the world, so they often have to preemptively think about what’s the “absolute worst that could happen” to them in a given situation. On the other hand, women’s own bodies are a source of horror, whether it’s the blood of a period or childbirth (and more). Gigi Saul Guerrero mentions that “Our bodies go through so much” and Lam believes that women’s “hormones are probably a daily horror.” Director Heather Perluzzo says: “I didn‘t think I was a feminist until I went to film school.” She says that when she began writing horror stories about women’s issues she realised that she was, indeed, a feminist. She goes on to tell Kozak that her short film Girl in the Galactic Sun was “about being terrified of being a woman” and the terrors particular to womanhood. One of the filmmakers also notes that trans women go through the extra layer of terror of “being trapped in the wrong body” that comes along with all its own unique trials and horrors.
Something that I personally loved was a section Kozak includes on rape-revenge films since it reveals a uniquely female perspective that so many male filmmakers fail to grasp. A couple of the filmmakers touch on the idea of the male gaze v. the “female eye“; a distinction that’s so important, most specifically the word ‘gaze’ versus the word ‘eye’ and the creepy, fetishistic connotations of ‘gaze’ perfectly subverted by the truth of ‘eye.’ As viewers, we so often have to endure the brutal torture and rape of female characters in horror, like they must pay the most heinous, damaging price with their bodies before we’re allowed to see them be heroic. Women behind the camera find ways to go against the objectifying male gaze and locate a different focus, even if torture and rape befalls female characters in their horror films.

Girls With Guts illuminates a lot of what many women in the industry probably already know and understand when it comes to the microaggressions and outright sexism/misogyny experienced on film sets daily, yet the documentary is less about focusing on the negatives and more about embracing the powerful positives. Gigi Saul Guerrero points out that women storytellers, particularly in the horror space, are able to bring “sensibilities men don‘t have” to stories. Several of the directors interviewed similarly note that it isn’t just about female lead roles and women behind the camera simply for the sake of it, it’s about an attention to issues that affect women and telling stories that actually represent women’s experiences. Women live real life horror movies daily around the world, and their own bodies act out a splatter horror flick every month, so it’s not hard to understand their affinity for the genre, as viewers and as artists; their many visions of horror makes the genre better, stronger, and so much more real.

After the audience saw Girls With Guts, Becca Kozak, Lisa Ovies, and Andrea Subissati took the Fogfest stage for a panel discussion about the documentary and more concerning being women in the world of horror. Andrea got things started well by saying that even within feminism itself today things are heavily political, and made clear: “If your feminism isn‘t intersectional and trans–inclusive, then it‘s fucking bullshit.” From there we heard about how Andrea, Becca, and Lisa came to feminism: Andrea came from a more academic feminist background initially; Becca came from punk and the riot grrrl movement; and Lisa talked about her journey as a tomboy, not immediately seeing herself as feminist, then seeing through other people how “muted” they were because of society’s nonsense before she “got loud” (and she says she hasn’t shut up since).

The panel was full of energy for young women wanting to get into the film industry. Lisa put it simply: “Go make a shitty film, then nobody can take it away from you.” She also talked about how film school’s great, but it’s not the only way to start making films, and in the era of iPhones there are filmmaking tools right at our fingertips daily. Indie filmmaker tip: Lisa, Becca, and Andrea all agreed that an essential book for filmmakers who want to get their ideas off the ground and into reality is Robert Rodriguez’s Rebel Without a Crew (and the video The Robert Rodriguez Ten Minute Film School, included in later editions of the book).

Andrea spoke a little about how after #MeToo there were female characters still being written by men when there’s a need for women telling women’s stories, as if nothing was learned from the whole movement itself: “And here comes the strong female character…” This vibes with Lisa’s comment about how you don’t “just flip a switch” when it comes to diversity and inclusion in film because “without substance, it‘s all bullshit.” Just like in Becca’s doc, the point rings clear during the panel that whether it’s women, or queer and trans people, or BIPOC, or all of the above, their stories deserve to be told and their identities are not mere boxes on a checklist that need to be notched off.
Near the end of the panel, Lisa and Becca answered a question from director Zoe Cleland (whose short Blueberries for Iris also played Fogfest), who asked for advice on being a woman and leading a film set. Cleland mentioned having a softer personality and said she’s not used to expressing power in traditionally masculine ways. She wanted Lisa and Becca’s opinions on how not to lose the softness while still being a capable director. Becca spoke of being an introvert herself; she said that being direct and plain about what she wants is the way she best operates. Lisa had a similar, albeit more forceful response: “Get over it. Because you deserve to tell your story.” She told Zoe there’s still power in being calm and quiet, but, as a woman, you can still command a room in spite of that; you just need to know what you want.

A single, strong message from Lisa, Becca, and Andrea throughout the panel: horror and the film industry as a whole, like the world, need women, and women’s stories are important ones that express social realities happening all around us, all the time.